The New York Open Center has been in the Soho area of NYC for 25 years, and for anyone walking miles of blocks, and tending to all sorts of things in that area, the meditation room and small bookstore is a nice respite. It’ll be different now because they’re heading on up and moving to 22 East 30th Street. The Spring/Summer Programs 2009 of the New York Center’s easy-to-read, and not jammed- packed catalog, says they’re: “NEW YORK’S LEADING CENTER OF HOLISTIC LEARNING & WORLD CULTURE.” I used to consider the Center a gift to New York because when it was founded there wasn’t a whole lot of holistic anything going on in the form of classes in the NYC area.
I called the administrative office for a catalog two weeks ago, and the informative person answering the phone mentioned that she’d taken the Bollywood Dancing course. The “Bollywood Dancing course”, hmm! – I thought, that course would definitely go on the slightly stepping out of the comfort zone list.
Now with the catalog in hand and late evening descending, I got to thinking about the courses offered, and the reasons people register for them. A few could be: enjoyment, learning, wanting a challenge, accompanying someone, meeting people, meeting people having similar interests, and stepping out of a comfort zone. I peruse the catalog once more wondering: 1) which course would take me out of my comfort zone. 2) which course would be completely different from anything I’d taken before. 3) which course do I think I have no interest in pursuing, but, in pursuing it, find it wholly interesting.
There are different ways of stepping out of our comfort zone, and I wonder if registering for a class is one of them. In the past, I imagined that stepping out . . . would entail leaving who we think we are, and the things allowing us to believe in who we think we are, for an unknown experience. Now I ask, does that have to mean leaving our physical surroundings?
By now it’s impossible to think of sleeping as I’ve all these questions to answer, and I’m doing all the work since I’m the one asking and answering, and it’s getting tricky. That’s okay, along the way I’ll feign boredom and mind will leave me alone. 🙂
Have a beautiful day.