Playing the Edge

I've been exploring this concept in my yoga practice over the past year and applying it (liberally) to my every day life.
Here's a link to an excerpt from a book.  
http://www.movingintostillness.com/book/asana_playing_the_Edge.html

A few highlights if you don't care to read the whole thing (this is extremely edited)
A large part of the art and skill in yoga lies in sensing just how far to move into a stretch. If you don't go far enough, there is no challenge to the muscles, no intensity, no stretch, Going too far, however, is an obvious violation of the body,  Somewhere between these two points is a degree of stretch that is in balance
In daily life, we tend to remain within a familiar but limited comfort zone by staying away from both our physical and mental edges. This would be fine except that as aging occurs these limits close in considerably
Sensing where your edges are and learning to hold the body there with awareness,  can be called "playing the edge."
This can have a very profound influence on all aspects of your life. One of the things you learn in yoga is to enjoy working with intensity. Intensity is simply more "energy" at any given moment, more feeling.  

And my own thoughts from working with the "edge".

This translates to physical and mental. You can find an edge, an area that is slightly out of your comfort zone and you can stay there and process the information and be aware. Then you shift and you notice how quickly the uncomfortable sensation will pass. The stress on the  bent knee in Pigeon or Virasana pose, the prick of the needle at the Dr. office, the instant angry reaction when someone cuts you off on the highway. And a few seconds later, gone. The more you allow yourself to go to the edge consciously and with thought while you process the sensations, the more you see how fast it can disappear, you can let go, you can move to the next point without clinging to the discomfort.

If you're in Austin on a Friday night look for Jenn Wooten's Hatha Yin class. She's a master at working  this idea of the edge. 

http://www.yogayoga.com/teachers/jenn

 

These are the extreme versions , above  you have Eka pada kapotasana (one legged King Pigeon pose) and below Supta Virasana (Reclined Hero pose)