would you like to go on a
journey together?
Movement is our first language
In addition to all the words you might read on this page, here is some movement to share some of my journey through movement.
Dear Soul on the Other Side of the Screen
I’m writing this letter in the middle of winter in upstate New York and as I look out the window, big fluffy snowflakes are coming down, swirling and dancing. I wonder as you sit down and read these words, where you are and when you look out the window what do you see? Is life also dancing right in front of you?
Dance was my oasis growing up. It offered me an opportunity for catharsis and inspiration day in and day out. I couldn’t imagine my life without dance, so I chose an Interdisciplinary Arts degree to study the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual benefits of movement in college. Some years after completing that degree, I was enrolled in a master’s program for somatic psychology when my intuition guided me against it. The advice I heard was that, “Everything that is taught in this school will be 5-10 years behind the leading edge of what is emerging. Learn by doing. Immerse yourself in your personal practices and share what works for you.” I still desire to get that degree and am in awe at how much the field of somatic psychology has evolved in the last 20 years. And I simultaneously am grateful for the self-directed studies I have been able to immerse myself in. I love to learn and a list of some of the trainings I have studies are: Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Kids Yoga, Senior Fitness, Personal Training, Energy Healing, Nia, Massage Therapy, Herbalism, Doula, Yoga Nidra, Anti-Racist Studies, Nature Mysticism with Q’ero Paqos and many more. While some people invested in houses or cars, for 20 years, I bought plane tickets. I also attended life school by traveling to over 30 countries experiencing the gifts of cross cultural awareness. Each of these inner and outer adventures led me to feel the clarity of my calling, which is to invite people to awaken the wisdom, wildness and freedom of their essence in their body.
In these times of great change, I personally believe in the importance of each person becoming literate in the language of the body. I question the conditioning will distracts us from honoring the body in favor of productivity or shame. I am committed to the exploration of embodied presence that inspires compassion, care and connection.
For the last 15 years, I have passionately devoted myself to creating spaces for those who are inspired to gather to remember what is true for them when they awaken sensation in their body. It turns out, what worked for me, worked for many others as well. Hundreds of thousands of free Qoya videos have been watched. Tens of thousands of people have been to a Qoya class. Hundreds of teachers in 20 different countries have been certified. And here you are today!
My prayer is that the Qoya Inspired Community will continue to grow in ways that support each being to come home to their body. In doing so, feel more open to receive their individual instructions on how to bring their unique gift to this world that makes our shared home a more equitable place for All.
I hold this vision above with beauty and trust and also with an awareness of the challenges ahead; including confronting the lies deeply rooted in white supremacy, capitalism, misogyny, colonization, materialism and fear based living. I hope that Qoya Inspired Movement can be a tool to soothe your nervous system, grow your capacity to hold tension and courage, and as Resmaa Menakemm says in the book My Grandmother’s Hands, choose to act from the best parts of yourself.
That’s why I’m here. Because you are too. And because I still can’t not dance. I believe that movement is the easiest way to come back to myself and I know so much more is possible when each of us remember the essence of who we are and live from that place.
I invite you to embark on this journey together.
With love from my heart to yours,
Rochelle Schieck
Let's Start A Conversation
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WAYS WE CAN
Dance Together
THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO BEGIN OR CONTINUE YOUR JOURNEY WITH QOYA:
WANT TO LEARN MORE? i wrote a book!
Your body is your guide to accessing your inner wisdom, creativity, sensuality, and soul so that you can fully embody and express your truth, do your sacred work, receive life’s blessings, and commune with the divine.
QOYA: A Compass for Navigating an Embodied Life that is Wise, Wild and Free will help you go beyond illusion to remember the physical sensation of truth in your body as your North Star.
Rochelle Schieck draws on spiritual teachings from across the globe, personal pilgrimages from suburban Minnesota to the Madre de Dios River in Peru, and extensive studies of the divine feminine to craft a book that is part memoir, part social commentary, and part workbook, with over 35 detailed exercises that initiate your own life’s journey back to yourself.
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a compass to navigating an embodied life that is wise, wild & free.
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A Prayer for our Journey
Let us begin with a prayer for our sacred journey at the foot of the altar of our life.
Dear ancestors, those known and unknown to us, but all who are carried in cellular memory, all who have made the courageous journey into this human life and the courageous journey beyond death, we bow to you with forever thanks. Your experiences have created a context and
momentum for our own. We are eternally grateful for your wayshowing.
Dear souls coming to be, please forgive us for the times we are distracted or confused, and help guide our way back to the path of love. Help us remember our sacred contract to steward all of life – not just ourselves and our own survival, but to think of humanity’s survival and the greatest good of all.
Dear Mother Earth,
thank you for all that you give us, which is everything that we have.
Thank you to the landscapes that restore our soul, the materials that make our homes and clothes, the food that nourishes our bodies, the animals and plants that maintain a balanced ecosystem making this planet inhabitable with the perfect amount of oxygen in the air. Thank you to the ancient rocks and crystals that support us in holding the stories of our history. We call on the elements of fire, water, air, and earth that make up everything on this planet to support us on our journey here.
Dear Father Sun, Grandmother Moon, Star Brothers, and Star Sisters,
please hear our simple prayer to shine, to know our own light as we see ourselves reflected in you. The radiance of the sun, the wisdom cycles of the moon, the unique luminescence of each star. May we remember that our light is like yours: just because we cannot always see it does not mean it is not there.
Dear guardian angels, guides, ascended masters, archetypes, fairies, and all ethereal assistance that is rarely seen but often felt,
thank you for your support on this journey. Please continue to guide us with gifts of grace, synchronicity, magic, and miracles.
Dear Life,
thank you for the remembrance of the sacred that is possible in every inhale. Thank you for the lesson in letting go with every exhale, purifying our attachment to fear. We approach you, Life, without the drive to accomplish you, but with an intention to experience you. To embody you fully. Mind. Body. Heart. Spirit. Soul.
May every aspect of our being be revealed to us to the capacity at which we can hold it in love. May the healing of the outer world begin with the healing of our inner world. Help us find peace in the paradox of this time.
May we know the blessing of living an embodied life that is wise, wild and free.
So it is, and so it shall be. Forwards and backwards in time and in all dimensions.