The Michelle Chalfant Show — Life from the Adult Chair

This 5-minute meditation promotes relaxation, healing, and self- love. It's a wonderful meditation for emotional healing and/or physical healing or for anyone seeking greater peace in their lives.

No time for meditation? No more excuses! This one minute meditation promotes relaxation, brings you back to balance and create a sense of peace. It's a wonderful way to start your day and do during the day whenever you need to re-center and de-stress.

This 10-minute guided meditation will take you through a seven-step process to increase your manifestation success. It is an easy to follow creation process that includes the key steps in creation, using energy centers of the body to bring the creation down through you and into your reality. Many other manifestation strategies don't work well, as they are missing key elements to bring forth your desired creation. This process has been tried and proven and works! Let me know how you like it, would love to hear from you.

This 10-minute meditation will help you relieve stress and anxiety all year round. With a daily practice, you'll begin to find great inner strength from meditation — I hope you'll use this to begin to discover the emotional freedom that is possible!

Do you feel stuck? Do you continue to fall into the same dysfunctional patterns? This guided meditation helps to clear those patterns and make way for new empowering experiences.

We use this meditation to find and access our Inner Child. This is the part of us that is the container for our true feelings, true needs and innocence.

This is a guided heart opening meditation. It helps with opening our hearts to love from others and in loving ourselves.

Clears away old stories and limiting beliefs that are keeping us stuck and are in the way of living our most authentic lives.

A guided meditation for purifying our selves and releasing old, disempowered thoughts, wounds and emotions (both unconscious and conscious) and uncovering our true selves.

A guided meditation for when we feel scattered, spacey, "not all here." Grounding helps with focus, feeling present and awareness. It is beneficial to do this meditation daily. When we ground we are anchoring ourselves into the earth, which can be a very healing ritual on all levels.

Most of us grew up thinking that vulnerability equals weakness. Let's get this straight right off the top: that is absolutely not true. This week on the podcast we're going to pull that misconception apart and share some examples of vulnerability that you can use to frame how you approach becoming vulnerable as an act of courage, an act of embracing risk, and most importantly, and act of love!

Trouble staying in your Adult Chair when you're triggered? Me too! This week, I have a story all about my own triggering experience and I want to use it to demonstrate how to move through the chairs and release the power and energy that binds you in the trigger!

Trauma comes in many shapes and sizes. From single events to long-running experiences that take away our sense of safety and security. Even if it doesn't involve physical harm, it can lead toward isolation, depression, severe anxiety, and overwhelm. This week on the show, Michelle is back with a DriveTime Download inspired by the conversation on The Adult Chair private Facebook group to reflect on the nature of trauma and steps we can take to move forward in our Adult Chair! Links & Notes The Adult Chair 80: How do I feel my emotions?

Leaving work and feeling inspired — I have a new Drivetime Download for you! This week, I want to talk all about clearing anxiety. It's a massive trigger for so many of us this time of year, coming through my clients and group members all struggling to numb out, to escape the experience of anxiety. This week I want to help you navigate the rough waters of anxiety leading to significant, long-term change in your life. It's time to get off the treadmill of temporary soothing of pain, so hop in the car with me and let's go!

We're in the middle of January right now and if you're like most of us, you're probably already giving up on some of your well-intentioned resolutions that you set on New Year's Eve. That's completely normal, even though it's likely disappointing. This week on the show, I'm going to give you a whole new way to think about accomplishing your goals: Making Change from the Adult Chair. Through visualization, meditation, journaling and so much more, you're going to find the intrinsic motivation that will drive you to set realistic goals and then meet them with clear mind, heart, and spirit! Links & Notes Clearing out the Year — Facebook Video Register for Upcoming Adult Chair Workshops!

Were you feeling unnaturally thankful that 2017 ended, that you were embarking on a new journey for 2018? You're not alone, and today's guest is going to tell us all why! Rachel Lang is an intuitive astrologer and healer, and a consultant for businesses, and she's here to provide much needed perspective on a crazy year gone by, and guidance for the year to come! Links & Notes Rachel C. Lang

Michelle is in the car again, this time answering some community questions on how to handle grief, particularly during the holidays. What do you from the Adult Chair when you need someone to show up for you, and support you in your time of grief? What about from the other perspective? How do you show up for someone else experiencing grief or loss this holiday season? All that and more in our last episode before the new year!

The holidays are upon is, and as a result more and more people are writing us to ask how you handle difficult family gatherings from the Adult Chair. So, we're on it! This week we're talking all about how you maintain your center, keep your calm, and don't let strife dominate your holiday. You'll be better equipped to define your own boundaries of what is and is not appropriate behavior. You'll be able to assess the codependency that can so quickly invade your relationships. And we've got one sure-fire way to keep yourself at peace thanks to EFT! Links & Notes The Adult Chair Podcast 26: Boundaries vs. Confrontation The Adult Chair Podcast 11: Codependency: I'm OK if You're OK Introduction to EFT Follow The Adult Chair on Spotify!

So many of us are afraid of our anger. We use language like, "don't go there" or "stay calm". We to push it down and shove it away and teach ourselves to hide from it, and hide it from others. In fact, this is the programming we get from others when we have anger. People close to us tell us to "chill out", "calm down" or even "get over it". The most insidious: sometimes we even hear "you are scaring me". Of course, we don't want to scare others, so we shove down this powerful emotion, and there it sits, simmering. But anger is an emotion of change. If we learn to sit with our anger just as we sit with our other emotions, we can come to understand it, to learn from it, and maybe even to love it in time. This week on the show, we're talking all about the anger that lives inside of all of us, and how we can live in harmony with it instead of fear! Links & Notes New Adult Chair courses are live! Register now for Level 1 in Florida, or Level 2 in Tennessee now! Introduction to Emotional Freedom Technique

Simple proximity to the holidays on the calendar can be a trigger for many of us. We watch as the days tick by, feeling the pressure of the holidays creep up on us, and with them, social and family anxiety that can disconnect us from our true selves. This week on the show, I want to share with you some of the tools and techniques that can help you stay strong and present during the turbulent holiday weeks. You deserve a restful and energizing break full of love and warmth — with the right tools, you can bring the same to those around you! Links & Notes Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shadan) The Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer Support The Adult Chair — Sign up for a trial account at Audible.com! — Learn More

I'm back with my dear friend Ramona Reid on her radio show, Holistic Revolution Radio this week! Actually, this show was recorded last month, but we talked about all the things that are incredibly important for us to keep in mind over the Thanksgiving Holiday (here in the U.S.). So, in the whirlwind of craziness that comes with family and friends, this is a reminder to stay present, to free yourself from limiting beliefs, and to feel the feelings that are constraining you. Ramona asks some wonderful probing questions, and I'm confident this conversation is going to resonate with you! Happy Thanksgiving! Links & Notes Find Holistic Revolution Radio on Facebook

Suffering comes from the Adolescent Chair. That's the part of us that creates stories to fill in the holes in our daily narrative, and that's where we unintentionally find ourselves getting stuck with intrusive thoughts and spirals that lead us right to Suffering Island! This week, we're talking all about how to get off the boat, and take control of our own stories by living in our Adult Chair's fact and truth!

The victim is powerless. They feel sorry for themselves. They see the world as one of fault and innocence, black and white. They believe others are against them. We run into these people all the time, and may not see it at first, but these trigger phrases become clear. If you're saying these things, you may be in the pattern yourself: it's time to take responsibility, and end your journey into the victim mentality! This week on the show we talk about what you might be doing if you're in the role of the victim and I've got some great strategies to help you lift yourself RIGHT OUT of it!

Over 30 years ago, we started hearing about positive psychology as a field of study in psychology. Gratitude, optimism, forgiveness, happiness, and compassion were studied in comparison to attention traditionally paid to so-called negative psychology including mental illness, stress, trauma, addiction, and so on. What they found was that positive psychology had powerful effects on our health and not only mental and emotional health. The research found positive connections to physical, emotional, and even spiritual health. Over the years, we've learned that gratitude is one of the most powerful traits of those living an emotionally healthy life. Today on the show we're talking about the power of gratitude in your life and how you can build a daily practice of grace yourself! Links & Notes "Forget Big Change, Start with a Tiny Habit" — BJ Fogg at TEDxFremont Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior by David R. Hawkins

Never considered yourself much of a journaler? I get it. I've heard all the reasons, too. Not enough time. Not sure what to write. Can't keep up with it. I did it once a while ago and didn't see any results. The list goes on and on and on! But for those who have managed to get over the hump, who have conquered the perils of the blank page, they know that the benefits of introspection through journaling are as deep as they are broad. You can heal yourself, build a relationship with your inner child through rich dialog, connect with your past and better understand your place in the world, all through a daily practice of conscientious meditation. That's why, in addition to our conversation about journaling on the podcast today, I'm thrilled to be hosting a month of conversations on journaling in The Adult Chair private Facebook group in our 30-Day Journaling Challenge! Join the group and sign up for the mailing list and I'll send you daily prompts throughout November to keep your journaling practice inspired! Links & Notes Moleskine Notebooks Apple Pencil iPad Pro GoodNotes Day One — A Simple and Elegant Journal for iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Many of us have a fragile relationship with our self-esteem. Even those who wear a brave face may be struggling inside, fighting negative self-talk and our history of lack of validation. Today, we're talking about reprogramming, new language that can help you see yourself in a new light. This is a doorway you'll open to connect to something bigger, deeper than yourself, and realign your relationship to your experiences as just that: experiences, and nothing more. Since meditation is such a key component to this work, make sure to check out my guided meditation, Accessing Your Inner Child over on YouTube. Even better, download the Insight Timer on iOS or Android and follow me as I build out my library of meditations there. It's become one of my very favorite apps and I'm thrilled that people are getting such great use out of my meditations — and those of all the other great teachers in their directory! Links & Notes Get Insight Timer for iOS or Android Michelle Chalfant — InsightTimer

Ready for better relationships in your life? Perhaps you crave deeper connections, healthier relationships with better communication? In today's show, I talk about how to do just that. Most of us weren't taught how to have healthy relationships, but today we discuss how to change all of that and create healthy relationships from the Adult Chair.

Does your life ever feel just plain turbulent? Your relationships are off center, you're questioning your most important decisions, you're full of anxiety and stress ... I know I do! That's why I have to talk to you today! I'm reflecting on two areas of turbulence in my own life — in my marriage, and my family — and I'm so excited about it because it gives me the chance to share how I count on The Adult Chair to bring calm skies, presence in my emotions, and the open door of change in the air ahead of me!

We're nearing the end of our series on relationships and for our next-to-last episode, we have one of our favorite people on the hook to answer some of your best and most personal questions about your long-term relationships, marriages, and the intimacy you are seeking within them! Katie Hendricks has been a pioneer in body intelligence and conscious loving for over forty years. She is the co-author of twelve books, including the best-selling Conscious Loving Ever After: How to Create Thriving Relationships at Midlife and Beyond. She co-founded the Spiritual Cinema Circle and the virtual Body Intelligence Summit and has traveled over one million air miles as the ambassador for the work that she and her husband Gay Hendricks have developed together. Links & Notes Hearts In True Harmony About Katie Hendricks Conscious Loving Ever After: How to Create Thriving Relationships at Midlife and Beyond by Katie and Gay Hendricks

So many of us have no idea how to feel our emotions. For a variety of reasons, we are simply just not in touch with them, or even cut ourselves off from feeling them, (unless they are happy emotions.) There is great power in feeling our emotions and in this special DriveTime Download, I give you three easy tips on how to begin to feel your emotions and open up to a whole new world as a special response to our Facebook Private Group members and the rich discussion they're having right now! Of course, I hope this is useful to everyone! But, if you'd like a little more context, make sure to send us a request to join the group and get ready to dig in on your own Adult Chair journey! Links & Notes Meditations with Michelle Meditations with Michelle — YouTube Channel Meditations with Michelle — The Inner Child Meditation

We all want that one manual for parenting teens but where is it? What do we do when we find out our teen has been drinking, using drugs, or vaping? For parents, this can be triggering and scary! Our goal is to learn to parent from a healthy place, and that's when we learn to parent from our Adult Chair. This means we stay present, we respond vs react, we set healthy boundaries and have honest (and sometimes tough) conversations with our kids to keep them safe through their teen years. In this conversation with Dr. James Wellborn, we gain some new and valuable tools on how to parent from a healthy place while our teens test, push boundaries, and experiment, from high school and into a healthy adulthood. Links & Notes Dr. James Wellborn

What does it mean to find happiness? Noah Levine tried to find it — with motorcycles and leather jackets and drugs and more — only to discover that the true path to happiness is on the inside. Since then, he's become one of the foremost instructors of mindfulness and meditation from the Buddhist perspective thanks to his own journey of peace, and he's with us today to share more. This week's episode kicks off a series of conversations on relationships with a focus on our inner relationship, the one we have with ourselves. It's the most important relationship when we think about our work in the Adult Chair and Noah's perspective is so powerful and informative for our own journey. About Noah Levine Noah Levine is a Buddhist teacher, author, counselor and recognized keynote speaker. He has studied with a variety of prominent Therevadan and Mahayanan Buddhist teachers and holds a masters degree in Integrative Counseling Psychology from CIIS. With over 25 years of experience in the addiction and recovery field, Noah has created a process of addiction recovery based on the teachings of the Buddha called Refuge Recovery. He is also the founder of Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society–with active centers in Los Angeles and San Francisco and more than 20 affiliated groups across North America. He is the author of "Dharma Punx", "Against the Stream", "Heart of the Revolution" and "Refuge Recovery." Links & Notes Noah Levine — Talks at Google Against the Stream Refuge Recovery Refuge Recovery Treatment Centers

Once again, the car has shown itself to be a terrific vessel for inspiration! So many clients have been facing this central question that I found it a great time step back and share some guiding thoughts. When we experience a negative emotion, our instinct is to jump out of it, to move back to happiness and peace as quickly as possible. But we're not taught to do that authentically so we look for an escape. Today I have some thoughts on how to approach pain from the Adult Chair that I think will help!

We're continuing our series on mindfulness and food this week with a conversation on Mindful Eating. What does it mean to eat mindfully? Which chair are we usually in when we eat? What happens to your body when you approach food from a place of mindfulness and gratitude? We've got some answers for you, and five key messages you can tell yourself to figure out how to get in better touch with your body, to listen to it, and begin making decisions that serve your overall physical and emotional health! Links & Notes Introduction to EFT Tapping Your Way to Pain-Free with EFT The Mathematics of Weight Loss with Ruben Meerman — TEDxQUT Living Through Cancer in The Adult Chair

When we live in our Adult Chair, we live in the healthiest version of ourselves. This is not just about living an emotionally healthy lifestyle, but also living in a strong physical body, too. In fact, our emotional health is directly affected by our physical health. Megan Ramos serves as director for the Intensive Dietary Management program based in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. She's a clinical researcher herself with a focus on preventative medicine. After her own diabetes diagnosis, she became the program's first guinea pig and is here to talk to us about her own experience, IDM's work, and introduce some of these dietary strategies that can help your emotional regulation too. Links & Notes Intensive Dietary Management Register for Michelle's Adult Chair 3-day intensive in Nashville OR Charlotte!

Our guest today is Tisha Morris, founder of Earth Home and bestselling author on Feng Shui and the energy of our spaces. We wanted to have Tisha on the show to help us better understand the role of Feng Shui in our homes, but she taught us so much more! Her guidance on the way we relate to our most precious spaces leads us not just through our rooms and down our halls, but deep into our long-forgotten drawers and cabinets to seek out the energy blocks that keep us bound up! Tisha is a certified life coach, energy healer, and fellow podcaster — find Feng Shui Your Life in Apple Podcasts — and she's the founder of Earth Home School of Feng Shui and Feng Shui for the planet, a foundation to help promote better living spaces across the globe — Tisha Morris, welcome to The Adult Chair! Links & Notes EarthHome.tv Follow Tisha on Instagram Follow Tisha on Facebook Feng Shui your Life Podcast — Apple Podcasts

Today, we're talking about your breath. Yes, we all breathe, but how often do you think about the way your breathing impacts your emotional well being or your physical health or your ability to respond to stress and anxiety? The answer — not enough. Our guest today is Michelle D'Avella. Michelle supports people through their journey inward to release pain, open their hearts, and create a life they love. She is a breathwork teacher, desire map facilitator, writer, and mentor. She is the host of The Pushing Beauty Podcast and we're thrilled to welcome her to The Adult Chair today. Links & Notes Pushing Beauty Pushing Beauty — Breathwork Pushing Beauty — The Desire Map The Pushing Beauty Podcast — Apple Podcasts Pushing Beauty — Instagram

"If I don't learn to take care of myself, who will?" Boundaries and confrontations are two very different things. One teaches others how we want to be treated and the other is getting in someone's face to illicit change. Which one sounds better to you? In this podcast, we discuss the difference between the two and what, how and why it's important to learn how to set effective boundaries. Unfortunately, most of us weren't taught how to set boundaries so when we are faced with upsets or hurt we typically do one of the following: "suck it up" (and pretend nothing has happened), shun the person that hurt us and disown them or get angry, yell and/or rage. There is a healthier way! This episode explains how.

We're still on vacation! But this week we bring you an old favorite from October 2015. This week: Relationships! Need help with a relationship? Whether it be your partner, family member, or friend, this information will shift how you interact in relationships. In today's podcast, we discuss ways to improve relationships using techniques from the Adult Chair model. They are simple, easy to understand, empowering, and cultivate true connection. Join us for a conversation that will not only change your troubled relationship but transform how you interact with everyone.

We're taking the month off so this week, a classic from deep in the archives! This week on the show, we're talking about stories. An example: You're on the highway. Someone races up next to you and cuts into your lane. You're surprised and scared for an instant, which leads to frustration — and maybe anger. That person is rude, oblivious, stupid, probably didn't see you because they don't care about others in their lives. … and so on, and so on. This is your story. A story you've made up about a person you have never met, based only on a split second fear reaction. These are the stories we tell ourselves to help us rationalize our reality. This week on the show, I share where these stories come from, why it's so important to understand how they impact us and offer a bit of insight that will help us face our stories and let them go!

Happy July everybody! We're taking the month off with new shows but we have some good stuff to share on the podcast even while we're on vacation! First up this week, let's take a trip back to the new year. On January 1, I sat down with our friend Ramona Reid on her show, Holistic Revolution Radio, to talk about the new year, energy, inclusion and chakras. It's a wide ranging and informative conversation and — as always with Ramona — a lot of fun! Even though we were talking in the context of the New Year, it's timeless information and I hope you'll take some time on a warm afternoon this week to join us. Links & Notes Holistic Revolution Radio on Facebook WXNA Nashville

What is black and white thinking? It's thinking in extremes and absolutes. We're for something or against something else, and in between there is nothing. Something is good or bad, healthy or unhealthy, successful or a failure. Of course, as you're reading this, you probably think the whole concept sounds ridiculous, and you're right! But of course, that's the danger here: many people are unaware that they are black and white thinkers. Why do people do this? Thinking in absolutes helps us to feel safe, that at least in this area, we understand the world, maybe we control it a bit. Gray area represents misunderstanding, lack of control, and it's scary and unsafe. But black and white thinking can also create anxiety and depression. It's a function of our Adolescent Chair, and today we're going to help you get a handle on your own absolutes, find consciousness, test some of your own black and white positions for your Adult Chair!

It's not your job to fix those most important to you. Not your mom, not your dad, not your parents, not your friends… and when you take ownership of the responsibility for others' well-being such that it impacts your life? You may be struggling with codependency in your relationships. That's where we start this week, with a primer on the stuff that trips most of us at some point or another. From there, we offer five tools you can use in your life to make sure that you're active in relationships free of codependency, and healing your own tendencies, too! Links & Notes 11: Codependency: I'm OK if You're OK 54: Narcissism, Codependency, and the Self-Love Deficit with Ross Rosenberg

Clint from Cape Town, South Africa writes in with a comment and question we wanted to face head on this week. It's a terrific question and one we've all faced at some time or another in our lives. He writes: "I have really always struggled with authority figures and powerful personalities — can you help me sit in the adult chair during meetings with these types of people?" Yes! This week we're going to do just that by facing our outdated programming and replacing it with updated maps to help us all navigate our adult world. You'll be on the road to feeling confident in these scenarios, but the tools can take you much further! Thanks for the great question, Clint, and let us know how it goes! Links & Notes Michelle's Introduction to Emotional Freedom Technique

The ending of relationships can be hard, especially when we don't understand why they are ending or feel hurt over how they ended. When we look at relationships from our Adult Chair, it can change our perspective on why some relationships don't last and we gain understanding and even comfort. In this episode, we talk about relationships that end from the perspective of our Adult Chair and in turn bring resolution and honor to the growth between us.

We all experience emotional pain off and on throughout our lives. Relationships end, people and pets die, jobs end. Pain could be just around the next corner! The problem is that as humans we think that facing pain means putting it away, hiding from it, dealing with pain as we so love to say. We don't need to deal with our pain, we need to feel our pain and that is where we go wrong. This week on the show we're talking all about experiencing emotions and I have some tried and true techniques that will help you work through your own pain, anger, frustration … whatever! … and get right back to the important work of living your life! Links & Notes Unlock the Secret to Truly Helping Others in Pain What I do with my Feelings and Emotions

When we are met with a friend or family member in pain — or grief, sadness, really any emotion — our instinct is to console them, to somehow help relieve their discomfort or even fix their pain. Here's the problem: that doesn't help. There is way to help others with their pain but it's not what you'd think. When we demonstrate awareness, love, and willingness to be present in another's pain, it provides a platform for change, and that's what we're going to teach you how to do on the show today. Links & Notes Workshops with Michelle Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor

Have you ever found yourself listening to us talking about connecting to our inner child, and wondered, "right, I get it, but how?" We're going to help you today! The hardest part about doing this inner child work on your own is getting past the awkward feeling, the self-judgement that you're not doing it right. It will likely feel strange to start, but once you get into the practice, you'll feel right at home with the practical visualization of actually connecting with your inner child, and get to the peace, support, and love that follows!

As our kids move into their teenage years, they begin to distance themselves from us as parents. It's perfectly normal! But that doesn't make it any easier on us, and it forces us to change our approach to communicating with them. As they push back on us in an effort to find space themselves, we're tempted to push back on them, to control and make demands of their time and attention. It's a recipe for disaster in your relationship! Instead, try guiding them, focusing on their explorations as a reflective listener. These are just some of the tools talking about today to help you come to terms with your budding adult child!