This is part of a semester-long series written by Inhale Yoga Studio instructor Michelle Stobart. Come back every month for more of her inspiring work!
Challenge. Anything outside the norm that activates the mind, pushes the limitations of the body, or creates a fluctuation in emotion. I would also say a stepping stone into a fuller, more realized being.
Every day we are faced with any number of challenges. From our food choices, our job and family choices, our life decisions, to our yoga pose (asana) endeavors, these challenges provide the opportunity to unravel the obstacles of the mind and body, allowing a movement of life into a new realm. No matter what challenges are faced, none are easy. Often, when challenge arises, it is easy for the mind to want to retreat back to what was once comfortable and seemingly easier. We forget in the depth of the new great challenge just how difficult and trying it was to be in that perceived “comfort zone.” It is by meeting challenge and moving through it that we create new ways of being and an understanding of a deeper comfort zone within.
So, what if we change our perspective a bit? What if, in the midst of the challenge, when we want to back away and run to our comfort, we instead see the challenge as the platform from which to step into the beauty that is unfolding next? What if we say okay to the fear, okay to the unknown, and goodbye to how things once were? What if we trade that fear in for all of the potential that lies in what things can be as we move through the challenge?
In our yoga practice, we use the poses to work in the body, mind, and emotions. With each moment in a pose, we are seeking the comfort zone of steady breath and mind. Each obstacle (whether physical, mental or emotional) calls for a little adjustment here, letting go there, or a little tweak to once again find a place that is comfortable and steady. With each false perception dropped and each false limitation lifted, there is a sense of fully embodying what is possible. How empowering it is to know that whatever challenge arises, with patience, persistence and joyful willingness, we pass through the challenge into a new way of being (often one we couldn’t have imagined without the challenge).
As I reflect back on my own path, I recognize that writing these words is far easier than the work to get to a place to be able to write them. I remember when I first set out to open a yoga studio. There were so many challenges and obstacles in my path. I had to figure out creative ways to move through financial issues, self-doubt, resource needs and the lingering question if anyone would even come. Over the course of being a studio director and teacher, I continue to meet with the same kinds of challenges, though the way they are presented may change. Just like my yoga on the mat, I know that with patience, persistence and dedication, I will find my way to what I’m aspiring. It may not always be easy or even look like what I thought it would when I get there, but the difficult and arduous work on the mat has always prepared me to meet the challenges of life. I find that by attending the practice and allowing each new challenge to create growth, my life is opening to new potential every day. For me, it is the work on the mat that creates an ability to move through the challenges of life with a sense of grace and ease. The work on the mat allows me to open to each new possibility. When I leave the mat and move into my life, it is the practice that gives me the skills to rise to the challenges that I meet off the mat. I use my yoga practice as a training space to find and better understand that comfort zone that is quiet and still gently guiding me through challenge. I can’t stress enough how much easier it is to write these words of challenging experiences now overcome than it is to actually be doing the practice inside the challenging times.
The best way I can think to guide you into your own understanding of your inner comfort zone is to invite you to come to the mat. Come and face your challenges. Share and grow in this experience with me. Get on the mat! Stretch your body and let it stretch your mind. When you find that challenge and the obstacles begin to stand in your way, don’t give up! Don’t run away! Take one baby step into the unknown and grow your experience. Let it be hard. Cry if you need to. But move directly into the challenge with patience and wonder. Let the experience unfold and move through you. You won’t be sorry that you did.
I’ll be waiting for you at Inhale Yoga Studio, 63 S. Court St. Come join me and begin to dive into what challenges you and learn how you can grow into your full potential with that challenge.
Photo: Christine Lentz and Baily Joy