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What is Qoya
How we come truly back to ourselves with movement medicine.
Qoya is based on the idea that through movement we remember; we remember that our essence, like nature is inherently wise, wild and free. The different aspects of the class support that remembering. Through the pillars that we move through, we find a way of feeling into what our body needs and therefore nourish ourselves through authentic expression and movement as medicine. Each part helps us to connect with our innner wisdom, supporting the freedom to expand our capacity for what is nourinshing and pleasureable and supportive, where the movement becomes a gift we give ourselves. The practice enables us to express ourselves with radiance and transparency giving us the confidence to glowe in our femininity.
Understanding that there is no way of doing it wrong, as you know you are doing it right when it feels authentic in your body; our Qoya classes embody yoga as prayer, meditation, movement, dance, rest and community connection. We offer ourselves and each other love, kindness and compassion.
No experience is neccessary, just an open mind and heart. The classes suit all fitness levels and ages. It is also a wonderful way to exercise and meet likeminded people. Follow us on social media to find out more about what we do and where to come and join us. The community is illuminated, inclusive, courageous and global. Exercising our body and soul has never felt so good.
HOW IS QOYA HEALING
Qoya has so many benefits, it can help with both physical and emotional healing. Through mindful movement we can release negative feelings and emotions, revel in the joy of dancing in any way that feels right for us and connect with our intentions.
- helps relieve anxiety and depression
- helps us to connect with our intuition
- is fantastic exercise for the mind, body and spirit
What we do in a Qoya class
The classes are an hour and a half of dance, yoga as prayer and relaxation. I begin by setting a sacred space for us all to work in. It transforms the room into a physical and energetic place for us to meet with open hearts, minds and safety.
The following is a guide to the class structure, the sessions can be tailored to a particular theme so there is freedom to expand and develop within this. The music we dance to changes with every class, sometimes we take our class slowly, deep diving into soft nourishment and sometimes we embrace our wise and wild woman and move ecstaically to the rythm of our hearts and souls.
Oracle Card Pull - We begin seated in a circle and gather together to share the theme and pull a card. I find this opens up the space for discussion before we begin moving into our dance. It is a wonderful way of connecting before we begin our movement.
Intention setting - we set our own personal intention for the class, asking ourselves the question "what do I want to dance for today". We use breath work to come into the present moment and connect with our mind, body and spirit. This helps us to deepen the pleasure of the physical activity that has a multitude of physiological, mental and emotional benefits.
Circling -We then relax into our body and gain more fluidity within our movement. We circle each part of our body to music and through the guided cues we gently open ourselves to the practice and our intention.
Heart opening - We invite the body to emotionally open up to the music through movement. We listen to the music through our hearts, see through the eyes of our heart and experience the sensations of the body through the heart. This part of the class helps us to clear stagnant energy as we literally dance to our own heart beat and rhythm.
Hip Opening -When we let our hips lead and work with a series of guided moves our bodies release unwanted tension and help our bodies to flow with ease.
Dancing our Yoga as prayer -Within our practice we use a yoga style sequence to stretch and open up our body even further. We focus on the moves as a feminine manifestation of our higher consciousness. We use the postures of yoga and build them into a fluid movement and dance our meditation and intention.
Shadow Contrast -Our bodies are the home to our soul and shining a light onto our unconscious thought patterns and behaviours, enables us to embrace what is hidden in the darkness. In this part of our practice we honour our hidden feelings and create the space to explore and express these through dance. By taking our interal shadow/darkness as our dance partner we can release repressed emotions through exercise.
Shaking -This part of the lesson enables us to process anything that came through with the shadow dance. We use shaking to release and ground our energy. We shake our entire body, we shake with intention and we shake what no longer serves us with release and grace. Ridding ourselves of unwanted trauma and giving it back to the earth.
Free Dance -The next part of our class is where we get creative with authentic expression. We reclaim our body as home and move in anyway that feels good, we have opened our bodies, they are strong and flexible, we have softened them with circling, sensual movement and shown reverance to our femininty. Now we dance with every atom of our being.
Final Stretching & Meditation - In this part of the class we move into winding our bodies down into a relaxed mode through stretching, strengthening and meditation. We find the 'intelligent edge' in our bodies where we rest in comfort and ease . We do this by melting into a stretch, breathing into it and receiving it rather than forcing or resisting it.
I love to include a Meditation at the end of my classes - We close our classes with a 20 minuite guided meditation set to a sacred soundscape. Each meditation draws upon ancient techniques of mindfulness, mixed with mantra and story led visualisations. They all aim to bring the physical body into total relaxation and calm the mind, setting you free to find your true essence.