The Art of Spiritual Adventure:

Getting Out of the Comfort Zone
by Uddhava (David B. Ramsden), E-RYT 500,

In our Yoga for Spiritual Awakening classes we begin to explore the art of leaving the comfort zone and concentrating more on the experience of taking the asana to its edge. By moving to our edge, we begin opening our bodies to healing energies and awakening our soul’s memory of its own expansive nature. To move into this Spiritual Adventure without maturity or the ability to concentrate and focus the mind can jeopardize the body’s health. But once we have the ability to become inward and centered through meditation and the various techniques, the art of getting out of the comfort zone reaps many awards.

 The body will not grow stronger or the mind sharper unless we exercise them with greater effort. Staying inside the comfort zone tells the body that it is doing just fine, even if in reality the body lacks health. Why change if it doesn’t get the signals that it needs to grow stronger or more flexible? Often illnesses plaque us simply because we are giving the body less energy instead of more energy when we feel sick. Paramhansa Yogananda once treated one of his disciples who had a weak and fragile body with vigorous work: even though seemly harsh, his health never failed. It was not until the disciple began to ask for more gentle projects that his health actually began to falter.

In yoga we are concerned with our level of consciousness and how it affects our energies which then manifest through the body. I experienced this directly when I worked at Ananda’s retreat center in California, the Expanding Light, for over seven years.  Although the work was expansive and the daily problems difficult, I pretty much knew how to solve most of the challenges that were presented to me. It was through the Divine Mother’s kindness that I was suddenly removed from this work and asked to start teaching yoga full time at the Ananda Portland Mandir and surrounding areas. Suddenly I was faced with many new challenges that I had no idea to handle. It is through these expansive changes that I once again accelerated expanded my sense of potential.

The affirmation, “strength and courage fill my body cells,” which we use with the Moon Pose (chandrasana), is important to the spiritual path. Strength and courage enable us to face the challenges of Spiritual Adventures. There is a movie called Defending Your Life in which a soul returning to the astral realms starts meeting with angels to review his past life on Earth. Although he led a very good life, he often failed at the many challenges presented to him. During a round of excuses of why he failed, the Angel looked at him and smiled, “You really don’t get it do you?” What the Angel was trying to explain to this soul was that his failures were because of his lack of courage.

I was talking to a guest at the Expanding Light who was terminally ill. When he asked his doctor what he should do, the doctor just smiled. “Since you have only a very limited time,” he said, “you should begin doing the things you’ve always wanted to do.” Up to this point in his life the man had been teaching. He disliked teaching but it had brought him the level of comfort needed to feel secure in life. What he really wanted was to be around rivers. Listening to his doctor’s advice, he joined a national association and became actively dedicated to saving rivers, fulfilling his life long dream. He said this change completely changed his life.

A life based on finding joy through material objects is often based upon seeing just how comfortable we can get. However, this attitude of comfort often creates a cage. At first the cage seems to protect us from the harsh realities of this world. In reality it actually keeps us from knowing are true potential—just like a bird who is afraid to fly out of the cage even when the door is left open.

A body not kept active slowly loses health. A mind that is not used soon becomes weak. We can lull our nervous systems to sleep, limiting our abilities to draw the prana (life force) needed to maintain a healthy body and a creative mind. Our souls are only limited by our sense of self-identity. If we identify ourselves with the body and senses we take on the body’s limitations.

Often the countless likes and dislikes that form our personalities severely limit our ability to succeed in our life goals. Through our attitudes and actions we affirm our perceived limitations. By embarking on Spiritual Adventures we aim to remove the limiting bars of our cage freeing ourselves from this falsely conceived notion of needing safety. Like a frighten bird leaving the safety of its comfortable cage, this very action soon clears the way to its remembrance of its natural gift of flight. We earned the opportunities that come our way. The art of saying “Yes!” to life is the gift of the spiritual adventurer.  Saying the affirmation “I rise joyfully to greet each new opportunity” (as we use in the Cobra Pose, bhujangasana) is seeing every opportunity as a way for further growth. It takes spiritual maturity to succeed.  

When I was participating in a month-long training course at Ananda village (our original community), we would be given opportunities to serve each morning: by helping to construct a new guest building, cleaning bathrooms/showers, landscaping, cleaning cabins, or any other needed services. As each task was presented I could volunteer or wait for another task more suitable to my liking. I was becoming increasingly alarmed that my level of comfort would allow me to volunteer only for certain tasks. My ego was playing in its limited comfort zone. I finally decided that each morning I would randomly pick a number and no matter what the task presented, I would take it. If I picked number three, the third task presented would be mine. This turn out to be a great blessing. The spiritual freedom of being able to participate in whatever comes my way was exhilarating.

Joy comes from feeling the unlimited nature of the soul. How can we feel joyful if we lack the courage needed to experience our heart’s expansive nature? Being selfish is in itself its own punishment. A selfish person keeps piling on the mud of delusion until it wallows in the self-pity of not being able to meet even the least of life’s challenges.

Make it your goal to meditate and actively participate in your own Spiritual Adventure. Learn to tear down the bars that hamper your spiritual progress, and enjoy many blessings on the path to Self-Realization.