The CUYA Institute
Cuyamungue – Felicitas D. Goodman Institute

At the heart of the CUYA Institute is a living tradition: wisdom that flows through our bodies, in the breath of our ancestors, in the cycles of nature, in the cosmic rhythms around us, and in the shared field of presence between us. Our mission is to cultivate pathways of awareness that restore this wisdom to its rightful place…  embodied, alive, and accessible to all.

The name “CUYA” carries with it both history and vision. Rooted in our origins as the Cuyamungue Institute, it now also serves as an acronym — C.U.Y.A. — a guiding symbol that unites our mission:

• C — Consciousness: The field of shared awareness that arises in Collective Presence, where the “We” awakens beyond the “I” – moving from the “Me to the We.” 

• U — Unity: Our alignment with the Cycles of Nature and the rhythms of the cosmos, reminding us that we are woven into a greater fabric of reality. This sense of unity reminds us that our awareness is the shared consciousness that connects all living beings. 

• Y — Your Awakening: The inner journey of Embodiment and Wisdom, where through direct experience the body remembers.  At the CUYA Institute, this awakening is nurtured through Ritual Body Postures and ecstatic trance, where the body itself becomes the doorway to wisdom, presence, and transformation.

• A — Ancestral Wisdom: Roots. Our connection to Sacred Lineage, honoring those who walked before us and rooting us in belonging and continuity. Our founder, anthropologist Felicitas D. Goodman looked to some of the oldest, most authentic ancestral records we have,  the world’s collection of early and indigenous art,  and decoded selected artifacts as embodied “ritual instructions.” 

  Together, the Four Pathways of C.U.Y.A. … Consciousness, Unity, Your Awakening, and Ancestral Wisdom,  form a single tapestry of practice. They remind us that awakening is not an abstract idea but something we live: through the body in Your Awakening, through nature’s cycles in Unity, through community in shared Consciousness, and through the guidance of Ancestral Wisdom.

  

  Together, these Four Pathways — Consciousness, Unity, Your Awakening, Ancestral Wisdom — interweave into a single tapestry. They remind us that awakening is not an abstract concept but a lived experience: in the body, in the earth, in community, and in the timeless presence of those who came before us.

  The CUYA Institute is a home for this work, founded by anthropologist Dr. Felicitas D. Goodman . Through our practice of Ritual Body Postures, ecstatic trance , and ritual, we enter states of awareness that expand the ordinary and reveal the extraordinary. In these moments, we discover that consciousness is not a possession of the self but a field we step into together.

  Our vision is both ancient and urgently contemporary: to awaken a deeper relationship with life by returning to practices that cultivate presence, amplify wisdom, and connect us across generations. In a world marked by fragmentation, the Cuya Institute holds a space for wholeness — where consciousness, unity, your awakening, and ancestry converge.

  This is the work of CUYA. This is the work of awakening.

CUYA Institute: Cuyamungue – Felicitas D. Goodman Institute