Exploring the Magic of Qoya: Weaving together dance, yoga and feminine embodiment

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Episode 16.  Join me in this episode as I dive into the transformative world of Qoya. In this review, I'll explore the  impact of this unique movement practice that weaves together dance, yoga, and feminine embodiment.

The episode provides a glimpse into how Qoya empowers individuals to reconnect with their true selves, honor their intuition, and navigate life's journey with grace and authenticity.

I hope you feel inspired to explore the healing, self-discovery, and empowerment that this beautiful practice can bring to your life.

Links:
Qoya Website
Liz Reichard, Qoya Instructor in Australia, with Zoom Class option

Resources to Explore on YouTube
Full Qoya Class by Leslie St. John, published 3 years ago, Channel Name: Leslie St. John

Interview between Kassandra Reinhardt and Rochelle Schieck, published 6 years ago, Channel Name: yogawithkassandra

Contact me at [e-mail] for questions, suggestions, or to be put on the email list and be notified of new episodes.

Find my World Groove movement zoom class on Thursdays, under my name, at: https://theworldgroovemovement.com/virtual-search/

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Episode Transcript

Lisa (00:08):
Welcome to the Happy Sweat Life Podcast.
My name is Lisa Rung.
In this episode, I'm going to betalking about Qoya that's
spelled Q O Y A.
And I first learned about thisdance based exercise when I got
a newsletter from a Thai massagetherapist I used to go to in

(00:30):
Bozeman, Montana.
And she mentioned that she washolding classes in Koya.
And I was really curious aboutwhat it was.
So I started to research it andit's actually a really neat mix
of things.
it was developed by a womannamed Rochelle Schieck and it

(00:51):
came out of a women's group thatshe was in, when another woman
said that she had been told thatshe needed to get out of her
head and into her body, and shewas just struggling with that,
because she had tried yoga, andshe thought it was boring, and
she had tried pole dancing, andshe had hurt her back, and she

(01:13):
had tried dance classes, but shenever seemed to be able to find
one that fit the level that shewas at, and she said if movement
It means fitness, then I'mscrewed because I can't find
anything that makes me drop frommy head into my body.
And so Rochelle had taken dancewhen she was growing up.

(01:37):
She had actually gone into yogaand also tried pole dancing.
And for her, the experience wasmuch different.
It really.
Helped her connect withdifferent sides of herself.
And so she began to wonder ifthere was a way that she could
guide people into thatexperience.
And so she invited people tocome to her apartment and to see

(02:03):
if she could develop somethingthat would help people Feel that
dropping from their heads intotheir bodies.
And Qoya was the result of that.
So she defines Qoya asremembering through movement.

(02:24):
And in movement, we tap into ouressence and remember that we are
wise, wild, and free.
And I'll go over each of thosecomponents in just a minute, but
I should preface this by sayingthat a lot of the information
that I got on Qoya was from aYouTube interview.

(02:46):
Between Rochelle and CassandraReinhardt.
And if you don't know her, shehas a YouTube channel called
Yoga with Cassandra.
She does yin yoga and vinyasaflows, and she's an excellent
teacher.
So if you're looking for a yogaclass, I would give her a try.

(03:08):
Anyway, so this is what sheexplained in the interview as to
how it got started.
So, wise is about the wisdom ofyoga And, you know, yoga is a
centuries old tradition.
It's got a lot of wisdom behindit.
The flow that you will find inher classes is not one where

(03:32):
she's sort of correcting, or theteachers are correcting your
form exactly, like, you know,lower your hip or turn more out.
It's more about feeling, likelet's say you're in a lunge,
feeling that lunge.
Where's your range of motion?
What feels good in your body asyou do that movement?.

(03:53):
Wild is about creativeexpression through dance,
through movement.
So whether that's.
A choreographed dance whereyou're adding your own style or
in the freestyle dance.
And free is about expanding ourcapacity to enjoy our bodies
through sensual movement, reallyconnecting with our feminine

(04:17):
self.
So the classes do begin withcontrolled movements and then
move into more Free flowingmovement as you feel more
comfortable with the movement,moving in your own body,
trusting your body.
So, if you take a class, thereare 13 core components in each

(04:38):
class.
And they include, but are notexclusively choosing an oracle
card in the beginning forguidance.
I think that's reallyinteresting.
I've actually been gettinginto...
Reading tarot and oracle cardsmore, trying to understand and

(04:59):
trying to develop my intuitionthrough the use of the tarot and
oracle cards.
So I love that this is part ofthe class itself.
There are also our hip openingmovements, sun salutations,
something she called shadowdances.

(05:20):
Shaking.
Now shaking is reallyinteresting if you've never done
that before.
It actually feels really good todo that.
And you can shake an arm, youcan shake a leg, you can shake
your whole body.
And if you have a lot of pent upenergy, if you're feeling angry
for some reason, shaking is justa really wonderful way to get

(05:44):
that out to release it.
So if you ever want to give thata try, you can do that now, it's
just to start shaking.
I was also listening to anotherinterview by a woman who is a
Qoya instructor, and she wastelling the story of the gazelle

(06:06):
and the lion.
And in this story, the gazelleis being chased by a lion and is
trying everything to evade thelion, zigzagging, hiding,
running back and forth, andeventually the gazelle does lose
the lion.

(06:27):
And once she's safe, she juststarts to shake all over, her
body starts to shake all overbecause she has no one else to
tell it to.
none of her herd are around andshe just went through this
incredible experience.
And shaking was the way ofreleasing the fear, releasing

(06:48):
all of the energy of thatexperience.
So I, I think it's fascinatingthat shaking is one of the
components of this dance.
The other thing that she hasinvolved with the dance class is
choreographed dancing and freedancing.

(07:12):
There's also an element at theend of community and connection.
They use a variety of music inthe classes, so you might hear
some Bollywood, you might hearsome Soul Train, you might hear
beats of Lower East Side, sohopefully you will find

(07:34):
something that you can reallyconnect with.
Now, who is Qoya for?
It's for women of all ages.
types and levels of experience.
And it's just fun and healing.
Those are kind of the aims ofthe class itself.

(07:55):
If you're interested in taking aclass, I would highly recommend
that you visit her website,which is www.
qoya.
love.
On the website, you will find.
A bunch of videos that she'smade.
They're about 15 to 20 minuteslong, and you can kind of get a

(08:16):
sense and experience of thedifferent elements of the class
it's not the, it's not a fullclass, but it's interesting to
just at least follow along withthe videos.
She has some that are more yogainfluence, some that are more
dance some that are more freeform.

(08:40):
So that's a great place tostart.
I also did find a couple videoson YouTube with, again, samples.
I think there was one that Ifound that was a complete class
but I'm sure if I looked longerI'd probably find some more.
She has an opportunity to haveprivate sessions with her.

(09:01):
There are in person classes andyou can find those through the
website, and they seem to be allaround the world, so it's not
just based in the U.
S.
there's lots of countries wherethose classes are offered.
I also looked and checked outthe links for the online

(09:23):
classes.
And unfortunately, a lot of thelinks didn't seem to go
anywhere.
They were either broken or saidthat that option was not
available anymore.
I'm only guessing that perhapsduring COVID, it was something
that people offered, but as theworld opened up, that maybe

(09:45):
people went back to theteachers, went back to just
offering in person classes.
So I didn't find a lot of.
Options for virtual classes.
I did find one person through.
Searching on YouTube that isoffering something on zoom.
So I'll have that in the shownotes.

(10:06):
If you're not near someone thatoffers it and you want to give
it a try.
The other thing that she offersis retreats and those are
current.
I was looking at the dates andthey're upcoming at the end of
2023 into 2024.

(10:27):
And one of the things she wassaying about.
Retreats in her interview withCassandra that I thought was
really interesting is that whenwe travel, we have an
opportunity to really have anembodied experience because we
are stepping out of our normalroutine where probably not fully

(10:49):
present in the moment, but whenyou travel, you hook up with
other people that are doing thesame thing that are Having the
same experience, then you havethat opportunity to really be
present in the moment.

(11:11):
You know, you're not worryingabout job, other people.
You just can be really presentwith yourself.
And through the dance andthrough the movement presented
in Qoya, she said that we canreally feel the most like
ourselves.
She also has a book that'savailable on Amazon, so if

(11:32):
you're interested in reading abit more about Qoya, you can get
her book.
It's called Qoya, compass fornavigating an embodied life that
is wise, wild, and free.
I will leave in the show notessome information about the
interview with Kassandra andRochelle.

(11:55):
I thought it was reallyinteresting, and it's well worth
listening to if you get achance.
The other thing that they talkedabout that was food for the
brain was, Rochelle was sayingthat when you are Trying to
solve things like the healthcarecrisis, the divisions in

(12:18):
politics, the environmentalcrisis.
We need both the masculine andthe feminine approach.
And often right now, we onlyhave the masculine approach.
And that is not sustainable.
That we need to have bothelements.
in the solution for anychallenges that we're facing.

(12:42):
We need both the masculine andthe feminine approach.
And I just thought that wasreally an interesting view on
that.
And I don't know if you agreewith it or not but it's just
something to think about.
If you do try out Qoya I wouldlove to hear about your
experience.

(13:02):
You can email me at [e-mail] and if you
have any suggestions or wouldlike to be on the show, you can
also email me at the Happy [e-mail].
I would love to hear from you.
I look forward to bringing youanother episode next week.
Thank you.