How Movement Opened Me Up To My Sacred Work

Originally Posted Feb 4, 2016

This past year I’ve been on a journey. One that I hoped would bring me back to who I thought I was (the one prior to Little E) and also lead me on the path to where I’m going.

It felt a bit selfish. “Who was I to be travelling and going off to retreats to find myself when I had a perfectly good life at home”

The belief ALMOST made me stay home.

Yes on the surface and even a little deeper than that, I have a good life. A great husband, and adorable kid, a beautiful home and on and on.

Except I still felt lost, i still felt unhappy despite all of the amazing things in my life, I was still missing something. My Heart wanted more!

So I went, and I’m so glad I did.

Because what I found in myself was something so much better than who I was BEFORE. It was a deeper and more soulful connection to who I am today.

I regained the essences and the heart of who I was in my twenty’s and prior to Little E, but also the tenderness and empathy that I have learned in becoming a mother. I experienced a revelation about my body and her wisdom that I have denied for much of my life and from that a steady step on the path to where I’m going and what I want to create in this lifetime.

Everything has come full circle and a large part of this has come to be in experiencing Qoya.

About a year ago, a friend and my intuitive extraordinaire Dr. Deb Kern told me that I need to Dance. Not only that but I need to Teach it.

At first I was hesitant, I was all for dancing in my kitchen but teaching people….COME ON?!

I didn’t need more degrees and certification, I have enough, but the instruction persisted with every conversation that Deb and I had.

After attending some different types of classes that just weren’t for me, she suggested that I check out Qoya and Rochelle Shieck, as what I needed was an embodied experience of movement in the way that my body wanted to move.

This wasn’t about technique and performance, I’ve done that form to death, I needed something else.

She told me “You need to do this” “Your Soul Need’s This, This is about your Sacred Work”

So without overthinking it, I gave in and signed up. For the Intro training, and for the 2 retreat intensives that were necessary along with self study to become a teacher. I hadn’t even tried Qoya before but somewhere I knew Deb was right so I followed the instinct.

Upon arriving at my first retreat I was confused as to how this was going to contribute to my work. The idea wasn't mine, I could't steal it I would never dream of doing such a thing.

And then it became clear, on the fourth day after lying in Shavasana at the end of class, my heart spoke.

Qoya wasn't going to be my work.

Qoya was a way in which I could experience community, sisterhood, and break free of some of the armour that I carry day to day so that I can hear my heart speak more clearly.

I had to teach it so that I could create that community to support other women but also experience this type of support myself.

When I have Community, My Sacred Work will become clear.

Qoya, brought me home.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with Qoya I strongly suggest you check it out. Built on the principle that through movement we remember. We remember as women that we are Wise, Wild and Free.

It uses different movement principles throughout the class, drawing upon the wisdom and principles of yoga, experiencing the wild through creative expression of dance and the Freedom that can be felt in expanding our capacity to enjoy being in our bodies thru feminine movement.

To be honest, the synopsis of what Qoya is, doesn’t do it justice.

This is what, it’s done for me.

It’s allowed me to connect to music again.

Music has been a huge part of my life. But I don’t commute or spend much time in the car, I rarely change my iTunes (like once a year- maybe) and I listen to ocean sounds and flutes playing all day in clinic; music had become background noise rather than something that I actually listened to. I have no idea what’s good or new anymore. Most Qoya teachers use spotify to make their playlists and it’s been fun to follow them and dance while experiencing new music. (Here’s Rochelle’s)

I dance a lot.

I don’t need a reason, I can connect to a piece of music, close my eyes and let my body move as it needs.

I do a bit of Yoga everyday.

This is something that I never thought I would say. But Yoga has become part of my morning ritual. In Qoya we dance our yoga and it’s about bring it back to its roots which is that Yoga is Prayer. This practice has helped me create some space for reverence everyday in a way that feels good to me.

I feel connected to my centre, and my body in a way that I’ve never experienced.

The closest I can recall is when I was pregnant and felt that I had creativity and magic at my fingertips. My body is amazing.

My Creativity is on Fire.

I’ve have created more in the last 6 months than I have ever before. It still has a ways to go before it's ready for you to see, but it's coming. I also have more clarity on what it's purpose is.

I’ve connected to my Element’s Work in an even deeper and more soulful way and from that a clear and steady path has opened up so that I may share it with you.

I have a space to hold my shadow, and the not so good feelings that come up that often prevent me from taking the next step forward.

I found my voice.

Speaking up and believing that what I have to say matters is a huge block that I’ve held since the sixth grade. Qoya and working with Rochelle has helped to heal this enough for me to be willing to experiment with what happens when I put myself out there.

Since my last Qoya intensive I put together a 6 month group beta group program with nine amazing women and peers that’s currently running, Teaching Qoya classes every other week and I put myself out there to be a speaker and was accepted at this years Fall SHIFT Retreat.

After a Qoya class, my whole body is open (Heart, Mind and Womb).

I often try to journal after a class to see what comes forward. And there’s a lot, my ability to problem solve is so clear and creative, my heart has a place to truly speak and my body feels happy.

Everyone’s experience is different of course, but everyone that I know that's has experienced it has found it to be truly magical and heart warming.

Which is why I want to invite you to check out a class, and this Month some really amazing things are happening in celebration of Rochelle Releasing her book Qoya.

To celebrate the launch of the Qoya book, you may join us for 46 classes in 42 cities and 9 countries. More than a book launch, this is an activation of the crystalline grid of love that Qoya evokes in each dancer individually and in community. This book and these classes are for all who feel the call to explore the language beyond words and ideas and expand our capacity to communicate through the experience of feeling truth in our bones. For those of you not in Calgary you may Click here to find a class near you and to register.

XO Ashley