by Jessica Jennings, MS, Founder Ma Yoga®
It’s the beginning of 2025, and as I take an honest look at my life, I’m not quite where I want to be.
And yet, I find myself waiting til this happens… or that…
This morning, I remembered words from an old Sanskrit chant we used to do in the yoga school I was trained in, Anusara: nisprapanchaya shantaya.
Shantaya means extraordinary peace. Nisprapanchaya means “does not need any special conditions.”
I loved the idea of peace – I even used “shantaya” as my username for years.
But I forgot about the other word. This is the one that came to me this morning. Nisprapanchaya reminds us that we do not need our situation to be any special way, to be able to fulfill our deepest desires – even to be who we want: to step into our fullest our greatest potential.
So how do we get there, if it’s not fixing our situation?
For any natural process, we just need to look at the five natural elements: space, earth, water, fire, air for guidance. According to yoga, that’s all we got, it’s all we are, and everything in the whole universe is made up of some combination of these energies.
The qualities of these elements are part of who we are.
They can guide us back to our true essence, so we can step into our fullest potential.
Here’s how:
SPACE – Make space to listen and notice. Inner guidance is hard to find, especially with the constant input, but it’s there – we often just don’t pay attention.
Instead, we’re paying attention to our situation.
As they say, if you opened a box and saw 15 puppies and a snake, your mind would focus on the snake.
If you constantly open yourself to all the craziness of the world around you, your mind will try and fix the problems.
Make space for the vibe of cute puppies within you by turning it all off. For me, a yoga class gives me a chance to be present and curious with myself, receive nurturing energy, and let go of tension and constriction so there’s space for breath to go deep.
When we invite breath deep into the kidney area, we send a message to the nervous system that all is good: there’s no snake, and it does its job to slow down the heart rate, relax blood pressure, and even slow down the firings of the neurons of the brain.
And we can start to hear what it is our heart deeply desires.
Like an acorn knows how to grow into an oak tree: we have the map to our greatest potential within us.
EARTH – Earth is about steadiness. To fulfill your potential, we don’t want to be up and down with each event, moving this way and that, blowing around like a leaf in the wind.
We need to find a steadiness within us. This can mean turning in each day at the same time, listening in for guidance, and re-connecting to your intention to fulfill your greatest potential.
We all have this steadiness within us.
Think about looking at a photo of you as a toddler. Every physical attribute as since changed – and yet you still know it’s you.
How? What do you recognize?
The part of you that never changes – you might think of it as your soul, or spirit, or Consciousness – that part that shines through your eyes is always there.
Your steadiness is your essence, your true Self, beyond space and time.
We can drawn into this steadiness physically with our muscles – hugging in and engaging – and create stability in our body, especially the vulnerable joints.
And we can do it mentally and energetically – turning lovingly inward toward ourselves. Think about how you might talk to a little one you love learning to walk: you got this. You are beautiful. You are so smart. It’s ok to fall, just keep trying. I know you’ll make it happen.
I know it feels ridiculous, but think of your words as energy: and you’re giving yourself a nurturing current that will carry you forward.
When we turn inward with love, we find our steady center.
Bringing in earth element is steadily choosing to stay in the path of your heart.
WATER – One of my philosophy teachers liked to say: “water flows down.”
What he meant was that a stream doesn’t go looking for the challenging route; it finds the easy ways.
That doesn’t mean you’re not going to work hard.
It means you’re going to allow yourself to take the easiest path there – and to enjoy the journey.
Sometimes we are the ones who put the most challenging conditions into our day.
Find the play of it all first thing each day, so you don’t start out by making the choices that will be more difficult for you.
Do some cat/cows and add a tail-wag or whatever feels good.
When you feel drawn to something and you carve out the time, step into it fully and allow yourself to be taken by its current – like a kid playing a game of Kick the Can, losing track of time.
FIRE – What do you think of when someone says engage your core?
Is it “suck your belly in”?
Nothing in nature is static. Everything is moving, flowing, changing.
If we think of our power as something we hold, it will find its way out.
If we think of our power as something that’s flows through us, and that we can support in grounding like electricity – then it’s constant.
Prana is the invisible force that nourishes the physical body. You can think of it as circulation, neural communication, nutrient delivery – it’s all of it. It’s what breathes our breath and beats our heart.
Prana flows in many directions, but most importantly: it flows downward from the low belly.
When we suck our belly in, we actually block prana, and thus restrict our power.
Instead, try exhaling, gently drawing your low belly in, and rooting down from hips through heels.
Now you’re grounding your power, and like plugging in, you might feel an instant lightness in your heart.
By rooting down from hips to heels, you’re connecting to support.
Mentally, remember that we cannot play our biggest game alone.
The hardest thing about achieving our goals is not doing the quiet, behind-the-scenes part… it’s making a stand in the world so that others can support you.
Or as one of my teachers liked to say, we can’t become ourselves, by ourselves.
Root into the support of the earth from your core and physically stand strong – and remember that we can only experience our greatest power when we are connected to support.
AIR – Air is a connecting force. Open a window and out it rushes.
In the same way, when we root in to support, our heart opens and there’s a natural flow outward. Whatever you’ve been working on – this is the moment when you share it.
It’s not the results that give you the good, calm, peaceful feeling – it’s energetically sharing your gifts.
Whether we’re talking about finishing that book, or talking to a friend you haven’t connected with for a while, or whatever may arise: it takes more energy to hold it in than to let it flow outward at this point.
I say “at this point,” because these five elements unfold in this order in any co-creative act.
We go from the the most subtle, to the most gross: the same way a soul moves from formlessness to a body. Then, as we continue our life journey, we become more and more subtly aware that our thoughts, words, and even actions are just energy.
Everything follows this path.
If we’re making a garden, we make space for it, pack the earth around our seeds, and water it. Then, the roots go downward, and the flower goes up.
When we embody them all in this order – what I call the Five Sacred Steps of Co-Creation – we can find our authentic experience of shantaya, a deep peace, because we are being true to our soul’s essence.
I wish you space, steadiness, playful power and many moments of connection.
I wish you deep steadiness that requires no particular conditions.
I wish you a deep, joyous experience of finding your current.
I wish you an experience of rooting powerfully into support.
And I wish you moments of offering your unique gifts out to the world. many experiences of your greatest potential unfolding in all its glory.🙏🏼
I hope you’ll join me for my free 5 day prenatal training, to learn, day by day, step by step, the Five Sacred Steps with me. 🙏🏼💜
