Life Begins at the End of our Comfort Zone

I was in the back of the class, it was early in the morning (way earlier than I typically like to get up) and Kathleen was subbing for the Saturday morning flow class. As I entered downward facing dog she said "if you haven't been here for a while, this may be uncomfortable, just stay with it and give yourself time." Those were the words I was longing to hear as my body was experiencing the results of sitting in a chair all day the day before. It's a good thing enlightenment isn't at all related to my hamstrings.

The holidays can be a time where we feel a bit uncomfortable. Maybe we are uncomfortable around our families, maybe we are uncomfortable because we aren't around our families. Maybe it's the crazy amount of food we are eating, or the crazy amount of money we might be spending. It seems like this time of year could be where we demonstrate everything we have learned about ourselves in the past year on our yoga mat. On our mats, we are learning to stay with our breath, to keep an open heart, to live from our hearts, to honor our differences (on the mat this might be honoring my body is different than your body; or honoring my body today is different than my body yesterday), to cultivate compassion towards ourselves and others and to stay connected to some presence bigger than ourselves.

Sometimes, life during the holidays doesn't seem as comfortable as all that. Maybe we have just gotten in the habit of living in a routine that doesn't match what we are learning on our mats. It can be uncomfortable to enter into new positions, whether that is a yoga pose or how we interact with people in our lives. The holiday season is really the perfect time to practice. Jack Kornfield said in this month's edition of Tricycle "if you think you are enlightened, go spend a week with your family."

Our twelve year old niece wears a necklace that says "life begins at the end of our comfort zone." I think she is right. Do you know where your comfort zone ends?


This holiday season, let's all look for a place in our life where we can break an old habit, a habit that might be comfortable and yet not-so-skillful. Let's step out of our comfort zone and allow our life to begin again.

Cheers,
Ami