Qoya Inspired Movement Class tonight at Welcome Goddess in Golden, CO

Theme: Dancing with Life @ 6:30- 8 p.m.

Tldr: I’m hosting a Qoya Inspired Movement Class tonight, June 13 | 6:30-8 p.m. with the theme Dancing with Life at Welcome Goddess in Golden, Co.

Come dance in community as we delve into the essence of ourselves.

For as long as I can remember I have always danced.

This form of connection to my body, the music and others, was one I thought I found while I chased live music after the military and during/after grad school. I let the music take hold of my life and followed where the muse of music led.

Recently, I’ve come to realize dance has weaved its way through my lifeline always. From my first love of country music and dancing in too big boots when I was a toddler, to taking ballet and dance classes when I was in third grade, dance was present. Then, around middle school things started to become convoluted with dance. Was it this sexual act I could use to flirt with the boys showcasing my body? That’s how I felt everyone around me looked at it, so I did too. I also did cheerleading in middle school, so let’s add competition to dance. And through these moments and school dances, I quickly realized there was a “right” and “wrong” way to dance. A cool way to dance and move and way that would get you talked about, not in a good way. Well, that’s what my teenager mind concluded.

This is where dance started to transform into something scary for me. I believed I wasn’t talented or able to move my body in the way that I saw others moving. Adding in specific movements and timing always had my anxiety make an appearance. I’d feel self- conscious, and I truly could not face being in my body, especially in front of people, especially doing things not perfect.

I stopped dancing for many years unless it was me and my dog in the privacy of my home. I’d stand in the back or not put myself in situations with dancing. If I did end up at club, I’d cope with drinking too much and try to slip into a mask of someone not freaking out at the thought of others seeing me move my body.

Shortly after I exited the military in 2015, I attended a bluegrass and white water rafting trip with my best friend. I could write a book (and I plan on it) on the shenanigans, mountains dogs, characters we met, and the way my perspective shifted because a lifetime of life-changing moments happened in the span of a long weekend, but this is not that story.

On the second night of this trip, at the beginning of the first wind down of the night, I found myself immersed in a circle around a fire with other music chasers listening to a blue grass band(, banjo player, bass player, and either a guitar player or fiddle player) sing songs late into the night.

We sang and danced around that fire, some even gave out free whiskey. I remember looking at the fire, examining the people who I didn’t even know their names, but that didn’t matter.

We were connected in this moment together.

In this moment, time froze for me, and I vividly remember thinking, “This is life. This is what it is about. This is why I am here.”

That moment validated me leaving a job of eight years where the financial security was a sure thing versus the unknown path I was choosing. Rarely, did I ever feel alive in the military, like that one moment around the fire. I felt home around the music, fire, community and my best friend.

I chased that muse of music for the next couple of years. Unlocking pieces of myself, parts and soul mates along the way. Through the music, I found my connection again. I couldn’t stop dancing. I danced everywhere, and I talked about it. I changed. My body changed. My world changed.

I found Qoya Inspired Movement at a women’s herbal conference in Fall 2019, and I knew from the first moment I took that class, this is the medicine I was looking to offer. I immersed myself into the teaching of Qoya Inspired Movement. I rejoiced and felt that home feeling again when I heard, “there’s no way to do it wrong, and the way you know you’re doing it right, is that it feels good.”

I let myself dance and move like never before. I danced with many of my monsters, like anxiety, or the fear of not being enough to guide this practice, and the sadness that comes with rejection of putting yourself out there.

I’ve danced with the joy, and I’ve danced and weeped in the sad. Sometimes I am absurdly slow with this dance, and sometimes the dance is frantic, hype and fast.

I get to decide. I get to hear my body. I get to speak a language without words. I have a tool of divinity if I choose to use it. Dancing does not fix everything, but I keep moving. I am able to honor my feelings in the present moment and let them move through my body, giving back what is not needed to the earth ,who can not only handle it, but can transmute it.

This is why I picked this the theme Dancing with Life for my next Qoya Inspired Movement Class tonight June 13 @ 6:30 - 8 p.m. at Welcome Goddess in Golden, Co. This is my journey with this theme, and if this resonates with you, I’d love to have you join as you explore your own relationship to dancing with life.

During this 90-minute session, we draw on the healing movement of honoring the way our body wants to move, we examine and share our intention with community, we look to the wisdom of yoga, and we go through an alchemical sequence co-created with music, dance, community and self that connects us deeper with our bodies.