Learning about Learning

As someone who has been working in Higher Education for many years as a lecturer one is usually concerned about the quality of one's own teaching often focussing on the feedback obtained by the learners.
Consequently one often forgets to pay attention of the process of learning itself. Due to their professional qualifications and scholarly practice teachers and lecturers tend to learn 'informally' without paying attention to what works and what does not, for them or others. They also tend to take learning for granted - after all it is an integral part of their job.
As part of my studies for an MSc in e-Learning at Edinburgh University on a module called 'Understanding Learning in the Online Environment' participants have been asked to undertake what has been termed a 'Learning Challenge'.
This challenge consisted of a learning task over which we did not have an entirely free choice though; the Course Tutor imposed that the Challenge should not be of an academic nature but rather involve a 'motor skill' like juggling , playing an instrument or learning a new sport - not an easy task if you are an 'intellectual'.
The reason for this constraint imposed by the tutor was for us to explore learing opportunities and processes outsise out immediate comfort zone in order to find out how far we were prepared to 'venture out'.
How big is my 'confort zone', what are my constraints in trying out skills outside my normal life routine.
After some initial panicking calm set in allowing some reflection on the way forward. Where is the base from which I will venture out.?
Could my background in African drumming open up new learning opportunities?