we are all woven Together
Dear Soul on the Other Side of the Screen,
I see my work as that of an invitation maker. I invite people to gather for movement, ritual, community connection, and pilgrimages.
Today, I am inviting the Qoya Inspired Movement Community into something bigger than ourselves and our individual journeys. I am inviting us to meet this time of accelerating change together.
I feel the call to act as hospice workers to a dying system that is unjust and unsustainable, and at the same time as midwives of the new, holding the vision of equality and regard for all beings and the Earth we share.
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What do we hold on to when the world is falling apart? Each other.
The unjust and unsustainable systems of white supremacy, racism, colonialism, misogyny and capitalism are based on the lie that any person is less worthy than another and that the natural world we share is not sacred. The foundations of these destructive systems have perpetuated pain for too long. May we stop the passing on of ancestral trauma and stand for a world that is built on a deep regard for each being and the natural world we share. A world that will be nourishing to all our future ancestors.
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Beyond the idea, I invite you to join me in the exploration of what this feels like in an embodied life. I invite you to join me in the exploration of what those ideas look like in personal relationships. I invite you to join me in the exploration of what is possible when we are present with pain, instead of looking away. I invite you to join me in the exploration of what is possible when we nourish ourselves not solely for our own comfort. Instead, we care for ourselves to be resourced enough to stand for the creation of equitable systems for all.
The Qoya Inspired Movement community is rooted in the possibility of transformation. We gather together around a theme, set an intention, release worry about what it looks like and focus on how it feels, choose to open our hearts, nourish ourselves on the journey, offer our action as a prayer, look our shadow contrasting experiences in the eye, release what’s ready to go, celebrate our wins, dance our journey, share how we will integrate what’s happened, recommit to stretching ourselves and make time to rest in our earnestness to integrate what we have learned and recommit to the next steps on the path. May we call on these skills in our movement class to support our collective movement forward.
May the memory of our interconnectedness nourish the roots of our work as we commit to building a culture based in equality, justice and living a lifestyle of reverence. Let us do so by deepening our connection with ourselves, nature and each other.
May our practices embody our values. May we call each other in on how to mitigate harm and track the relationship between our intentions and our impact. May we develop support for repair when harm happens.
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I long for a world that reflects a deeper connection to heart, integrity, and communal care. I sense that if you found your way to this website and have read this far down the page, you may long for that world, too. With patience, faith, and action, may we take the individual daily steps in the direction of this desire preparing the foundation for a quantum leap of healing, repair and rebalancing of this world we share.
Healing happens in the present moment. May the movement, ritual, and community connection we offer nourish the opportunities for healing in every direction.
Thank you for your time and attention. There is a spirit that has woven our awareness together. May we continue to be guided and may the wisdom of our intuitive body be a resource we can lean into in these times of accelerating change.
With love,
Rochelle
Founder of Qoya Inspired Movement
HONORING THE Q’ERO PEOPLE
The name Qoya is a Quechua word that means Queen. The Q’ero Paqos shared their description of the meaning of qoya here," “Qoya is the feminine power on the path of balance and connection. The energy of Qoya is that of a sacred compliment, a sacred balance of the divine feminine to the divine masculine. It is a divine calling many receive to work with the power of the feminine to bring balance to the world. When we work with the divine feminine power in Qoya, in these times, we are only the instruments. To nourish the feminine wisdom in each of us, we need to receive the healing power of the feminine from nature. This is the medicine of our time. The energy of Qoya does not ask for rigid perfection. Instead, Qoya requests your sincerity, your presence, and your connection to life. When the divine says ‘be connected,’ you need to be connected hour to hour, day to day, week to week. It is hard work to stay with the sensation of being connected to the earth and spirit. It is not easy to deal with the feminine side and will be challenging for those who are called on this journey. Each person will need great support. You will receive the support you need by staying connected to nature and spirit.”
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The Q'ero people have generously shared the transmission of their teachings of deepening one's personal relationship with nature, the importance of being in right relationship (ayni) and the remembering that we are all woven together with all of life. For those who are inspired and able, you are invited to participate in our monthly fundraising teaching calls, invest in the are gorgeous weavings they create and receive one of the healing sessions they offer.
Qoya Inspired Movement is committed to ongoing partnership and support of the Q’ero elders through contributions to the Wiraqocha Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)3 educational and charitable organization. The Wiraqocha Foundation was established in 1996 for the preservation of indigenous wisdom and knowledge systems. Their mission is to promote human collaboration with Nature worldwide through quarterly connection and learning calls with Q'ero elders, and a commitment to supporting projects led by the Q’ero people’s vision. Click here to learn more about ways to work with the Q'ero.
EMBODIED SOCIAL JUSTICE
The tendency in white wellness culture can perpetuate harm by promoting environments that enable and encourage silence, avoidance, numbness and disassociating from the lived reality of the global majority.
Resmaa Menakem writes about the differentiation between clean and dirty pain in his book My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. Dirty pain is the pain of avoidance, blame, and denial. When people respond from their most wounded parts, become cruel or violent, physically or emotionally run away, they experience dirty pain. They also create more of it for themselves and others. He shares, clean pain is pain that mends and can build your capacity for growth. Clean pain enables us to engage our integrity and tap into our body’s inherent resilience and coherence, in a way that dirty pain does not. Paradoxically, only by walking into our pain or discomfort- experiencing it, moving through it, and metabolizing it- can we grow. It’s how the human body works.
Accepting clean pain will allow white people to confront their longtime collective disassociation and silence.
A key factor in the perpetuation of white body supremacy is many people’s refusal to experience clean pain around the myth of race. Instead, usually out of fear, they choose the dirty pain of silence and avoidance and, invariably, prolong the pain.
Our commitment to embodied social justice includes:
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Nourish BIPOC leadership within the Qoya Community
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Offer ongoing opportunities for our community to engage in facilitated conversation (with affinity groups)
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Acknowledge the role of white privilege and redirect it by redistributing resources to benefit/support organizations in service to equality
come as you are
Qoya Inspired Movement’s philosophical approach is to offer deep respect and regard for each person who is present to come as they are. From the beginning, there is assurance that there is no way to do the movement wrong, and the way you know you’re doing it right is that it feels right to you. That it feels good, nourishing, honest.
Movements are offered in a neutral way like things on a menu where each person chooses what’s best for them, without one being seen as better than another. Another common saying in class is, “Focus less on how it looks and more on how it feels.” The intention is not to create a particular shape with the body. Instead, we focus on receiving the benefit of the movement by awakening your intuitive sense of resonance.
We have added an accessibility module to the teacher training to train teachers to have awareness of different options in each part of class. We are committed to continuing to learn ourselves and ask participants in each offering if there are any accessibility requests that would better support them.
GENDER INCLUSIVITY
Qoya can be a practice for anyone who wishes to embody nourishing intentional movement and expressive dance. Qoya was originally developed as a women’s movement practice to help women remember their essence as wise, wild, and free. Qoya was developed as a practice for supporting the soul’s essence to emerge and be fully expressed, felt, and experienced.
Qoya seeks to affirm all gender expressions; however, it is important to There are some Qoya teachers who focus on primarily teaching women / womxn’s classes (cis-gender and trans-womxn), and other teachers are offering Qoya classes to all genders. Please check the class marketing materials for information for specific classes and retreats and reach out if you have any questions.
Qoya plans to offer all gender-inclusive classes. Subscribe below to be notified when classes start.
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION AND CULTURAL APPRECIATION
If cultural appropriation is defined as the adoption or exploitation of one culture by a dominant culture for the dominant culture’s benefit. The contrast of cultural appreciation would be when all cultures involved benefit and not just the dominant culture. Vigilance is required to discern the roles that privilege and power dynamics may be at play to avoid unconscious appropriation. One question to consider is, “Am I taking, enjoying or profiting from a culture without honoring the pain of the culture it had in creating it?”
Qoya is committed to the possibility of reciprocal cultural sharing that honors different cultural legacies in a relational and respectful way. We honor that this desire requires a commitment to ongoing education and developing authentic relationships across cultures.
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To learn more about our collaborative endeavors with the Q’ero, click here.
HONORING INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
While some may believe “we are all Indigneous” or all have Indigenous ancestors, this perspective is harmful in perpetuating an imperial and colonial mindset that denies the pain and atrocities Indigenous Peoples have endured over the last 500 years. Indigenous Peoples have defined themselves with the United Nations as having a historical relationship with the land that precedes invasion and colonization. By this definition, there are over 5000 different groups that currently live in 90 countries.
We asked our Indigenous Qoya teachers their perspective for ways that we could be in right relationship with our teaching of Qoya Inspired Movement. A recommendation that emerged was to honor the land and the ancestors of that land. We ask each teacher to develop a deeper understanding of the history of the land and Indigenous ancestors of the land where they live and offer their respect with a land acknowledgement before teaching. It is with gratitude and humility that I acknowledge I am currently writing this on the ancestral homelands of the Munsee Lenape and Mohican people, who are the Indigenous peoples of this land.
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Qoya Inspired Movement, as an organization is deeply committed to continually exploring the path of becoming more and more aligned in right relationship and reciprocity. To learn more about that journey, you can read here.
EMPOWERING WOMEN
Qoya Inspired Movement originated in a women's circle in New York City in 2009. For the last 15+ years, thousands of classes have happened in over 20+ countries in the world. Each of these women's circles offers an opportunity for healing the wounds of separation and competition and one interaction at a time inviting trust and connection. Study after study has shown us that when women are more supported, all of society benefits. We are in service to the strengthening of communities creating opportunities for women to receive the support and encouragement in their lives. Empowering women is crucial for creating a more equitable, just, and sustainable world and Qoya Inspired Movement is honored to be an accessible tool that can be shared with a wide variety of people to deepen a feeling of connection with their body, nature, each other and life.
supporting local communities
We are evolving our teacher training curriculum to focus on the ways in which the practices that nourish us can also strengthen the local communities where classes take place. The approach we are offering is one of deep listening and aligned action within our community to amplify marginalized voices, redistribute resources and stay open to learning and growing through in ways that are rooted in relationship and collaboration. Our goal as an organization is to shift from a more theoretical approach of discussing ideas into leveraging the privilege of the people present to create more tangible support to those who need it.