The Sacred Seed

Clarity
What do you love the most?

Devotion
How can you offer your days to this love?

Integrity
How can you organize your inner and outer worlds around this love?

Tenderness
How do you meet everyone you encounter with this love?

A sacred seed lives in each of us,
the love you have to give to yourself and the world,
the seed of wild connection you were born with.

Even if you’re not sure how,
you know this connection is possible
and the life of technicolor love that it creates.

You want to share all of yourself,
no matter what history and stories you carry.

You know you are whole
and want to express yourself fully in this life.

And no matter how isolated you feel,
no matter how disconnected,
there is always a way back.

To presence.
To communion.
To feeling like yourself.

Come rediscover the sacred seed - both at this retreat and inside your body.


Your body is a portal of connection.


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This retreat is an invitation to engage with your connection to your body and its connection to others - your sacred sexuality.

How can greater connection with your body facilitate connection with others? What is the medicine that your sexuality offers? What cultural stories can be released so you might find more pleasure, joy, creativity, and fulfillment in expression of your sexuality?

Finally, is your sexuality a portal to the divine? What if a simple moment of connection with your body is prayer? Can you pray with feeling, sensation, and movement as much as with words, thoughts or ideas?

We’ll be dancing with these questions and more.


MOVEMENT ORIENTS YOUR INNER COMPASS.


Movement brings you back to yourself.

By dancing with the physical sensations in your body,
you'll feel deeply connected to the bigger picture of your life.

You'll feel what you know is truth, but is often elusive to believe:

You are connected to all beings. There is no separation between you.

The journey to this feeling of unity requires support:
from the energy of Mother Gaia and all her gifts,
from movement and ceremony,
from the circle of people around you.

Immersing yourself in medicine and metaphor,
how might you use movement to transform yourself?

How can you feel unity with others by connecting with your body?


On this retreat, you will:

  • Feel connection with your body through daily Qoya classes

  • Nourish yourself with healthy, delicious food

  • Engage with your relationship to your sacred sexuality through movement

  • Get back in sync with nature's rhythms

  • Deeply rest and integrate all the epiphanies and changes within yourself throughout the week

  • Return home with a new community through the retreat and beyond

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“I have been coming to Qoya now for about five months and I absolutely love it! Yes, I was a bit nervous on my first class as I really had no idea what to expect, but I soon discovered that it was such a safe space made by beautiful women with an amazing teacher. I came away from the class thinking WOW! Every woman should try this. The freedom of really being able to let go and move my body however I wanted has been a wonderful experience. There's something about the movement/dance/ritual that has really helped me release, transform and evolve. Oh, and I did I mention that class are so much fun?! Samar is one of the best facilitators I know and holds such a sacred space. I am grateful for her and these Qoya classes."

-A.D., Auckland, New Zealand


"Samar has been a hugely helpful guide along my path of healing. She is very kind, gentle and strong. She creates a safe space for sometimes difficult or painful issues to come up and be recognized. I've had movement in areas of my life that I haven't been able to get with other forms of healing. I've confidently recommended her to friends and will continue to do so." 

-W.N., Auckland, New Zealand


WHO AM I?

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Samar Ocean Wolf Ciprian

I am a Certified Practitioner and Self-Care Teacher of the Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy®, and a Mayan Spiritual Healing Practitioner of the same lineage.  I have had additional training in advanced bodywork techniques and pregnancy/post-partum care with Dr. Rosita Arvigo.  I am a Holistic Pelvic Care™ & Holistic Pelvic Energy Provider™, trained by Tami Kent.  I am a Qoya Teacher and Teacher Trainer and I have had the profound pleasure of learning from and teaching alongside its creator, Rochelle Schieck.  These bodies of work are the sacred container through which I serve the bodies of the women in my care, and ultimately worship and restore the Body of the Earth.  

I have been blessed to draw upon a rich history of learning.  It has been a privilege to receive over seven hundred hours of Yoga teacher training and instruction in Yogic tradition over a nine year period through the late Shantimurti and other wonderful teachers at Ashram Yoga, New Zealand.  In 2003, I was initiated in Reiki Masterhood, a practice and tradition that opened the doors of perception and an awareness of the subtle energetic field that runs through all that I do.  

I honor all my teachers, including wonderful Cyntha, who I am profoundly blessed to stand beside as she offers her magic. 

In addition to the many wondrous humans who have guided me, named and unnamed here, I bow in gratitude to the teachings of the Earth Mother.  I don't remember a time in life where I was unaware of ever-present communion with Her.  

My joy and bliss lies in the power of the body to connect us, akin to antennae, to some of the most beautiful and profound experiences available to humans.  To the existential, the wildly embodied, the empathic and the deep within.  It is my utter joy to be able to offer people spaces to find these connections themselves.  Such a blessing, and one I am so grateful for.  


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CYNTHA GONZALEZ

Cyntha Gonzalez has been practicing as a counselor for over 30 years specializing in individuals and couple counseling, emotional bodywork modalities, Reiki energy healing as well as facilitating groups in yearlong courses and weekend workshops. The courses she offers include Transpersonal Counseling, the Grieving Odyssey, Sacred Sexuality and Radical Forgiveness. She also runs Vision Quests in the UAE and Omani deserts. She has lived and worked in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East, as well as taught extensively in many international settings. She created Creative Response Therapy™ 29 years ago and gives international trainings in this Expressive Art technique, both in person and online. www.creativeresponsetherapy.com. Cyntha has regularly blogged on Sacred Sexuality for OnCloudZen.com. These blogs can be found on her website's homepage. She is working on her first book, a memoir recounting her story of successfully using Radical Forgiveness through a challenging divorce in Islamic law. For the last few years she has expanded her work in giving holistic trainings to international peace activists and humanitarian frontline negotiators who work in high-risk areas. She is currently in the Aquarian Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training, and enhances her teaching with this complementary yoga practice. Learn more at www.cynthagonzalez.com and www.creativeresponsetherapy.com.


SAMPLE ITINERARY (exact times may vary)

April 17th 
4 pm - Arrival and Settling In 
6 pm - Dinner 
7 pm - Evening Welcome Ceremony 

April 18th 
7 am - Qoya Class 
9 am - Breakfast 
10 am to 1:30 pm - Sacred Sexuality with Cyntha Gonzalez - Honoring Serpent Medicine Through Honoring Our Sexual History
1:30 pm Lunch 
2:30 pm to 6 pm - Free Time for Massages, Rest, Swimming and Time in Wild Nature 
6 pm Dinner 
7 pm - Evening Ceremony 

April 19th 
7 am Qoya Class
9 am Breakfast 
10 am Sacred Sexuality Module with Cyntha - Honoring Jaguar Medicine Through Dancing with Our Sexual Shadow 
1:30 pm - Lunch 
2:30 pm - Free Time for Massages, Swimming, Rest, Integration 
6 pm - Dinner 
7 pm - Evening Ceremony 

April 20th 
7 am - Qoya Class
9 am - Breakfast 
10 am - Sacred Sexuality with Cyntha - Honoring Hummingbird Medicine through Opening to Embodied Bliss 
1:30 - Lunch 
2:30 Free Time for Massages, Rest, Swimming, Integration and Free Time 
6 pm - Dinner 
7 pm - Evening Ceremony 

April 21st 
7 am - Qoya Class
9 am - Breakfast 
10 am - Sacred Sexuality with Cyntha - Honoring Eagle Medicine through Expanding into the Realm of Devotional and Spiritual Sexuality
1:30 - Lunch 
2:30 Free Time for Massages, Rest, Swimming, Integration and Free Time 
6 pm - Dinner 
7 pm - Evening Ceremony 

April 22nd
7 am - Qoya Class
9 am - Breakfast 
10 am - Closing Ceremony
1 pm - Lunch and Blessings for your Onward Journey

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SACRED SEXUALITY WORK

The primary goal of our work with sacred sexuality on this retreat is to feel safety - in your body, mind, heart, soul, and in the relational field of all beings around you. This work will help you acknowledge, embrace, and integrate your stories and cultural inheritance around sexuality, creation, and self - to alchemize what no longer serves you into art and something holy. Our prayer is that you are truly met as you step into self-responsibility, not feeling like you must fulfill the whims of others, but rather follow and share the bliss that flows from within.

There is no inappropriate touching, class-based nudity or sexual activity included in the curriculum. Opoutere Beach is clothing optional but is vast and there is a culture of respect practiced at this location.

This retreat is open to singles or couples of either gender. Because of the nature of this retreat, a brief application interview with Samar and/or Cyntha is necessary prior to registration. 


"It is difficult for me to quantify or put into words just how much Samar has guided me on my path. She has helped me to reinstate a level of personal health and well-being that I did not think possible. When I thought things were hopeless, she gave me hope and the result was nothing short of a miracle. I will always consider her my guardian angel and am grateful that our lives managed to intersect." 

-D.K., Vancouver, Canada


LOCATION

The retreat will be held at the Ashram Yoga Ohui Retreat Center, at a beautiful, wild, family-run yoga center on the Pacific Ocean with a beautiful purpose built ceremonial fire pit under the stars in pristine wilderness with no light pollution, surrounded by mountains, forests, and fields of flowers. It’s a 2-hour drive from central Auckland; click here for directions.

All rooms are shared and basic but cosy and homey with some beautiful views of the ocean and trees.
All participants are required to bring their own bedding - top sheet provided.
Vegetarian venue with beautiful hand prepared food made according to Ayurvedic principles (individual dietary needs can be catered.)

Housing is a mixture shared rooms and caravans. There are limited single spaces or spaces for couples that will be given on a first come first serve basis.


COST + REGISTER

All bedrooms are shared in the retreat house. Pricing is per person. For private rooms, please enquire to Samar at samar@moon-yoga.com.

Your $1,350 USD tuition includes:

  • Daily Qoya Classes 

  • Daily Ceremonies 

  • Four Sacred Sexuality Modules with Cyntha Gonzalez 

  • Five nights’ accommodations

  • All Meals 

  • One hour of Arvigo® Maya Abdominal Therapy Bodywork included to deepen into your experience and cultivate presence in the body.

  • Support with Organizing Carpools from Auckland (if available - as a courtesy please allow for supporting driver with the cost of petrol)

Your tuition does not include:

  • Travel to the reatreat

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Apply for your spot today

Because of the nature of this retreat, a brief application interview with Samar and/or Cyntha is necessary prior to registration. 

Cancellation Policy
If you need to cancel for any reason and we can find a person to take your spot, we will refund the amount paid minus a $250 non-refundable deposit. If we cannot find a person to take your spot, there are no refunds; however, you can transfer your paid spot to someone else, so you can send a friend or family member to the retreat in your place.


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

+ What time of day does the course start, and what time does it finish?

We suggest arriving to the retreat center around 4pm on the 17th to have time to check in and settle in before our 6pm start. Departure is at 1pm on the 22nd.

+ How do I get to the retreat?

Auckland International Airport is the closest airport. Click here for directions for how to reach the retreat center in Coromandel from the airport.

+ Is it women only? What age group?

This retreat is open to singles or couples of either gender, ages 18 and up. There are no levels in Qoya, and all levels of movement experience are welcome. No experience with Qoya is required!

+ Do you cater to specific dietary requirements?

We will cater for any dietary requirements provided you let us know when booking. Please feel free to bring any special snacks you desire.

+ I have more questions. Who do I contact?

Any questions we haven't covered here? Email me at samar@moon-yoga.com.