Is the idea of a comfort zone helpful?

A post exploring the idea of 'the comfort zone' and the cultural pressure to move beyond its limits

In my last post I introduced Moshé Feldenkrais’ practice of ‘detecting small differences’ through the process of scanning. The invitation of last week’s lesson was to spend some time noticing the details that emerged in your awareness as you paid attention to how you made contact with the floor when lying on your back. This week I would like to continue exploring the process of laying the foundations of awareness. I want to do this by engaging both practically and critically with the idea of a ‘comfort zone’.

The term ‘comfort zone’ entered popular consciousness via the field of business and management studies. In 2009, Alasdair White wrote: ‘A comfort zone is a psychological state in which things feel familiar to a person, and they are at ease, and in control of their environment, experiencing low levels of anxiety and stress. In this zone, a steady level of performance is possible.’

White’s paper draws on earlier psychological research exploring the ways in which levels of anxiety shape performance. It argues that comfort allows for steady performance, while excessive anxiety establishes a ‘danger zone’ where performance is adversely affected. Most significantly, he notes that there is a ‘performance boosting increase in anxiety’ that can be associated with a zone of ‘optimal performance.’ This research is echoed in Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s popular work on flow states.

Abandoning the comfort zone!

Interestingly, the question of exactly what ‘optimal’ means - and who gets to decide when an optimal level is reached is left under-explored. Beyond this, both White and Csikszentmihalyi neglect reflecting in any detailed way on the question of why ‘performance’ is such an important measure. Neither do they acknowledge the ways in which the concept of ‘optimal’ isn’t always (or ever) neutral.

You can probably infer some skepticism on my part. This isn’t because I’m against the idea of defining a space in which people meet their goals for personal development. Instead, it relates to a question about what gets neglected in our experience as we strive to meet externally validated measures of success and growth. In the popular consciousness, being in your comfort zone is a bad thing. If you are in your comfort zone you aren’t really making the progress you could be making if you made the effort to step out of your comfort zone. However, in my experience of teaching movement and working with people experiencing pain and injury, it is clear that many of us don’t have a clear sense of what comfort feels like. Comfort is often equated with habituation (the things we’re used to). It’s quite common for people to become habituated to pain and discomfort - to the extent that discomfort is often experienced as normal and (weirdly) comfortable.

To a certain extent our sense of self is a manifestation of habit. It emerges from what we’re used to feeling and doing. This can lead us into paradox when it comes to the idea of comfort. We can become habituated to discomfort and disfunction to the extent that replacing habitual behaviour with more functional and intelligent behaviour feels strange - even uncomfortable. With this in mind, it’s worth reflecting on the question of what comfort really means. How much of our sense of comfort is rooted in habituation? How much of our sense of comfort is really about working within our limitations and genuinely being at ease?

I think a lot of our culture’s disfunction emerges from failing to rigorously interrogate the question of what feels comfortable. Accordingly, I am a strong advocate of avoiding stepping out of your comfort zone until you really know where its edges lie. This is because doing so can establish a problematic schism in our sense of self - where our intuitive, affective and often legitimate responses to uncomfortable requests and experiences are overridden by our desire to conform to the cultural and social pressures to go beyond what feels comfortable.

This is not to say that I don’t think we should ever engage in activities that push us into discomfort. (I spend far too much time in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes getting strangled and squished to make such a claim.) White’s recognition of the ways in which increased arousal and anxiety lead to learning and development in our performance is significant and important. However, it’s also true that the enormous social pressure to conform to external accounts of optimal behaviour makes it very difficult for us to interrogate and connect with feelings of comfort, discomfort, pleasure and habituation. In the worse instances this pressure forces people to consent to experiences that ultimately prove to be abusive and traumatising. This is a reality that’s been clearly evidenced by the conversations emerging from the #metoo and #timesup movements.

So before putting yourself under pressure to step out of your comfort zone, make sure you have a clear sense of its edges. It’s important to explore the relationship between comfort and habit, ease and unease, function and disfunction. It’s also important to note that we are always in flux. A comfort zone isn’t a fixed location. It’s a landscape that’s constantly moving and changing. What I feel uncomfortable doing today might feel easy tomorrow and vice versa.

Today’s 20 minute lesson is focussed on attending to feelings of ease and discomfort when going from sitting to standing. You’ll need a chair (not too low or high). You might want to be ready to pause the lesson to take longer breaks/rests. Take charge of your own comfort.

Press play to start:

There’s a visual reference of the pattern I used to stand up from sitting on my Instagram.

Let me know the questions and thoughts this raised for you in the comments below.