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Mirror Talk

Another very simple technique I have used to address emotional issues and create positive change in my life is to talk to myself in the mirror. This may be uncomfortable because it’s difficult to face yourself; however, persevere because the practice can bring unexpected benefits.

This is an excerpt from Chris Shelton’s book, “Qigong For Self-Refinement, Total Health with the 5 Elements”. Chp. 19 Pg. 104

In addressing emotional issues, talk to yourself in the mirror with compassion and curiosity. Try to find out what is really going on. What is at the root of the problem? Is it fear? Resentment? Jealousy? Your inner self is doing the best that he/she can; simply try to understand. It will seem like you become your higher self talking to your physical self. See what come up, and allow your higher self to deal with it, keeping in mind your goal of achieving health and harmony.

This technique can also be used to co-create with your higher power (whatever you conceive that to be) positive attributes. In co-creating, there are two important principles to keep in mind. First, always talk and think in terms of the positive. For example if you know you are a controlling person, which is a Liver dysfunction in Chinese medicine, do not say to yourself “Please help me not be a controlling person!” Instead say “I choose to be loving, compassionate, patient, and tolerant!” (or whatever the opposite of controlling is for you). In this way you will always affirm and manifest the positive. Secondly, as you speak to your “self” in the mirror always speak in the present tense. Do not say “I will one day be compassionate,” or “I want to be compassionate.” Rather, say “I am compassionate!” This is not wishful thinking. In face you ARE whatever you want to be. The fact that you can conceive of it means that you have the kernel of that quality in yourself; now you want to bring out that quality and let it flourish.

One of my clients recommends continuing this mirror talk until you break into laughter. Laughter is a sure and certain sign of health. Remember, happiness is your natural state.

This practice can be found in Chris Shelton’s book “Qigong For Self-Refinement”.  Available on Amazon, MorningCrane.com, and ChrisShelton.net

 

Tips to improve your Energy

As summertime comes to an end morning traffic thickens. Schedules are shifting and days are shortening. Seasonal transitions are a powerful time to check in and uncover the parts of your life desiring change and growth. You can access your inner Earth element by asking, How can I live a more purposeful, happier and healthier life? What small changes can I start making right now?” We believe the first step in answering these kinds of life-enriching questions lies in harnessing and cultivating your Qi.

Qi or chi (pronounced chee like in “cheese”) is life-force energy that emanates from all things. When we say “all things” we mean everything in the Universe; everything tangible and intangible. Humans are definitely a manifestation of Qi. We are energetic beings with physical bodies that are impacted by our thoughts, feelings, senses (all six of them!) and environment. Our bodies are a microcosm of the macrocosm, which is the Universe. It’s not by accident that what we think about we bring about. Everything is interconnected so always be mindful of what you’re broadcasting to the Universe through your thoughts, actions and deeds.

Here are five ways that strengthen your Qi and attract balance and harmony into your life.

“White Pearl” meditation
Sit or stand comfortably. Imagine a white pearl sitting in the center of your lower abdomen just below your navel. As you inhale through your nose, the pearl gets brighter and lighter. Exhale through your nose and imagine the pearl energy filling your kidney area and lower back. Click here for more details.

Get a good night’s sleep
Sleep is your body’s time to restore and replenish your Qi. We’re firm believers that sleep is imperative to attracting health and joy into our lives. Adults need a minimum of seven hours of deep sleep a night. Get your rest and relaxation by getting your nightly zzzzz.

Exercise regularly
Moving your body means moving your blood, fluids and Qi. Perspiration is the most effective way our body eliminates toxins from our bodies and toxic thoughts from our minds. Make an effort to generate a light sweat every day through gentle movements such as Pilates, Yoga or TRX.

Laugh and smile
Have you ever noticed that smiles are contagious? It’s difficult to frown and scowl when in the presence of a happy, smiling person. No wonder. New research shows that one smile activates the same amount of pleasurable brain simulation as 2000 chocolate bars! So keep on the sunny side of life and keep on smiling.

Pay attention to your emotional health
Toxic thoughts and negative emotions are the leading causes of disease. “Your issues live in your tissues.” (-Nikki Myers) Learn to balance emotional awareness (how you’re feeling) with spiritual acceptance (you are not your thoughts). Qigong meditation practices are powerful, ancient ways of transforming negative emotional states into peaceful mindfulness. Qigong uses our body’s movements to quiet our mind’s inner chatter.

We hope this month brings you healthy and vibrant Qi. May the Qi be with you.

Love and Gratitude,
Chris & Parisa Shelton and the Morning Crane Team

White Pearl Meditation

Click here to down load White Pearl Meditation.

This is an excerpt from Chris Shelton’s book, “Qigong For Self-Refinement, Total Health with the 5 Elements”. Chp. 1 Pg. 6

1.   From the Wu Ji posture, begin relaxing down the body, front, back, and center.  
 
2.   Keeping your breathing long, smooth, even, and deep, begin pulling the breath into the lower abdomen, the lower Tan Tien located about one inch below the navel. Inhaling and exhaling through the nose.
 
3.   Feel as the breath expands the abdomen front, back, left, and right simultaneously.
 
4.   This expansion and contraction, fills the lower Tan Tien.
 
5.   Imagine all the energy from the heavens and your tissues filling up the lower Tan Tien like a white mystical pearl, expanding and contracting with each inhalation and exhalation until this pearl becomes brighter and thicker with energy.
 
6.   As you inhale the pearl expands with white light energy. As you exhale the energy from the pearl fills and restores the left and right kidneys.
 
7.   Continue to do this breathing pattern over and over. This meditation will help ground your energy as well as restore your vitality.

 

Click here to down load White Pearl Meditation.

Tips for staying cool, calm, & collected this Summer

Summer is in full swing now! Did you know that when the weather is sizzling your insides are feeling hot, hot, hot?

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) the Fire Element is associated with summer. Mania and overexcitement are common negative emotions connected with this time of year. You may feel overextended, overworked or even overjoyed. If you’ve been reading our stuff regularly (we hope so!) you know we are advocates for living a balanced existence. Too much of anything – yes, even joy – is never an ideal situation for your body, mind and spirit. By examining the relationship between summer’s Fire Element and the duality of yin and yang we can learn to live in balance and harmony irrespective of how fiery life feels.

During each of the four seasons it’s important to pay attention to the most dominant element at play (i.e., Fall/Metal, Winter/Water, Spring/Wood, Summer/Fire) so you can counter-balance the element’s impact on your health. For example, summer is associated with the Fire Element so be sure to add more Water Element to your summer routine. While Fire is considered “yang,” which is associated with feelings of aggression, loudness and busyness, water is its opposite (“yin”) and plays out as passive, quiet and relaxed moods. When Fire and Water are properly balanced life flourishes. Placed in the right position Fire and Water produce steam, which is so powerful it moves trains – and your body! A proper blending of Fire and Water moves our blood and fluids in perfect harmonious balance, which increases our health and vitality.

An excess of Fire Energy can produce high-blood pressure, hypertension and cause stroke and heart attack. It’s not an accident that our risk of suffering heart failure raises as the temperature spikes upward. When it’s hot outside drink plenty of room-temperature water. (Ice water actually creates more heat in the body.) Remember to eat foods that nourish the Water Energy of your body.

Here’s an easy-to-follow list of foods you can eat this summer to keep your Fire Energy and Water Energy in balance. Full steam ahead into summer fun and health!

Fruits
Melons like watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew. Cucumber, pears, grapes, tomatoes, raspberries and black berries.

Veggies
Celery, snow peas, radishes, sprouts, summer squash, zucchini, cabbage, broccoli, seaweed, corn and potatoes. Leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, chard. Enhance your body?? Water Energy by steaming or lightly saut?ing veggies.

Drink
Drink mint and chrysanthemum tea. Avoid ice-cold drinks and enjoy room-temperature water with lemon and peppermint.

( *Special shout-out to the Yo San University’s June 2014 newsletter)

Our hope for you this month is to keep cool, calm and collected!

Love and Gratitude,
Chris & Parisa Shelton and the Morning Crane Team

Qigong Teacher Training

Qigong for Self-Refinement Teacher Training Course Level 1 & 2

The goal of this course is to learn how to teach the 5000 year old practice of Qigong movement and meditation Levels 1 & 2. Learn how to teach people to improve their health and vitally.

This certification course presents exercises and meditations that will:

  • Increase sensitivity, cleanse, regulate, store, circulate, cultivate, and harmonize one’s energy
  • Resolve any health issues properly addressed by Qigong movement and meditation
  • Remove mental and emotional blockages and offer tools for dealing with negative emotions

This knowledge can be used effectively to create balance is all areas of one’s life.

Methods of instruction

  • Lecture and class discussion
  • Student partnering exercises
  • Workshops with hands-on practice
  • Journaling
  • Videos and forum for students studying by remote
  • Quizzes and tests
  • Final exam (written and oral)

Required reading:

  • Chris Shelton. Total Health with the 5 Elements: Qigong for Self Refinement. Balboa Press 2013
  • Master Hua Ching Ni. Tao the Subtle Universal Law. Seventh Star Communication Second Edition 2003

 

About Chris Shelton:

Chris Shelton has been practicing Qigong movement and meditation, as well as Medical Qigong for almost 30 years. Over the years Chris has helped thousands of people eliminate pain and bring balance back to their lives. When a client has tried everything possible and all other methods have failed, Chris is able to give them remarkable results.  You can do it too. Come learn from the best.

 

Classes are held

-Wednesdays, 11:30am-12:45pm; starting Sept. 3

or

-Mondays, 6:15-7:30pm; starting Sept 8

Price: $1300

Location:

Morning Crane Healing Arts &  Fitness Studios

1314 Lincoln Ave, Upstairs

(408) 391-2846

www.MorningCrane.com

Elevate your Success!

Success is something we all want. Because success is viewed as positive and powerful, we all want more of it in our lives. Yet how often are you stressed out on the road to success? Do you wake up at night thinking about your work, your kids, the meaning of your life? How worried are you about that next deadline or that date with the scale? (It is bikini season!)

Our culture is so focused on climbing the “ladder of success” that we’re rarely encouraged to contemplate what’s at the top of that long, long ladder.

As we scurry upward, we’re often panicked, pressured and feel less than powerful. Some of us are known to keep climbing until our arms and legs fall off. Many of us reach the top only to realize we’ve placed our ladder up against the wrong wall; we work hard to “arrive” but we feel like we’re in the wrong place.

Success is not only a state of planning, doing and achieving (sometimes called a joyless life path of “save-slave-retire”). At Morning Crane, we believe that success is a state of Being.

If you’re at peace, content and able to take inspired positive action, you’re successful. Success is a balancing act of choice-making.

Sometimes doing nothing takes tremendous discipline and strength, especially when others are bolting up the corporate ladder and threatening to climb right over you.

That is the illusion of the ego – that we can fall behind, fall down, fall off the ladder and fail. When we access success as a state of Being, when we stop doing and start feeling, we are one step closer to enlightenment.

According to author and healer Deepak Chopra, authentic success can be defined as “the continued expansion of happiness and the progressive realization of worthy goals.”

It’s absolutely okay to have desires and to set worthy goals for yourself. Be proactive, take inspired action, celebrate your wins.

Just remember that if you define success as something outside yourself – as something to be obtained through constant action – you are missing out on your most precious blessing and your success birthright: a peaceful, mindful, inspired state of Being.

When you bring acceptance, enjoyment and enthusiasm to what you do (big or small actions), you are successful.

Below are five tips for climbing the ladder of life while practicing a state of Being that guarantees a lifetime of success.

  • Self-awareness
  • Discover your “why”
  • Create healthy relationships
  • Consistency
  • Self love and self care

We hope this month brings you success and happiness.

Love and Gratitude,
Chris & Parisa Shelton and the Morning Crane Team

5 Keys to Elevate Your Success

Click below to listen to Romeo Marquez Jr & Chris Shelton discuss 5 tips to elevate your success.

5 Keys to Elevate Your Success

1.  Self-awareness

2.  Discover your “why”

3.  Create healthy relationships

4.  Consistency

5.  Self love and self care

 

JUNE 2014 Newsletter

Shape up for Summer

Summer time is here! It’s time to put away your wool sweaters and fuzzy socks, and pull out your slinky tank-tops and short-shorts.

As the spring season winds down, we start to speed up. The school year is ending so there are talent shows to attend and open houses to visit. Our gardens patiently wait for their annual make-over. Vacation brochures and beach blankets start laying around the house and pool.

As we step into the sunshine of summer fun, it’s important to nurture the source of our light and energy: our big giant heart! The happier you are, the more your heart shines like the sun. Below are some tips for keeping your beautiful heart healthy, happy and beating in perfect rhythm with summer fun.

R & R needs R & R. We all love to rest and relax. But do you practice healthy R & R? Most people approach rest and relaxation as stopping, sitting and eating. Does this sound familiar? Shutting down, watching television and eating junk food. We advocate for a healthier kind of R & R that leaves you energized and tuned in to what (and whom) matters most. The better, healthier R & R is all about rest and recovery. Rest by going to bed at a reasonable hour, and getting 7-10 hours of sleep per night. Recover faster with conscious breathing. Take 10 deep, slow breaths each morning upon waking, and each evening before going to bed.

Drink plenty of summer’s favourite beverage. No, not cold beer and wine spritzers! Water, water, water. Preferably filtered water served at room temperature. Add some lemon or lime to your water to add flavor and better liver function.

Get plenty of sun-shine. Summer time is about spending time in the outdoors with nature. You can take vitamins D from a bottle (available at the studio) or you can spend time outside.

Sending you warm wishes from the Morning Crane Team.

(Click on name to register)

Dancing on the Avenue, Tai Chi Demonstration with Chris Shelton & Students
Saturday June 21, 3:40 PM

Celebrity Sweat Yoga/Pilates Class with Parisa Shelton
Sunday, June 22, 1:30 PM

Chinese Face Reading the Eyes and Eyebrows with Chris Shelton
Monday, June 23, 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM

EFT Circles with Marika Berman
Sunday, June 29, 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Tips for Transformation
Friday, July 11, 5:20 PM – 8:30 PM
Only $99 to change your life!

SUMMER HAPPENINGS
Shape Up For Summer @ Morning Crane! Click here for Class SpecialsLooking for something fun to do with the family this summer?!

Go to Maki Swim for Family Swim Saturdays and Sundays 4-5pm

Maki Swim School
973 Apricot Avenue
Campbell CA 95008

Mention Morning Crane and receive these special rates:
$5 for 2 people and $10 for 3 or 4 people.

Shape Up for Summer- Specials

It is time to Shape Up For Summer

There is no better place to do so than at Morning Crane!

Get these deals NOW, limited availability.

Group classes (include TRX suspension, Fit & Firm, Yoga, Pilates, Kickboxing)
1 month unlimited- $75 (reg. $150)
3 month unlimited- $159 (reg. $450)
6 month unlimited- $249 (reg. $900)

Tai Chi & Qigong classes

First time intro class- $15
4 week session- $85
12 week session- $225

May is here! Newsletter May 2014

This month is all about appreciation and gratitude.

This is the perfect time to introduce you to something new, fresh and life-affirming. Nothing in life – person, place or thing – is inherently good or inherently bad. Nothing in nature is absolutely good or absolutely bad. Life just IS.

Have you ever had something happen in your life you perceived as “bad,” but eventually it showed itself to be a giant blessing? So many of the events in our lives are learning opportunities that offer us chances to grow and evolve. Spring is a perfect season for moving into a space of appreciation by counting our blessings. Expressing appreciation and gratitude is like planting seeds in a garden. When you nourish appreciation and gratitude in your life, you absolutely want to reap what you sow!

There is one state of Being without an opposite and that is unconditional love. Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power Of Now, one of our favorite books and one we highly recommend, assures us that “true love arises from beyond the mind.” Love is an inner state of Beingness that is universal, unconditional and eternal.

As we move towards Memorial Day (May 26th) and honor the people we have loved and lost, please remember that love is eternal. Whether remembering and missing family, friends and the men and women who have served in our armed forces, know that true love transcends death. Love never dies. Without death there cannot be life. Without war there cannot be peace. Without yin there cannot be yang. The spiritual masters have been teaching such truths for centuries. Embrace what is, and watch your spring blossom!

So what are you most grateful for right now? In this exact moment? Here’s my list: I am grateful for my health, my breath, my partner, my parents, my kids, my friends and clients, my pets, my work and purpose, and – I’ll admit it! – my car.

We hope you make the time to create an appreciation list of your own. Lean into “what is” in your life and know that all is well. May this month bring you true love, appreciation and gratitude.

Love and gratitude,

Chris & Parisa Shelton & the Morning Crane team