From Chaos to Serenity

Hi, my name is Jessica. Welcome to Moving Toward Stillness. So this video is about moving from chaos into a sense of serenity. So this is one of the reasons why I came to yoga, because every second of life, life is always squeezing us, making us feel tight and compressed and stressed, and always pushing us to our edge. And the practice of yoga has helped me to be able to discover, turning inward, and finding that sense of equanimity.

So what happens when life stresses us or actually pushes us to our edge, or we feel that we have actually moved out of our zone of comfort, we scramble and we're always looking for ways that we can find a sense of security. And moving outside of the body and looking for a sense of security on the outside, we actually lose all of our potential, all of our resources are actually found within. And when you can connect to that inner state and actually stay put and develop what we call staying power, then you can actually take what life brings you and use that to develop and to evolve and to grow and actually be stronger human beings. So I like to look at each asana. They say, whoever they are, that there is 8,400,000 asanas.

And I like to think of in life that there is 8,400,000 opportunities to practice finding equanimity. So finding equanimity is really about choosing to stay put, choosing that one life actually squeezes you instead of moving into some habitual pattern that we have of fidgeting or closing down, closing down the heart, or turning our mind elsewhere. We actually choose to stay put and breathe into the experience and allow the breath to actually make it something that's fluid, something that actually transforms, because we know that at every moment, change is happening. So this practice is about learning how to surf the waves of life, moving in and out of the lulls and of the peaks and noticing where your mind goes. So what I'm going to ask you to do today in this practice, it's less about the asana, but to concentrate on where you go.

And I'm going to remind you to ask yourself, where are you? Where are you right now in this moment? Can you anchor yourself back into your body, back into the breath, and back into your full potential? And then from there, we're going to move from chaos, a bit chaotic this practice, and then move into a sense of serenity, inner peace. And that is called upeka.

Upeka is a sense of equanimity that is found within the heart and that expands outward. So let's get started. I'm going to ask you to come into a standing position. We're just going to bring the feet hip-width apart. So if you are used to bringing the feet together, we're going to find a bit more stability by actually separating the feet.

And you're going to bring the hands right onto the hips, spread the toes really wide. So you can actually go ahead and lift the toes up off the earth and then ground down the mound of the big toe and then grounding down the mound of the small toe. And then we're going to move right into the outer heel, into the inner heel. And then you can spread the toes again and then place them dynamically into the earth. With the hands on the hips, bend the knees slightly.

Make sure that the knees are right over the second toe. And then we're going to push into the earth. So we're actually rooting to rise. We're going to engage the thighs without locking them back. Engage in the thighs.

So you find the strength here. Hands onto the hips to start with. And then drop the tailbone right into the space towards the heels. Go ahead and relax the arms down towards your sides, spreading in through the collarbones. Bring the head right over the base of the spine.

And then connecting to the earth, we call this Pada, Pada Mudra. Find stability here. Even in the myths of chaos, find stability. Close your eyes and turn your breath and your awareness inward. And then deepen your breath.

So we're going to work on Ujjayi breathing, contracting into the back of the throat. Five more breaths here. And then hugging the thighs slightly inward. Again, feeling that engagement in the thighs and that ability to lengthen. Lengthening the breath and lengthening the body.

So for the next five breaths, I'd like you just to extend the exhalation, the count of two. So that means that just for five breaths, you make your exhalation a bit longer than your inhalation. And just two more. And then you're going to open your eyes, keep a soft gaze in front of you, inhaling the arms up. And then exhaling, bring the arms alongside the body.

And rest Asana, arms to the sky. And keep the breath moving. Exhaling. You can either bend the knees if you need to, but slide the hands to the backs of the thighs. You can go all the way down into Uttanasana.

Fingertips touch the earth. Relax down. If you use your bench, we can go ahead and slightly straighten the legs, but the thighs are engaged. Exhaling all the way down for Uttanasana. Inhaling halfway up, back is straight, moving the heart forward.

And then inhaling coming all the way up. Place more. Uttanasana. Halfway up. And connect it to the breath, inhaling.

Last time, inhaling all the way up. And then exhaling the arms down. Adding on, Urdvastasana. This time you're going to come halfway up for length. Bending into the knees, bring the hands onto your back, and release the fingers.

Inhaling, heart moves forward. Exhaling all the way down, abdomen onto the thighs. Inhaling again, halfway up. And then again, exhaling all the way down. And then inhaling all the way up.

From here, coming onto the tips of your toes, find your balance here. See if you can bring the head right over the base of the spine, heart moves forward, find your gaze. And if you fall, just remember, come right back to the breath. Just another moment to practice. If you feel squeezed by imbalance, move inward.

Release the hands now, bring the fingertips to the earth, and then draw your knees right onto the earth. Turn the toes under, and then you're going to go ahead and sit back right onto your heels. Keeping the toes spread, inhaling the arms up. And then exhaling all the way down, Vipada Angustasana. So this in itself might be the same as spilling coffee on your keyboard.

See if you can actually stay present right here. Moving with the breath. And then notice where you go right here. When you're confronted with discomfort, where do you go? How do you deal with it?

Again, two more. You're going to bring the hands back onto the floor. Place the feet back onto the earth, hip width apart, bending into the knees. Drop into the heels now, but keep the ball of the foot buoyant. And then from there, you're going to go ahead and inhale into Utkatasana.

Exhaling, sinking down a little bit lower. Inhaling, raising the upper body. And exhaling, staying. So you're using this moment right here as a homeopathic remedy. Practicing, using discomfort to find serenity.

Choose to stay present. Exhaling all the way down, Uttanasana. Inhaling halfway from length. And bring your left leg all the way back. Come high onto the ball of the toe.

Bring your right knee into a right angle from here. And then you're going to take your right hand to the outside of the shin. And you're going to bring the shin inward. So if you bring the shin inward, you're going to resist the shin into the hand, hand into the shin. And then bring the heart forward from the back heel.

Squaring the hips. Right sitting bone is moving back to the back wall. Left hip is moving slightly forward. And opening up the hips, breathing into the hips now. Stay present.

Notice how you want to check out. Notice what you do. And where do you go? Choose differently. Choose to be present.

Bring the hands now to the earth. And you're just going to bring that foot forward, Uttanasana. Inhaling again, halfway up. On this side, you're going to bring the right foot all the way back. Again, onto the ball of the foot.

Come high onto the ball. Bring the heel all the way back and bring the left knee right into a right angle. And then from here, you're going to take your left hand, you're going to bring it to the outside of the shin, hugging inward. That's going to create a sense of density, strength, inner strength into the core. And then from there, you can expand out.

So from the heel all the way to the crown of the head. Left hip is moving back. Right hip is moving slightly forward. Heart is moving forward. Creating resistance in the hand into the shin, the shin into the hand.

And then breathe into the hips. So breathing into the hips, we're working on the first chakra. Finding stability and releasing fear. Fear of unstability. And then breathing both the hands onto the earth.

Step that foot forward again, Uttanasana. Inhaling all the way up, Urdvastasana. And then exhaling all the way down, Uttanasana. Inhaling again, halfway up. Out of it moves away from the thighs, you can bend the knees comfortably.

And then exhaling, Uttanasana all the way down. Stepping the left leg back. Let's go ahead and draw the knee onto the earth. Inhaling one time, bring the arms to the sky. Lift up and out of the hips and then exhaling all the way down.

Planting the hands into the earth, spread the fingers wide. Inhaling, raise your left knee and bring your right leg, keeping the hips square to the sky. Come high onto the ball of your left foot. Exhaling, draw the navel in and bring the knee into the heart. Inhaling again, the leg back to the sky.

And then again, two more. And then from here, we're just going to bring the foot to the outside of your right hand. You're going to plant your left foot flat onto the earth. And then bring the hips slightly back to the right side, so you're opening up into the hips right now. The knee is going to be slightly out of alignment.

But from there, what we're going to do is we're going to hug the thighs inward, hug them inward, and then draw the inner right thigh towards the second toe. Inhaling, drawing the heart forward now. Keep the arch of your left foot active and then bring the fingertips onto the earth and stretch forward as much as you can. Bow down now, humbly bowing down. Deep breath.

And then here, I'm going to ask you, where do you go? What do you do to find comfort? So that finding comfort and discomfort is what we call reactivity. In Sanskrit, that's called vikshapa. But choose here to stay present.

Develop the muscle of staying in power. And that's the door to freedom. Bring the hands onto the earth. Spread the fingers wide. You're going to come into downward facing dog.

And then comfortably, you can go ahead and just walk that out. And feet are going to come again hip-width apart. Inhaling, high onto the ball of your feet. Look towards your navel and then round out through the spine, pulling back through the heels, draw the heart forward. So if this becomes too difficult, at any moment you can drop down onto the knees.

Otherwise, see if you can stay here for another breath. And then exhaling either onto your knees. So let's go onto the knees for the first one. Lifting up the feet, draw the elbows back. Bring the heart forward, engage the abdomen and the thighs as well as the ankles.

You're going to come all the way down into your stomach. Shoulders to the ears, roll the head of the arm bones back. Lengthen through both of the legs. Spread through the toes. Activate the legs and draw the tailbone back towards the heels.

Then you're going to inhale, lift the hands up off the floor. Lift the chest. Lift the upper thighs. And notice where you go. Stay with your breath.

Exhaling all the way down. So this first one, let's just bend the knees. You're going to come back up. And then exhaling into downward facing dog. And lift the space, the outsides of your hands.

Walk your right foot and then your left foot. And bring the feet, slide the out to the sides. We're going to draw down, releasing towards the earth into malasana. Slide the elbows, both of them to the insides of the knees. Look towards the floor to start with.

Open up both of the knees by the help of your elbows. And then spread the hands. Push the feet into the earth to anchor down. And then see if you can lift up and out of the posture. Soften the breath.

Soften the gaze. And if you're feeling chaos right here, draw your attention right into the breath. Exhaling the fingertips down. Walk the feet in, hip width apart. Exhaling all the way down for uttanasana.

Inhaling all the way up. And then exhaling, bring the hands to the heart. Uttanasana. And this time we're going to bring the left leg back. Draw the knee onto the earth.

Inhaling one time, the hands to the heart, to the sky. And then exhaling all the way down. Inhaling, you're going to bring that leg all the way back. And this time you're going to bend into the knee just to open up the hip. And make a couple of circles with that leg.

And extending the leg all the way back. And then exhaling and placing it next to the other one. Looking in the space now to the outsides of the hand. And again, you're going to walk your feet forward. This time you're going to align the outsides of your feet with the outsides of the mat.

Bend the knees right over the second toe. And then you're going to slide both your elbows into the insides of the knees. And twist the knees into the elbows, elbows into the knees. And then find your staying power here. Fingertips to the earth, walk the feet back in again, hip width apart, exhaling Uttanasana.

Inhaling to bring the arms back to the sky, or Vastasana. And then exhaling the hands to meet the heart. Arms to the sky. Exhaling Uttanasana. Inhaling halfway up.

Exhaling all the way down. Inhaling again halfway up. And you're going to take your right leg all the way back this time. Bend your knee, place the knee onto the earth. Squeezing your thighs inward, and as you inhale, you're going to bring the arms to the sky.

Exhaling all the way down. Spread the fingers wide, place the finger pads into the earth. Mound of the index finger and the thumb. And then from there, you're going to go ahead and take your left leg to the sky. Exhaling, you're going to bring the forehead to the knee.

Again, inhaling back up again. Square the hips. Exhaling, navel to the spine. Last one. And this one, you're just going to bring the foot to the outside of your left hand.

Plant your right foot now into the earth. I'm going to hollow out the arch of your foot. And then you're going to allow the hips now to move slightly off center. Squeeze the inner thighs inward. And then you're going to draw the inner thigh, inner left thigh towards the knee.

And the knee is going to meet right over the second toe. Draw the tailbone towards your right heel. Inhale and the heart moves forward. And then spread the fingers and walk your hands forward as much as you can. So the tendency here to find grace and to find comfort is to do something like this.

I want you to squeeze inner thighs together. Bring the heart forward, tailbone and heel back, and then bow. Deepen the breath. Deepen your experience of being here. Fully present.

And notice your reaction. Notice the tone of your breath. So the breath is a great way to see what's happening inside. Soft breath. Smooth.

Like surfing in and out, the ups and the downs of life. And then from there you're going to come out of it. Bring the hands back onto the earth. And you're just going to come into downward facing dog. And again, you're going to walk that out.

High onto the toes. Draw the navel in, chin towards the chest. Pull the heels back and activate your shins. You want the shins away from the earth. Stay buoyant.

Stay light. And then allow the heart to move forward. We're going to stay here for three breaths. In any moment, if it becomes difficult, drop onto the knees. But stay present.

And then exhaling, either drawing the heart forward, squeezing the elbows in, and coming all the way down through chaturanga dandasana, or if you prefer, doing the same thing modified onto the knees, heart moves forward, elbows again bent all the way down. Lengthen through the legs. Bring the hands back behind you. And then lift the head of the arm bones. Engage your shoulder blades.

Spread the fingers wide. Keeping the hands in line with the shoulders. And then inhaling, coming all the way up. And exhaling, remaining. Stay.

And exhaling all the way down. Hands to the earth. Go ahead and take in a full breath here. And exhale out through the mouth. Inhale fully.

And exhale. And then pushing up again, either from the knees, and then moving your way back into downward facing dog. This time we're going to go ahead and lift up the left leg. And exhaling, opening up that hip. And just a couple times, large circles with the knee.

Keep the shoulders square, and the right armpit nice and buoyant. Hollow it out. Last circle. And then look to the space, to the outsides of your hands. We have two choices.

You can either walk the feet up, or if you prefer, you can go ahead and bend into the knees. Look to the outsides of your hands, where you want your feet to go, and then you can come into malasana. Same thing here. Slide the elbows out to the insides of the knees. You're going to push into the earth.

Look down. Open up the knees with the help of your elbows. And then plant the feet dynamically in the earth. Bring the inner soles up, and then find length. Find peace.

Find this moment. No matter what this moment is for you, find it. Just breathe into it, and expand into it. And then plant the hands again, down onto the earth, and then walk the feet in uttanasana. Inhale in all the way up.

And then exhale in the arms down. Inhale in the arms up. And exhale in the arms down. Find your breath. Two more. And then from there, we're going to bring the left foot all the way back.

Squeezing our thighs together, find balance here, lengthening through the waist, shoulders up and back, and then draw the navel slightly in, tailbone towards the back of the heel. Bend the arms out in front of you. You're going to cross the elbows. It doesn't make any difference which one. And if possible, cross your wrists and press the palms and the hands together to find stability.

Moving into anjanaasana. And then there, the knee is going to come right over the second toe. You can stay here if you feel that you have that staying power, your balance. You're going to float forward from the back heel. And then those that want to move on, if you want to try this, you can go ahead and lift up that back leg.

So I like to keep the standing leg slightly bent. Keep the hips square. And then exhaling, placing the foot back down on the floor. This time we're going to plant the foot flat. Inhaling the arms up.

Avirbhadrasana one, warrior one. And then exhaling all the way down. Then you're going to turn this way, opening up the feet this time, spread the feet really, really wide. And then we're going to allow the toes to slightly splay out. Bend the knees, bring them right over the second toe.

Tailbone is moving down, not between the thighs, but moving straight down towards the earth. Engage the inner thighs. Inhaling the arms up. Exhaling the arms into a cactus. Close your eyes.

Breathe deep. And then notice. Relax the jaw. Soften your gaze. Smile.

Move inward. And then inhaling all the way up, exhaling down. We're just going to turn now to the left foot, moving right into Ajahnasana. So again, onto the ball of that foot. Draw your knee right over the second toe.

Engage the thighs. So by doing this, you're bringing the hips into alignment. Tailbone is moving down. Outer is moving up from here. Inhaling the arms up.

And then crossing again into the elbows. Find your balance here. Stability. Any form of stability. Always changing, always shifting, always moving from chaos to maybe serenity.

If you're moving on, stretching from that back heel all the way forward. And again, if you're moving on, engage those inner thighs, lifting up the back leg. Exhaling, planting the foot back down into the earth. Inhaling, Virabhadrasana one. And then again, coming forward.

This time we're going to bring the arms out into a cross. Deep inhalation. Exhaling. Inhaling the arms to the sky. And exhaling, sinking.

Expand into the experience. Exhaling. Bring the feet now parallel to the outsides of your mat. And then you're just going to slide forward. So you're going to bring your hands to the hips.

Pull the hips all the way back. Lining again the head of the femur bone with the ankle bone. So that means you don't want to come back too far. Come almost into the ball of your foot. Spread the toes wide.

And then exhale. Hands meet the earth. You can go ahead and bend the knees to start with. Draw your head down. Relax the shoulders now.

And then slowly by pushing your feet into the earth, you can begin to lift the hips up. The legs don't go straight. That's just fine. Keep the bent. Or you can go ahead and move them towards the sky.

Just deepen the breath. Okay, we're going to pivot now to the right foot. And I'm going to have you draw your left knee onto the floor. And then you're just going to begin to make a small movement by turning, crossing the knees one over the other. And then bring the fingertips to the earth.

Squeeze the inner thighs together. Lift them off the earth. And then keeping that engagement, draw the hips back down. Engage both of the feet. So the feet are flexed.

The outside of the feet are placed deeply into the earth. And then inhaling, bring the arms up. Exhaling, you're going to go ahead and bring your left elbow over the right knee. Place the palms and the hands together. Find length as you inhale.

Draw the navel in now. And then as you exhale, pivot to your right shoulder. And then bring your awareness now into the right hip. Where do you go? Even the state of boredom can create reactivity.

Can you stay with boredom? Can you remain still and present with stillness? With uncertainty, with discomfort. And then come out of the posture. I'm going to pivot towards your left side.

Plant the right foot onto the earth. And then just coming out of it, unfolding legs. Exhaling, just bowing forward here. And inhaling, you're going to do the same thing. Pivoting this time to your left foot.

Spinning onto the ball of your back foot. Draw the knee onto the earth. The same thing here. Just want to be very mindful of your knees. Cross the knees, one on top of the other.

Hands onto the earth. Squeeze the inner thighs together. Get that engagement. And then draw the hips back down equally to the earth. Engaging into both of the feet.

Feet are flexed. Inhaling the arms to the sky. Exhaling, taking the right elbow this time to the outside of the left knee. Bring the palms and the hands together. Inhaling, finding length through the spine.

Draw the navel in. And then as you exhale, pivot, if you can, towards your left shoulder. And turn inward. Inhale to come out of the posture. Place the hands back onto the earth.

One last time. You're moving into a wide legged forward fold, exhaling all the way down. Inhaling again, halfway up for length. Pivot your right foot forward to the front of the mat. Hands planted onto the earth and come back into downward facing dog.

Okay. This is our last plank. So come to the ball of your feet. Engage the inner thighs, pull the heels back, and then begin to pull the front of the body forward. See if you can stay here and know that you're not alone.

Inhaling and exhaling through the totality of your body. Expand the experience. Stay put. And then exhaling either onto the knees, or if you can, pull the heart forward. Bend the elbows and come all the way down onto your belly.

Inhale and lengthen in through the waist. This time we're going to interlace the fingers onto your back. Draw the heads of the arm bones back. Instead of lifting the arms high, let's keep them in line with the shoulders. Inhaling.

Lift the upper thighs up off the floor. Spread the toes wide, and then lift the upper chest. And stay for three breaths. And exhaling all the way down. Place the hands onto the earth, deep inhalation.

Exhaling out through the mouth. Inhaling again. Exhaling out through the mouth. Placing your hands onto the earth, so you can either turn the toes under, draw the heads of the arm bones back. Pull the tailbone now towards the heel and engaging into the thighs.

Draw the navel in and come through, chaturanga dandasana, all the way back into the downward facing dog. And then walk that out. And then last time, we're going to look to the outside of the hands. Again, you can step, or if you prefer to hop, you can't. Coming into malasana.

Elbows are going to move to the insides of the knees. Splay the knees open. Push the feet into the earth, then root to rise. And then you can go ahead and try this. So from here, you can come up onto the balls of the feet.

And notice that within stability, there's always instability. And in instability, there's always a sense of stability. Exhaling all the way down. Hands to meet the earth. Draw the feet in again, hip-width apart.

Exhaling all the way down. Inhaling all the way up. Urdvastasana, and then exhaling down. Let's just take a moment here to pause. So you can open up the feet a little bit wider.

And bring the hands right now onto the lower abdomen. Find stability here, and then find your breath. Plant the feet into the earth. Okay, and then release. Okay, we're going to bring the feet now, hip-width apart again, inhaling the arms up.

Exhaling, opening the arms up into a cross. Keep the navel active and draw the right foot off the floor. Shivasana. Find your balance here. If you want to move on, bring the hands now to the hips.

Draw the navel in. Bending into the standing leg, you can take your ankle and place that right on top of the thigh. Activate your right foot. So instead of relaxing the foot, activate it by spreading the toes. Pulling the toes towards the knees.

And then you're going to create an internal rotation of both of the thighs. Thighs are going to be moving inward, hips are going to be moving back. Heart is floating forward. And then drawing that knee forward even more, pull the chest forward even more. Find stability here.

Open your arms now like wings. Find your balance. Remember, chaos, there's always a sense of stability if you can stay present. If you'd like to try this last variation, you bring the hands to the heart. Bend down a bit deeper.

And then you're going to take your right arm to the sole of the foot. Push the arm into the foot, foot into the arm. Draw your gaze now right in front of you. And then maybe you can even open up the arms into a cross. Inhaling again, the arm is back into a cross.

Inhaling again, slowly coming out of it into shivasana. And then exhaling. And then valuing with gratitude. Okay, second side, inhaling up. Take your time.

And again, if you want to move on, bring the left hand to the sole of the foot, sliding that hand down. Push the arm into the foot, foot into the arm. Keep your gaze deep in the breath. And then again, arms back into a cross again, back into shivasana. Inhaling, open the arms, exhaling uttanasana.

Inhaling, toes are going to meet, fingertips onto the earth, come high onto the toes. Now open up the knees, pulling them out to the sides. Draw your heels towards the earth. So if the heels don't touch the earth, that's just fine. But allow them to become heavy.

If your fingertips forward, relax the head humbly down. And breathe into the spine, into the back. And then release onto the earth. And once you come down, draw the knees comfortably into the chest, taking a couple of breaths here. And you might even want to do just a couple of circles, release the spine, any compression that you might have accumulated.

But keep the breath moving, stay present. And you're going to take the left leg, bend the knee, both in the hands are going to come up to meet the sole of the foot, interlace the fingers. Bring the knee to the outside of the ribs, and you're going to even tilt slightly to that left side. The leg is going to stay into a right angle here, pressing the hands into the foot, foot into the hands. And then you can extend your right leg to the sky.

So you might not go farther, any farther than this. But if you feel comfortable, you begin to extend out through the heel, and then exhaling slowly down. So you're stretching outward. Relax the shoulders, back of the head, relax the jaw. And you want to come to just about right here.

And this is going to be the maximum. The moment that you actually lift the leg, completely relax down to the earth, you've lost the posture. So stay present, pushing out through the heel, draw the left knee towards the earth. Open the hip. One last breath.

To come out of it, you can go ahead and inhale the right leg back up. And then exhaling and release the foot. And do the same side on the right side. Same thing on the right side. So go ahead and interlace the fingers.

Draw that right knee into the earth. Push the foot into the hands, hand into the foot. Extend out through the left. Inhaling, bring the breath all the way up into the upper chest. And then exhaling.

Again, inhaling, pushing out through the ball of the foot and out through the heel. And then deepen the experience into the hips. Last breath. And then inhaling, bring the leg all the way back to the sky again, bending into both knees. One last time, the knees into the heart.

Just again making some circular movements. And then the other way. Now we're going to go ahead and roll to the left side. We're going to come up into a seated position. So you might need a blanket, otherwise you can just come.

We're just going to be here for just a minute or two. So bring the hands to the outsides of the hips. Make yourself comfortable here. Any cross-legged position will do. And then bring the hands comfortably onto the knees.

If you prefer to have the palms and the hands facing upward, you can as well. Allow the spine to become long. Inhale on a count of four or five, depending upon how you feel with your breath. And then exhaling on a count of six to eight. Inhale it again, four to five.

Exhaling, extending the exhalation, lengthening. And three more. And then just get still for just a moment. Drop the breath. And then scan the body.

Notice how you feel right now. Where are you? Notice the way you feel right now. And then inhaling, raising the arms. And bring that whole experience now right into the palms and the hands, and then bring it into the heart.

And then deep gratitude for yourself for surfing the ups and downs of life, the sense of equanimity, presence, and courage. Thank you.