(Potentially big) changes underway..

I spent most of my young adult to regular adult life really interested in the idea of the comfort zone. Namely being aware of what it was and staying in it just long enough to course correct into another direction. I grew up in a small suburb in the Midwest, and was pretty clear early on that the world in my mind was way bigger than the horizons in front of me. The comfort zone is a mental space that makes us feel safe and secure. Dare I say.. comfortable. Our behaviors and patterns are routinized so there isn’t much unexpected that occurs. There is less anxiety and stress, and a relative degree of happiness/okayness. I say relative cuz there aren’t really the highs that come from overcoming challenge or something you didn’t know you could do but nor is the extreme distress that day by day instability and chaos seems to bring. While Eastern philosophy may guide us towards experiencing equanimity during the relative highs and lows of the human experience, I have never thought this meant a dispassionate life. Or being okay with anything/everything. Or getting too cozy and comfortable.

An awakened mind is one that is vividly aware of each moment in everyday life.

And that ain’t the comfort zone.

Need some good news about what these uncertain days are bringing us? I do! Current neuroscience research coming from Yale has found that uncertainty and change aren’t bad things… (had any of that these days? ;)) In fact, uncertainty kicks our brains into learning mode. Think about it. If you don’t know the way to an address you are looking for, you are hyper aware of where you are walking and every twist and turn along the way. Go to the same spot a few times and you can feel free to day dream the same recycled 72,000 thoughts you had yesterday. And the day before. Uncertainty makes us pay attention. And be aware.

The Yale researchers studied how the brain responds to uncertainty. The scientists taught a group of monkeys to hit various targets, which if they hit, they got a sweet reward. The odds of some targets were fixed -- the monkeys consistently got a reward 80 percent of the time. Sometimes the target was more unpredictable -- the frequency and amount of award the monkeys received varied.

When the scientists measured the monkeys' brain activity while they played with the targets, a clear pattern emerged. If the monkeys could predict how often a target would pay off, brain regions associated with learning basically shut down. When the monkeys couldn't guess what would happen, their learning centers lit up. Too much stability, it turns out, is like a shut-off switch for learning. :) Autopilot and dialing it in.. not a great thing. Doing new things and embracing uncertainty are indeed great opportunities for learning and growth. ..to continually improve and learn. And to do that we probably need to avoid the easy and comfortable in favor of the unpredictable and potentially hard.

This is the long and short way of me announcing that I need a change and have decided to leave the Jivamukti Yoga Center in Munich. It was a very tough decision, as it was my first “home” here in Germany for which I will always be grateful. The studio, and my lovely students and co-teachers welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like I had a place to belong. I cherish that. But it’s time for me to embrace uncertainty and get out of my comfort zone.

In the future, I am focusing more on leading more retreats (mainly shorter and within trains distance), leading Ayurveda courses, and teaching at my new home studio at the Studio in Lehel and Schwabing (schedule here). I, for one, am personally loving having more intimate connections with students and think this is the direction that yoga as a discipline should go in. We need one on one connection these days.. perhaps even more than before.

Facing a hard decision yourself? These times, they are a-changin.. Lean back. You got this.