ï»żEmma: Welcome to this week's episode of Midlife AF, where you will be meeting the wonderful and the terribly charismatic Liz Reichard. Liz is a wonderful teacher, ex lawyer who went through her own period of burnout and had to rebuild herself and her identity. And we talked a lot about that, which is something that gets very familiar for people who have either experienced burnout, some kind of career change, like I did, but also people who are trying to find an identity post alcohol. And then we also talk about the beauty of movement and the healing of movement and how movement can help us regulate our nervous system, be in community, and process some of those difficult feelings and experiences in our day to day lives in a way that feels really good. I found out about Coya through my mental journey, park, and it's been really wonderful for me. And so I wanted to introduce you guys to a few other different methodologies that you might find useful in filling up that space, that void that alcohol leaves in your life with something that works for you rather than against you. And without further ado, I hand over to myself and Liz.
Emma:
If youâre a woman in Midlife whose intuition is telling you that giving booze the elbow might be the next right move, then Midlife AF is the podcast for you. Join Counsellor Psychotherapist, this naked mind and Gray Area drinking alcohol coach Emma Gilmore for a weekly natter about parenting, quirky teens, menopause relationships, and navigating this thing called Midlife alcohol Free. If you're feeling that life could be so much more, that you're sick and tired of doing all the things for everyone else, if your intuition is waving her arms manically at you, saying it could all be so much easier if we didn't have to keep drinking, come with me. Together we'll find our group without booze.
Emma:
I just wanted to bring Liz on today to chat a little bit about what she does in her business, because when I stopped drinking about three years ago, my whole life was kind of built around drinking. That was all I did, and it was how I kind of managed my nervous system and what I did when I was feeling stressed and overwhelmed and I didn't really know anything else that I enjoyed and I didn't know who I was and what was fun for me. When I was training in Gray Area Drinking under Jolene Park, she introduced me to the lady who started Qoya, and as part of our training, we had to try lots of different things in groups and then report back to each other how they made us feel. So that when we have clients we can suggest things that might be helpful to clients when they stopped or when they were taking a break from drinking. And Qoya was one of those things, and I loved what I found on Michelle's website, but I obviously want to try it in Australia. So I was looking for a person who was a Qoya practitioner in Australia, and that's where I came across the beautiful Liz.
And so, Liz, would you like to introduce yourself and tell a little bit about your story, but also tell us a little bit about what Qoya is?
Liz:
Sure. So I've been teaching Qoya. I fully qualified at the end of 2020, and I started my business in January of 2021, and I've been teaching it's nearly just over two years now that I've been teaching Qoya in Melbourne. Before that, I used to be a lawyer, and I used to do a lot of work in community law. So I was working with a lot of women who were in really the worst situations that they had ever been in their lives. So a lot of women who were suffering from family violence, who were trying to get out of a relationship because of violence had left already, and they were having ongoing issues because they'd split from their partners and issues in relation to the children and finances and all that. Just so it was hard work. You're dealing with people who are in the worst situation they've ever been in their lives. They're stressed, they're depressed, they're traumatised because of what's happened to them, and unfortunately, the legal system is not really well equipped to deal with women in trauma situations. And so they do get retraumatized trying to deal with the system. And as a lawyer in that area, what your job is, is to try and help them navigate it in the best possible way so that they try and minimise what actually happens to them on the system. So it's hard work, it's rewarding work. I mean, I did a lot of good stuff, and I did help a lot of women in that work, but it got to a stage where I'd been doing it for ten years, and I just couldn't do it anymore. So for me, it was a real breakdown. And then when you look back at it and how was it a breakdown or was it a breakthrough? Because it was really a massive shake up. I don't know whether you're aware, you know the Hindu goddess Kali, the warrior woman who just comes in and shatters and cuts everything down? And that's what it felt like to me, because so much of my identity was tied up in being a lawyer. And I don't know whether other professions, maybe doctors, have the same sort of real prestige of saying, yes, I'm a doctor, I'm a lawyer. You know what I mean? That real sense that goes with it. And there's a lot I found that a lot of my identity was tied up to what I do, which now is much I don't have it the same way, and it doesn't feel like I'm missing anything. It just feels like that's not all that is me, if that makes sense.
Emma:
Right.
Liz:
But now I'm a Qoya teacher and I run my business, but that's not all of me. And that feels good. That doesn't feel like I'm missing something anymore. It feels like it's more complete, if that makes sense.
Emma:
Oh, my goodness. 100%. It's slightly different, but when I left my corporate career back in 2019, my whole identity was tied up with work. I used to work for really big brands, so I worked for Disney, Warner Brothers and those kinds of brands. And similarly, it was like I never had to explain what I did when I went into a party or anything. And I had held quite a lot of pride in the fact that that was where I worked and that was my job. And when I left my job because of similar sort of reasons, but not working with anyone, not from a kind of burnout emotionally, as much as just the pressure that I had been putting under myself as a human being to be all of the things with that identity, when I finished. And because Melbourne is such a small place, I was like, where the hell am I going to be able to work? Because I've had this breakdown and everybody's going to know it. And it's almost like by deciding to walk away, I made the decision to kind of end a 20 year career. And I was like, what the hell am I going to do now? And it was really like you say, it was really like, oh, my goodness, I've got to start again from scratch. I had no idea.
Liz
Yeah, it was exactly the same because I knew I couldn't go back for my emotional well being. I just knew I couldn't do it anymore. I just didn't have enough and couldn't give it to anyone else. And the thing is, it's not just you need to be there for them in that kind of work. You need to have empathy. You need to talk to them and for them to realise that you're in their corner and that you can do the best job you can for them. And if I'm depleted and I'm so stressed or depressed or whatever the case may be for myself, I'm not going to show up well for my clients. And it's just like, I can't do this anymore. I can't do it for them. I can't do it for myself and my family. It was awful for them that they had to put up with me as well. And I couldn't do it anymore. And I remember vividly, because I was so unwell, I was going through a lot of walks, and my son and I were walking, and I said to him, I can't go back. I can't be a lawyer anymore. What am I going to do? And we were literally walking and spitballing and going. I would invent something, but what am I going to invent? And I can start a business, but what am I going to do? It was literally you know how you've just got this thing of just throwing ideas around? The end of the walk, we were like, no closer to anything, no idea. We'll see what happens. I don't know. Just knew that I had to do something else, but didn't know what it was. And then magic, magic, magic. I found Qoya and it was a friend of mine who I knew from my dancing school. Did a day retreat up at Macedon.
And she brought a Qoya teacher from Melbourne up to that retreat to do a class. And the retreat was quite large. They were probably about 60 of us, I think 50 to 60 of us, like this big group of women. And we did this class and I've never heard of it. I had no idea what was going to happen. But the beauty of Qoya is that there's no levels. There's no way to do it wrong. And the way you know you're doing it right is that it feels good to you. So I'm like, okay, cool. See how we go. If there's no levels, you can do it. I'm fine. I'm not very coordinated. Not really my bag. I once did a Burlesque class and I just felt so out of place because I could not keep up with the girls. But anyway, I did this class and I was watching the other women in the room. Like, some of them got it, some of them didn't, which it's always going to be a case that some people get it and some people don't. But the ones who got it were profound. I remember a particular woman, it was like a rupture. It was like a volcano came out for her and she just was sobbing uncontrollably to us. And luckily she had a friend with her and her friend hugged her. And I'd only met her on that day. I didn't know her before, and I was like, Jeez, is she okay? But as the class went on, she was fine and it was what she needed to get out all that stuff that had been sitting there for God knows how long. She just needed to deal with it and to move with it. And I'm sure it didn't completely get rid of it because we know that it doesn't. But it's a starting point for dealing with those deep held emotions, the things that you burrow down and push down and you don't want to face and that we're sort of, as women are told not to face and not to feel. We're not supposed to be angry, we're not supposed to be sad. We're supposed to be smiling and happy all the time. The thing is, we are like a piano with 88 keys and we need to be able to play all 88 keys so that we are the full range of emotion. Because otherwise you're going to end up sitting there watching a movie and all of a sudden start sobbing and don't know why because it's just twigged something that's been sitting there.
Emma:
Absolutely.
Liz:
And then I went to another class and at the end of the class I was sharing with another woman who I didn't realise was another Qoya teacher.
Emma:
Oh, yeah.
Liz:
And she said magic words to me. She just looked at me because she said, what did you think of it? And I said, oh, I just think it was wonderful. It's just a beautiful thing. And she looked at me and she said, Why don't you teach? And it was like Marie Kondo spark joy lightning bolt into my heart going, that's what I'm going to do, I'm going to teach Qoya. And so that's what I did.
Emma:
Wonderful. Wonderful.
LizL
In one way, I'm very lucky in that I found something relatively quickly to focus on when I was in touch with that place, it would have been about seven or eight months after I left my workplace. And so that gave me a new focus, something else to look at and to work together and doing the classes themselves were helping me deal with what was going on.
Emma:
Absolutely.
LizL
So for me, I was really lacking in that way, in that I found that when I did. Because the thing is, with Qoya, it's not just the thing of, oh, it's how you want to move and it doesn't matter how it looks, but it's an embodiment practice. So the idea is it gets us out of our heads where we've got this endless chatter. We talk to ourselves and the most that we're going to talk to anyone else. And it's the voice that we hear the most. And sometimes it's not really very pleasant. Sometimes we say some really shitty things to ourselves. And the beauty of Qoya is it gets us away from that and brings us back into our bodies so we can feel and actually that you feel these things and that you move your body in a different way, but not for any purpose. The beauty of Qoya, that you get to move your body just for yourself, how you want to move, not for a partner or what it looks like, or to do a certain dance for an audience. It's just for yourself. And really, how often do you get to do that? Do we allow ourselves to do that? To just move the way we want to move our bodies just for the hell of it? That's exactly this. And then having the thing that you're back in your body and you start to feel things and you go, oh, okay, so I can feel what it feels like when I'm connected to my power? Wow, that feels strong. I get this sensation or I feel it in my shoulders or my chest opens up or whatever the case might be. And then the invitation is that you take those feelings and you dance with them. Not choreography, not thinking about it, just moving your body the way it needs to move with those feelings. And what happens in that is incredible. And it will be different every class you dance. And for every person who dances it, we all dance to the same song. But I can guarantee we're not having the same experience. And that's the thing of what I said, that some people get it and it makes sense to them. And for some people it does. But like I say, yoga is not for everyone either. You know, not everything is and thatâs fine.
Emma:
That's right. You've got to find the thing that works for you. It's a trial and error thing. You've got to try it and see how it feels. The reason why I'm so passionate about Qoya is, well, number one, that Liz is my teacher, and she is a wonderfully, enthusiastic teacher. But also, all of the things that Liz is talking about are reasons why women drink and often reasons why women go back to drinking. And so finding something that you can do that enables you, helps you sit with difficult emotions. So many women, we suppress so much, and that's often a source of our pain, is that we have been suppressing ourselves for so long. I, for one, struggle, and a lot of neurodiverse people do, with actually being able to identify how I'm feeling in my body. Same with a lot of women who struggle with eating disorders as well, or disordered eating. We struggle a lot with interoceptive awareness. So doing a practice that can help us learn how to be with our bodies in a safe environment in a beautifully vulnerable place is so huge. And also, another reason why people drink is because of the ongoing chatter and negative talk in their heads. Absolutely. And, like, this is huge so this is why for me, it's a wonderful practice for anybody. But I think people, particularly, who are taking a break from or questioning their relationship with booze the thing that people find the hardest is to sit with big emotions, and that's what we escape using. So, Liz, could you talk us through what a Qoya class involves?
Liz:
Sure, I can. But I will say that it's hard to describe it and talk about how we go through, but sometimes I find that you really need to experience it to really know what's happening, if that makes sense. So we start sitting in a circle so we sit together in a circle as a circle of women, and I do the introduction to explain what the class is about. And then we each pick an article card from around the circle and the invitations for people to share why it's the perfect card to them today. So it brings everyone's voices into the circle and gives us an opportunity to connect. And then from there, we start with our movement. So we start with an intention setting exercise. So each part has its own song, so we start with intention settings. So setting an intention for the class and it's also a grounding exercise. It's quite a meditative grounding exercise to sort of get you into the room and get you down. The next part is that we circle through each part of our body and it's a warm up and the circling is slow and gentle and it's movement again that you may never have done. And it's again a way of just connecting with your body and feeling what it feels like to circle it. The next part is a heart opening, so we actually get to see what it's like when we get to truly follow our hearts. And then we open our hips. And as women, we all know we store a lot of trauma and pain and issues in our hips and moving our hips for ourselves. For a woman to be able to say, wow, this is what I actually like, this is what I enjoy. Wow, I didn't think if I moved my hips like this, this would feel this way. And really being able to tap into that feminine movement and work out what it is that they like. Then we do a short bit of yoga, and the yoga we do is always a very simple movement. And again, if you don't like the poses that I've set it's up to you, you can do whatever poses or switches work best for you. And then we do the shadow stance. So this is where things start to get a little bit deeper, I suppose.
Emma:
I missed a little bit of you, but you were talking about the shadow dance, one of my favourite things, starting.
Liz
In with the shadow. Yeah. So each class has a theme. The themes that I tend to do, like love your body, the power within, trust yourself, pleasure, strength, all those are the sort of things that I do. So with the shadow contrast stance, what the invitation is there is to feel into your body what it feels like, the opposite of the theme. So if the theme is love your body, what does it feel like when you don't love your body, and then where in your body do you feel it? And whatever sensations, whatever feelings that you get with that, and it can be like I said, every woman is going to feel something different. And it's incredible with the one theme, how different people feel what they experience. And then the invitation is for you to take those feelings as a dance partner, without thinking, without choreographing, just moving away. You need to move with those feelings for that song. And then at the end of the Shadow, I give the women in the circle a few minutes to let what happens sit. And then we move into our shaking.
Emma:
Can you do the story?
Liz:
Can we do it? All right, so I'll do the story. My invitation is to take one hand and start shaking. Hang on, I'm going to take that ring off, otherwise it'll fly off. Take one hand and start shaking. So the story is that there's a gazelle running across the African savannah and she's being chased by a gigantic lioness. And the lioness is gaining on the gazelle, and the gazelle thinks she's going to die, but the gazelle Ziggs left and the lion nest zigs right, and the gazelle gets away. Now she can't go to her girlfriends and say, oh, my God, I nearly got eaten by a lion. So instead what she does is she stands there and she shakes. She shakes out the fear and the adrenaline and all the other emotions that came up for her while she was running for her life. And then she stops and goes back to being gazelle. So now hold up your two hands. I can't do it because I'm holding the phone. I'll do it and compare the feeling in the hand that you shook to the hand that's still sitting, that you didn't shake. And do you notice the difference in the feeling in your two hands?
Emma:
Yes, I do.
Liz:
So what do you get, Emma?
Emma:
So this one feels all light and fluffy and this one feels it's actually a bit pinned and a bit restricted.
Liz:
Okay. Yeah. So I always get a really sort of light zingy. Like, this hand is alive, she's bouncing, she's fairly light. That's the introduction to the shaking. And then what we do is then we shake through each part of our body. So I usually pick a song that's about three minutes because that's about the limit of shaking, what people can do. And we shake, literally, we shake through one leg, two legs, do a shimmy, both legs. Then we get down on the ground like a two year old, chucking a tantrum and throwing arms and hands in the air. Just shake it all out and we get it all of whatever. And the thing is, the beauty of shaking is it will help you deal with what just came up in the Shadow contrast dance, but it'll help you with anything else that's hanging around as well. You will feel different, especially the very first time you do it. I find you're like, Whoa, what just happened? And you finish it and you're tired because you've just been bouncing around like a crazy person. But there's a lightness to you that you didn't have before. If you're having a shitty day and you're in the office, sometimes you can't go and get some fresh air, go for a walk. You can usually get a toilet break. Yes. Go into the cubicle. I know, too. But usually you can get at least that and jump around for 30 seconds. Just do the full body shake. Do it for 30 seconds, and I promise you, you will feel different afterwards.
Emma:
So true. It would actually be for women who are taking a break from food, it would be an awesome thing to do when you have a craving.
Liz:
Yes. Really? I actually put up on my YouTube channel, I actually have a shaking video, so I can send you the link for that.
Emma:
And I'll put it in there in the show notes of the podcast. But I'll also put it in my.
Liz:
It is literally one song. I think it's three minutes, and I just show you how to do it, and then that's something that you can use as a resource if you need it. So after you've shaken, we then do short, simple choreographed dances. Because, as I said before, my choreography is not great.
Emma:
My coordination is not great.
Liz:
Exactly. Fairly simple. It's supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be a thing of everyone coming back together, and dancing together is the idea behind it. So we do a short choreographed dance. Usually I tend to end up picking a diva who's singing. So I've picked, like I've got Liz in there, I've got Tina, you know, all these really big, strong female voices, Lady Gaga. And we do a dance to that. And then we do the free dance. So the free dance is the part of the class where we get to dance with the theme. So our theme is, as I said before, if it's love your body, what does it feel like when you love your body? And where in your body do you feel it? And again, every woman in the circle will feel something different. And the invitation then takes those feelings and just moves with them how your body needs to move.
Emma:
I love it.
Liz:
Yeah. It's just such a beautiful, beautiful practice. And then after that free dance, we have another sort of formal share where you're invited to think over the class and pick what your favourite part was. And then if you'd like to share that. And then we do stretching because I got to stretch you out before I let you go. And then we do a final relaxation. So it's just a nice way of lying or sitting and just sort of letting everything really sink in before I go off into the world again.
Emma:
It's just so lovely how long does it take? How long is the whole session? An hour and a half?
Liz:
Hour and a half, yeah.
Emma:
It's just such a lovely experience, and I've been quite a few times now to Liz's class, and they just I could have had the worst day. And you just really don't feel like doing something, and then you get there and it's just so lovely. And it's like you're in a community, you're with beautiful people having the same experience as you, but different in their own version, but you're also with yourself. It's both, isn't it?
Liz:
Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely.
Emma:
Kind of personal and collective.
Liz:
Yeah. I think the thing is, what I try to create with every class that I have is that it is a safe space for you to come exactly as you are. So, like you said, if you've had a shitty day at work or just whatever's going on for you, you come as you are. There is no judgement, there is no shame in my classes. If you want to share, and if you want to share in the class, you are welcome to. And if you don't want to, that's fine, too. And it's interesting to find that some women don't want to share certain parts or sort of start there a little bit shy, and then they notice how the other women are open and able, are sharing, and then sometimes they will start to join in, too. And that's the thing. But, I mean, there's no obligation on you to do it. If you don't want to share, you don't have to. And for instance, if you're doing my zooms, you can turn your camera off. There's no obligation on you to keep your camera on or do anything like that. You do what works best for you. I'm just trying to create the space and hold the space for them, for everyone to come as they are and hopefully leave feeling better at the end of it.
Emma:
And you certainly do that. And Liz always creates these beautiful things. It's just a beautiful experience being with her. She holds us all very well, and it's very down to a very comfortable I think you do a great job, Liz.
Liz:
Thank you.
Emma:
No problem at all. And so Qoya itself, do you know, is there any roots, any background story?
Liz:
Rochelle developed it about 14 years ago. 14 years in March. Yeah. She had travelled the world and had done all sorts of different kinds of practices. And it started with a conversation with another woman who said, I don't know how to get out of my head and into my body. I don't know how to do it. No idea. And so she developed it, drawing on all the different kinds of dance that she'd done. So, for instance, in the heart opening, you move your heart. I don't. Know if I can show you publicly the way the silly phone is now, but you move your heart forward, side, back and side, that's belly dancing. And some of the hip movements, how we go down and up to one side again, that's belly dancing. So when you sort of have done some different modalities, you've sort of bring it in. You can say, oh, that's where she's pulled out from there. And she's just done an incredible job of creating, as much as I don't like to say, the journey that you go on during a class. It starts nice and slow and then you get to the crescendo and then you sort of drift off to get into the end, to relax and to settle. And the word Qoya means Queen. It comes from an ancient Peruvian language called Cheshua, and it means Queen, though, like an empowered woman. So not like the queens of Europe, but like a strong, empowered woman. And there was later that she then found out, too, that there were actually a group of people who lived around lake City Carca who were called the Qoya. There's very little information about them, and I haven't heard a lot more than that. She ended up doing she was there, she was doing a tour, and the person who was doing the tour told her about it. But I have been able to find a lot more information about them. Okay, but that's where the word comes from and that's why there's no U in it. Not English.
Emma:
Absolutely, exactly. When I first started to write about it, I kept spelling it wrong.
Liz
Look, you have a Q, it needs a U. That's fine.
Emma:
That's right. And Liz, you have been on your own journey in terms of body acceptance and all that side of things, which is something I really love about you as well, because you and I have both kind of travelled a little bit along that journey. Me with intuitive eating, you with body acceptance. And can you talk a little bit about how Qoya has helped with that journey as well? Because I know so many women struggle with themselves and themselves and their skin and everything that the world tells us we have to be. Would you be able to share a little bit about your story with that as well?
Liz
Absolutely, yeah. And I think it comes from being able to feel into your body and to realise what strength and power you have inside you. And once you start to feel that, once you remember it, because, let's face it, inside all of us, two or three years old, you thought you were the business. Yes, you did. It's an abyss. And what I find that Qoya does, it helps us to remember that, to remember we are and that this body is the only body you are going to get in this lifetime. Now, whatever you may think about reincarnation or whatever else happens later. But right now, this lifetime, this is all you've got and all that you can do at the moment, everything that you can do is because you have this body. And so often we forget that. And we just are so focused because we've been conditioned to be focused. Like decades of conditioning, intergenerational oh, yeah, absolutely. Our value comes from what we look like. No, our value comes from what we are, who we are, how we behave, how we show up in the world, what we do, how we love our families, how we care for them, how we care for ourselves, how we look after ourselves. That's what's important. What you look like, the meat fact that you've got doesn't really matter. And we've been so conditioned by these companies, like the diet industry, they make their money by making us feel like shit about what we look like. And what I need to say is, I'm a bigger woman, and I've always been a bigger woman, but these experiences are not limited to big women. I had a woman come into my class, and she's I don't know what size, but she's a very slim woman.
Emma:
Yes.
LizL
And she said she had people in her workplace telling her that she was too thin and that she needed to eat more.
Emma:
What people commenting on other people's body size. But it's what used to happen. I mean, I remember even before I started going on this journey, that would often be how I would greet a friend, because I'd be like, oh, you look good, or blah, blah, blah. And now I'm like, oh, my goodness, this is so harmful. But, you know, still, a lot of people don't realise. No, and I remember when I was at my most anorexic, when I was suffering with an eating disorder, I was barely eating, and I never got anything but praise for how I looked, and yet I was desperately unwell. And this is the thing.
Liz:
And, I mean, if you're a size eight and she gets comments on how her stomach got bigger, how people just talk about shape, and you just look at it and go, I'm sorry, I didn't know we were talking about our body. Can we not?
Liz:
And the thing is, you can get yourself in a lot of hot water, too, with this stuff. Like, if you say you have a friend who suddenly lost a lot of weight and you say, you look good, what have you been doing? Oh, thank you. I have cancer.
Emma:
No, but it goes back to what it goes back to what you're saying as well. It's that sort of we are very the fact that we were born, we have worth.
Liz:
Yes.
Emma:
And our worth has nothing to do with any of these things. And I think when you were saying that, it gets us back in touch with that with our power, with our strength, with our inner essence, with our soul, whatever word you use.
Liz:
I think that's definitely what's helped me. I mean, I've read a lot of books and I've done a lot of other work, too. But when you start to think about what can I do? Because I have this body and think of it more as an instrument rather than an ornament I don't care what it looks like. Doesn't matter. It's what I can do because.
Emma:
God definitely it's probably the next big thing, I think, in society that we need to change. There's obviously other things as well. But it's another thing for me that is still really ingrained in our society is still that sort of fatphobia, internalised fatphobia. And I think Qoya can be really helpful in that way.
Liz:
And the other thing is with the internalised fat phobia and the thing is of the bleeding heart:, I'm just concerned about your health. Are you? As you said before you were desperately unwell with anorexia and people were saying how good you looked. They didn't give a shit about your health. It's another way of policing our bodies. It's another way of saying, that's not why you need to look a certain way.
Emma:
Yes. Fitting in, which is what me and Heidi were talking about. I just did a live with Heidi. We're talking about. One of the reasons a lot of women drink and a lot of women struggle when they're trying to stop drinking or take a break from drinking or reduce their drinking is that whole idea of fitting in. And the idea of because as you know from sort of cavemen times that we haven't really evolved and we're still trying to be accepted by the tribe. So it's so hard wired into us. And we were talking about this idea of belonging, which is what you get in your classes, which is where you come exactly as you are, autonomous. You could cry, you could have snot all over your face. You can be your own special, kind of magical, awkward, weird self, and you'll be loved, you'll be accepted, and you can have fun.
Liz:
Yeah, definitely. And the other thing is, it gives you like you said, with the community. Women used to gather in communities all the time. We used to gather around fire. We used to cook together. We used to weave and do things and tell stories and sing and dance and do all that together. And we lost that to a certain degree. And that's something that I love about the classes, is that we're sitting together in a circle again and that you're building and I'm building communities for these women in the places where I teach my classes. Beautiful.
Emma:
Thank you so much, Liz.
Liz:
You're so welcome.
Emma:
Would you be kind enough to tell everybody about I know you've got quite a few different ways that people can reach you, even if they're not in the same state or the same country. Do you want to talk about that a little bit?
Liz:
Absolutely. So I do weekly in person classes in Thornbury, Gisbon, St Kilda and Sunbury. And then I do Fortnightly Zoom calls on the weekend. So I do Saturday morning, Australian Eastern time and Sunday afternoon. So the Saturday morning I actually started, and it's becoming more popular with Australians too, but I actually started that because that's sort of Friday evening for the States, so that they have a time when that would work for them. It's hard to make a time that works for everyone across all time zones. But the other thing that I have started to do is that I've started a YouTube channel and I've got two full classes up there at the moment, as well as that shaking video, so women can experience an entire class. And my hope is that each month I add another class to that bank of classes, so that there's a resource there for people that they can access when they need to. If they can't come to my classes for whatever reason. Because, I mean, it doesn't necessarily work, even if you're here in Australia, that you can make it to one of my classes. We all live very busy lives and that's another way of how we can connect.
Emma:
As a mum of teenagers. I know you've done some work before. I know when you did this, was it the sister, the subject? Seven sisters. You've done work for teenage girls?
Liz:
Sure. Yes, I have. So I have a teens class on a Sunday afternoon at four.
Emma:
I might see if I can get mine along to that.
Liz:
Wonderful. The teens class is slightly shorter. It's only an hour.
Emma:
It's a long time for them to concentrate, isn't it?
Liz:
Yeah, and it's slightly different. We don't do hip opening for the teenager and it's a little bit different how we structure it, just to help them to get into it.
Emma:
Yeah, it sounds really good. I might see if my youngest fancy is coming along to that. And so, Liz, to contact you to register for any of these things. And I know we'll put it when I make this into a podcast, which will be in the next week or so, we'll put everything in the show notes as well. But where did they go to for you?
Liz:
I'm on Instagram now, so you can click on my thing from here, my profile, and I've got my link there on my website. And I'm on Facebook. I have a website which is Sunrangersqoya.com.au, that's my business name. And what else? Website instagram facebook. I have TikTok, but I haven't done very much on it. I'm not very good at TikTok. How did it go? I'm like, I don't think this is going to work. And now I have YouTube as well. The other thing that I was going to mention, if I may, when we were talking about body image and all this work. So what I'm actually doing is actually starting on the 27 February, I'm doing a free five day experiment called the Body Image Shift. And the idea of it is to get you to try and think about your body in a more neutral way. Yes. The idea is it might push your edges a little bit, but it just helps you just to sort of start thinking about things in a different way. Each day there'll be a video and a task to do and there's daily classes. If you participate in the Facebook group, it's all completely free. And when you go onto my social and onto my website, you can sign up to that too.
Emma:
That sounds amazing.
Liz:
Yeah. Come and join. Come and have a play.
Emma:
I can always do more work in that area. That's a constant thing for me.
Liz:
We need to be kind to ourselves. This is decades and decades of condition that we've been putting up with. Did you see the Australian of the Year as Talend Bramfit? She did the Embrace documentary and book and I saw that and I went, yes, this is what I need. And I mean, I've read a lot of her work and what I've done, I've listened to a lot of different people and read their work and watched their videos. And so what I've done is I've sort of done these five tasks as a way of us sort of just starting and pushing the envelope a little bit.
Emma:
Sounds amazing. I think I encourage you all to do that with Liz because she's a wonderful trainer and she's so passionate about what she does and it's always lovely to work with women who are passionate about what they do and Liz is definitely there with that. So I highly encourage you to do that. You'll send me all the details.
Liz:
Thank you. Absolutely.
Emma:
Links everywhere. What's your handle again, Liz? It's at Koia Rangers.
Liz
SunRangers.
Emma:
SunRangers Qoya. Perfect. We'll put that in here as well. Thank you. Liz, is there anything else you want to say before you go?
Liz:
No, I think that's everything great. I think I got everything.
Emma:
What would you say is the greatest thing that Qoya has given you?
Liz:
Gave me back my self confidence.
Emma:
Yeah.
Liz:
After how badly I felt after what happened in my workplace, it gave me back my self confidence and let me back into the strength and power that I've got and realised that just because shitty things happen doesn't mean I'm not worthy. So that's what it did to me.
Emma:
That sounds so good and I find it such a therapeutic practice. It's so helpful to me. I absolutely love it and try to organise groups to go from untoxicated or meet up because I think it's such a powerful thing for everybody. But I think for women who are trying to change patterns of behaviour that have been keeping them stuck and that are preventing them from being with themselves. It's a really helpful resource. So I am a massive fan and I will shout your praises from the rooftops.
Liz:
Thank you.
Emma:
Thank you, my love.
Liz:
Thank you.
Emma:
Have a lovely rest of your day. Thanks for joining us, everyone.
