The Comfort Zone

The Comfort Zone

Just as we all have a sense of our personal space around us, we also have a comfort zone. This is where we like to live most of the time. There is good reason for this zone; it’s the one we can handle, life feels generally good and familiar to us. We have a set routine and expect life to typically go as planned. It’s like the comfort zone on the thermostat—one likes to keep life within a certain range.

While the idea of continual life in the zone of comfort sounds soft and cozy, we all know that life changes, things happen. Even if we do nothing, change will come our way and force us out of comfort and into…..

The Stretch! Maybe you get asked to do something you have never done before. You might be invited to travel to somewhere far away and exotic. Perhaps you have to face a crisis in a relationship or deal with illness or the loss of a loved one.

It is precisely the Stretch that causes us to go beyond comfort and test our limits. After feeling the stretch, we can return to our comfort zone with a nod to how the zone has become more expansive.

In the practice of yoga, we do this with our body, going into positions that ask us to stretch. While the practice helps build a strong, responsive and more flexible body, it also serves as a metaphor for how we live our lives.

As I often remind my students, the Universe is continually expanding; we might as well expand along with it. Then, returning to the comfort zone is all the sweeter for the journey.

Kara