Whenever we find a comfortable situation, there’s always the temptation and risk of getting stuck there. Exploring life can be uncomfortable at times, and when we finally feel comfortable and at home again, it’s easy to want to stay. But the push into discomfort, and the exploration of new experiences is what makes life satisfying. Without contrast, being “comfortable” actually becomes stifling. Your favorite chair feels SO much more luxurious after a long day of exertion. And no matter how comfortable your favorite chair is, if you sit long enough you will get restless, as your muscles long to be stretched and used before they atrophy. Life has a way of forcing us back into some form of discomfort, no matter how we try to avoid it, and this is a great thing to be embraced. It’s how we grow. The nature of life demands this contrast, and there is no way to truly experience comfort without the departure from it. There is no way to enjoy the feeling of coming home if you never leave your house. It’s the back and forth that makes the music of life happen.
In tonal music (most any music commonly listened to in western culture), we could call what’s known as the “tonic,” or central pitch, home. For example, in the key of C, C is the tonic- the most important pitch, and as listeners we don’t feel resolution until we settle back upon this pitch. It feels nice and settled to hear C, but if we hear nothing but C for hours on end, it may begin to feel a bit tiresome. It certainly won’t be exciting. The more the music pulls away from this home base, the more twists, turns and adventures it has after leaving, the more satisfying the return.
We experience this principle very clearly in our bodies when practicing asana based yoga. If you stay where you are totally comfortable, not feeling any stretch at all, then you get nothing out of the practice. By pushing into unexplored and uncomfortable areas of your body, and breathing through it, you experience an amazing feeling of release and freedom when returning to neutral. You start by walking to your mat. We could call standing/walking “home”. You go through the whole practice, pressing mindfully into the tension and breathing with it, working your muscles, challenging your balance. At the end of the practice you stand back up and walk off the mat- you’ve returned “home” but after the all the places you explored in your journey away, you return “home” with new sense of freedom and aliveness.
Question for you: In what ways do you tend to cling to comfort, and in what what aspects of your life do you wish to be more adventurous?
