Your Brain Doesn’t Want You to Progress — It Wants You to Get Stuck
Your Brain Doesn’t Want You to Progress — It Wants You to Get Stuck. A Reflection by Victor Ursabia I’ve learned through years of teaching dance that the greatest obstacle to progress is not the body—it is the brain. The body, when trained with patience and care, adapts beautifully. It listens. It learns. But the brain… the brain wants comfort. It wants familiarity. It wants you to stay where you are. Our brains are designed for safety, not growth. They cling to the known, even if the known is limiting. That is why, when we begin to change—when we correct a posture, refine a movement, or attempt something new—the mind resists. It whispers: “This feels wrong.” But that discomfort is not a sign of failure; it is the exact moment transformation begins. In dance training, I see this every day. A student struggles to hold balance, to extend with control, or to move with fluidity. Their brain sends signals of frustration and fear, trying to protect them from the unknown. But ...