Lessons from the Jungle: Lean into Discomfort

On the yoga retreat last week, we were faced with several uncomfortable situations. For starters, we stretched beyond our comfort zones by going into a remote jungle for a week with no internet or power or flushing toilets. On top of that, it rained most of the week, which made it even more uncomfortable – it is not every day that you constantly feel soaked to the bone and can’t seem to get dry. To add even more to the potential discomfort, we found ourselves in vulnerable situations with people that, just a few days ago, were complete strangers. 

~The River Crossing~

What I have been learning over the years and saw reflected in the yoga retreat is that it is usually the uncomfortable situations that create the biggest opportunities for growth and connection.  

Growth is uncomfortable. To grow, we have to stretch ourselves, go beyond our comfort zones in order to reach new heights and new depths. Sometimes we just have to accept and jump headfirst into discomfort in order to learn, grow, and develop lasting connections.

In our society, which is accustomed to instant gratification, we can often fall into a pattern of quickly dismissing uncomfortable situations. We try to get out of discomfort as quickly as possible with our fists clenched and our eyes jammed shut. We want to run from discomfort. 

Here are some examples of patterns I have noticed and even been in myself:

• In yoga, if we are in an uncomfortable position, we try to get out of it as soon as possible. And if we can’t get out of it, we fight the opening mentally, not allowing ourselves to soften into it.
• When we have an itch we scratch it.  If we get a message we check it. Even if it disrupts the moment we are in, we can’t stand not checking.
• We let go of hobbies or interests the minute we think we may not be that good at it.
• We rely on medicines that work immediately to ease minor pain even if it doesn’t heal the underlying issue. We don’t take the time to figure out why the pain was happening in the first place.
• We run from situations that might cause pain and heartache. We run from intimacy when it gets uncomfortable or requires work and compromise.
• We don’t speak up for fear of getting hurt or rejected. We don’t tell the truth to someone we love because we don’t want to hurt them.

It is important at times in our life to lean into discomfort, to really sit with it, and to listen to our mind and heart. Doing this, we can learn so much about our reactions and tendencies. Once we have settled around the discomfort and gotten out of the reactionary phase, we can make decisions based on presence and understanding rather than fear and the desire to run away. 

This is not to say that we should stay in a dangerous situation or put ourselves in harms way. But perhaps we can take small steps to become less afraid of discomfort and more curious. In uncomfortable situations, perhaps we can ask ourselves:  

• What can I learn from the discomfort if I leaned into it, if I tried to soften around it? 
• What is underlying reason for discomfort and why do I want to run away from it? 
• Deep down, how do I want to react instead of just letting fear take over?

In asking these questions we can uncover the life lessons that are so easy to pass by yet so powerful when we take the time to discover them.

Up next this week: more lessons from the Jungle!

Lessons from the Jungle: Plan and then Flow

I just got back from a week in the jungle.  I co-led the Buena Onda Yoga Retreat at Mama Roja, a sustainable, ecological farm and retreat center in the jungles of Misiones, Argentina. It was a wild and magical experience.

It is spring here in Argentina and that usually means sunshine, nice weather, and butterfly season in the jungle. We all went into the week expecting just that. What we got, however, was the complete opposite.

The day everyone arrived for the retreat, it was down pouring. Not little, soft, sprinkling rain but giant, noisy, thunderous rain; the kind of rain that reminds you of the incredible power of nature. Living in a city, away from the elements, I forget sometimes how powerful nature can be. 

So, anyways, this rain was crazy. In three hours, trickling brooks (which were easily crossed in a truck) turned into raging rivers – two of which intersected the only dirt road into Mama Roja. The first one devoured our truck, so we continued on foot. The second, with rapidly flowing water reaching up to our hips, we had to cross skillfully, with the aid of a rope that we managed to tie up at either bank. Welcome to the jungle. And it continued to rain for almost four days, with only two short intermissions for the sun and the butterflies to come out.

The lovely yoga shala at Mama Roja

Over this week, I will share with you the reflections and lessons that I took away with me.  Here is the first:

Plan and then go with the flow. Planning is important but there is only so much you can plan ahead for. Then, there comes a point when you have to let go of your plans and respond to what is happening around you in the moment. Plans can only take us so far, then we must rely on our intuition.

On the first day, we planned to hold an opening discussion in the yoga pavilion so we could set the tone for the week and get to know each other. All of the gathering places in Mama Roja are open to the elements. And it was of course raining. We got started and then we were promptly interrupted by thunder. It was the kind of thunder that drowns out all sounds around you. Every time we tried to talk, the thunder grew louder and made it impossible to go on. So, our plan for a discussion had to be thrown out the window. Instead, we opened up the time for everyone to stretch on their own. And this put into practice one of our intentions for the retreat: to give people the space to be introspective and establish a self-guided connection to yoga. So, we planned and then adjusted as needed based on what was happening around us. We still reached our goals just in an unexpected way.

We continued with this approach throughout the retreat week, adjusting as needed based on intuition and understanding of what was going on with the environment and within the group. It turned into an intricate weaving of themes and lessons across the entire week. As a group, we created powerful connections and understandings based on nature and our place within it.

This balance of planning and leaning into our intuition is an important lesson for not only planning a retreat or meeting but also for the life plans we have. All we can really control is our reaction to the world around us. It is important to have plans and to know what we want to manifest in the world. But if our plans are so strict and inflexible, we can become stuck and unable to respond from a place of presence and deeper understanding of what is going on within us and around us.

Stay tuned this week for more lessons from the Jungle!