Happy Tuesday!
I hope you are all enjoying the life process each day.
It’s been a busy time with family visiting for Mana’s first birthday, work and other events, so I have lots to share with you today.
In my blog today, I will share:
1. Creating Harmony In Your Life
2. Nick Horowski Interviews Paul Chek for Bare Naked Podcast
3. Mike Salemi WINS WAKSC World Championships
4. Show-N-Tell With Paul
Creating Harmony In Your Life
“Harmony – Harmony – Release, Allow, Accept!”
That is the theme of my blog message to you today.
When we realize that consciousness is a psychic substance, created not blindly, but in living awareness of opposites, as so beautifully stated by psychiatrist Edward Edinger, MD, it becomes apparent that ups (+) and downs (-) are an inherent part of life.
Today, I take you through a process I often use when conducting healing ceremonies, or when working with individual students/patients.
I share some of the key elements of the change process, and show you a simple model for identifying where change is likely to be most beneficial in your life.
I finish my video presentation by sharing the very process I just took a client through in his healing journey and sing it out for you so you can see and feel how the process works.
I finish by sharing the suggested self-help resources you see below.
I hope you enjoy my video today!
Resources:
1. The Last 4 Doctors – multimedia ebook
2. How To Eat Move and Be Healthy! – book
3. Personal Professional Spiritual Lessons 1-3 – online
4. Holistic Lifestyle Coach 1 online or live
Nick Horowski Interviews Paul Chek for BareNaked Health Podcast
C.H.E.K Institute Professional Nick Horowski, founder of the BareNaked Health Podcast did a lovely interview with me recently.
He asked a variety of questions that inspired me to share my thoughts and feelings, and it was a lovely interview.
It is amazing to see so many C.H.E.K Institute students “sharing the love” through their own books, audios, videos and podcasts.
I feel like the seeds I planted all the way back in the early 1990s are now producing fruit to help with the global transition in conscious we all need in order to live in harmony with each other and the world.
Some of the topics Nick and I discuss are issues of strength development, raising children and the influence Mana has had on my life and our family life, and which things in life are really meaningful.
I hope you enjoy listening:
https://www.barenakedhealthpodcast.com/you-cant-replace-love-with-paul-chek/
If you would like to learn more about Nick, you can explore here:
Nick Horowski DPT
Owner of Evolution Health and Fitness https://www.evo-health.com/
Owner of Evolved Health
CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 3
CHEK Practitioner Level 2
Mike Salemi WINS WAKSC World Championships
Let’s all celebrate Mike Salemi’s World Championship in the Russian Kettlebell 32KG 10:00 (brutal!) Long Cycle last weekend!
As you can imagine, I’m VERY proud of Mike. He has really earned his status as a world champion Russian KB athlete.
Mike started with me in 2013 because he’d developed an arm injury that was stopping him from lifting.
He developed a compartment syndrome, which means that as the muscles become more taxed and begin to expand from exposure to work, blood gets trapped within the muscle. If it goes too long, the muscle can die of anoxia (lack of oxygen).
He got as much help as he could, but nothing seemed to address the issue.
When Mike came to me and I evaluated him, I could see immediately that he was making the same technical lifting mistakes that had gotten so many other Russian KB athletes injured that I’d worked with in the past.
It wasn’t that he was lifting incorrectly according to what is normal practice for most Russian KB athletes, it was because the techniques were developed by copying the form of “whoever is winning competitions” as is common in many sports environments.
Through my evaluations, I found that Mike also had thoracic outlet syndrome, which means that his nerve and blood supply was being strangled between exiting the neck and entering the arms to feed blood and oxygen to the arms and return waste.
This is another very commonly misdiagnosed injury to weightlifting athletes, and most result from imbalanced training programs and a lack of staged progression coupled with a lack of self-management skills.
I’ve seen many cases among athletes in my career. This is the injury that resulted in Gary Roberts of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team initially being medically retired. This is what stopped the famous horse racer Richard Dunwoody from being able to race horses or cars.
I was able to help them both get back into their sports again, and go onto many more successes.
In fact, Richard Dunwoody went on to win the coveted Triple Crown, and wrote about my work with him in his published biography and Gary Roberts went on to play several more years before retiring.
I worked closely with Mike to restore optimal flexibility and muscle balance to his body and to carefully create a hybrid lifting technique that combined the best of the Russian KB style and the essential components of Olympic weightlifting.
This allowed Mike to be more efficient, have better dynamic balance and use his legs more and arms less.
I spent about two years working with Mike, but I wasn’t just training/coaching him. I was teaching him how to apply the problem solving, program design and self-management skills I was applying to him so he could use them to coach himself and others.
Once Mike was comfortably rooted in these methods, he went on his own and now uses me as a consultant.
I’m very proud of how amazing a student he’s been and how dedicated he is to himself, his sport, other athletes and being a great example in the world.
KILLING THE GOSSIP!
Mike now has both 2016 WAKSC Grand Prix, 78kg BW 32kg Long Cycle Class Winner status, and his 2017 WAKSC World Champion, 73kg BW 32kg Long Cycle Class championship under his belt. We just discussed the possibility of going for the title in the 40KG short cycle class after he takes a few months off.
One of the reasons Mike’s accomplishments and titles are “so sweet” to me is that there are many so-called “experts” in the strength and conditioning and personal training industry who spread a lot of gossip about the C.H.E.K Practitioner training program, saying things like, “Paul Chek’s programs are not for athletes. They are for people who want to play with rubber balls and pink dumbbells.”
This has led to a lot of people in the industry making false assumptions.
In actual fact, what I teach is how to prepare any athlete or individual to be successful for the long run!
In our culture of fast-food education and overnight certification, often by multiple-choice questions on a test instead of real education, too many people fall into the illusion that they know what they are doing once having been through such training programs.
An example is this: What does it matter if you know how to put muscle on, or use high-speed, explosive lifts like you see with CrossFit, KB training and Olympic lifting if you don’t know how to keep posture, muscle balance, stabilizer strength and performance, diet, rest factors and mental-emotional self-management strategies in play?
It is this very imbalance in beliefs and education that has resulted in me being hired by many professional sports teams, college teams and Olympic committees around the world when athletes are falling apart and no one knows what the problem is or what to do about it.
Mike has demonstrated fully (as have many other athletes I’ve worked with, and countless athletes high level C.H.E.K Professionals have been working with for many years running), the importance of skillful program design and self-management strategies.
There are many C.H.E.K Professionals in high-level positions who have achieved amazing results with athletes in many sports around the world.
The challenge for me as an educator hasn’t been developing effective education… It has been finding students that are committed to doing the real work of learning mastery – and mastery doesn’t come out of a bubble gum machine.
I asked Mike to share a few works about his competition experience, and this is what he gave me to share with all of you:
“With over 250 competitors from around the world, this was the first WAKSC World Championship Kettlebell Sport Competition and it was a fantastic event!
“The community and competitors who lifted were all top notch. It was a surreal experience to be lifting in a lineup of 9 other competitors from around the world, many of whom I’ve looked up to ever since I started competing.
“I ended up weighing lighter than usual for this competition, which entering in the 10-minute 32kg class, required more endurance than the 5-minute 40kg Long Cycle Event I usually compete in.
“As a result, I weighed 160 lbs., but still hit a PR in this event, with total repetitions of 51, surpassing the Master of Sport ranking by 7 reps.
“Following each competition, I get a chance to reflect on the lessons learned along the way. On this one, while still working 30-40 hours a week in another industry, I am making the transition into the performance, health and fitness industry.
“There was lots of traveling that happened heading into the competition, and it definitely wasn’t not the most ideal training cycle.
However, as I mentioned to Paul immediately following the competition, the tools of Athlete Self Management I’ve learned from him, have been absolutely essential to being a working professional and also high-level kettlebell sport athlete.
“I couldn’t be happier with the performance, and am grateful to all the wonderful people who have supported me on my path.
“Now for some serious Dr. Quiet time for the next 6 weeks! : )”
Mike Salemi
Kettlebell Master of Sport
2017 WAKSC World Champion, 73kg BW 32kg Long Cycle Class
2016 WAKSC Grand Prix, 78kg BW 32kg Long Cycle Class Winner
Thanks Mike!
We are all VERY proud of you!
Resources:
For any of you working on strength development, or sport-specific strength development, the following resources offer you essential education for keeping your core strong, posture ideal, and body strong and stable for the long run:
1. How To Eat Move and Be Healthy! – book
2. Holistic Lifestyle Coach 1 online or live
3. C.H.E.K Foundations Program – membership program
4. Movement That Matters – book
5. CHEK Exercise Coach prerequisite courses online
6. Scientific Core Conditioning – correspondence course
7. Scientific Back Training – correspondence course
8. Scientific Shoulder Training – correspondence course
9. SB Exercises For Athletes – DVD
10. Strong-N-Stable DVD series
11. The Golf Biomechanics’ Manual – book
12. The Tennis Biomechanic’s Manual – book
13. Advanced SB For Rehabilitation – correspondence course
Show-N-Tell With Paul
Mana’s First Birthday 2-22-17 A Blast!
Mana has been having a birthday ball for a week now. We celebrated his birthday ourselves, and then had the second birthday party with several of Angie’s family members.
As you can see looking at the cake and Maggie’s outfit, the theme of the party was dinosaurs.
One of Mana’s favorite songs is a dinosaur song for kids, so Angie made a “dinosaur” birthday for him.
Mana’s first “fire experience” came when we celebrated his birthday the first time, and gave him a cupcake with a candle in it.
Naturally, he wanted to touch the candle! We tried to keep him from doing that, but he’s very persistent and very fast!
Unfortunately, he swiped the candlestick with his finger and got hot, liquid wax on his skin and that caused some vocalization of his pain and shock. :-(
I was curious to see if he would associate the pain with the cupcake,. Sure enough, the next time we brought him a cupcake or the big birthday cake with a candle on it, he immediately recoiled and looked afraid. That’s how you learn not to play with fire.
Who knows… Maybe having a fear of cupcakes and cakes isn’t such a bad thing in the long run.
Our nanny brought Sean, one of the little children she cares for. Mana and Sean had a ball together, as he loves interacting with other kids.
Among the many presents Mana was given, we started him off by waiting until he woke up and looked outside his bedroom on his birthday morning where he found his new swing set and slide. He loved that!
In the last few weeks, Mana has been making a concerted effort to walk on his own. I caught some of his first efforts on film and couldn’t resist sharing them with you.
I’m having so much fun with my little man, my heart is just bursting!
Sometimes he just decides he wants to go somewhere and without thinking about it, starts walking. He’s made it a good 12-20 steps on a several occasions and is becoming so confident on his own.
It’s funny to watch because as soon as he realizes he’s walking on his own and starts to think about it, he loses his balance and sits down.
When he just goes for it, he walks beautifully. Sounds a lot like life to me!
Angie has been taking Mana to visit the storytelling group for kids held at the Carlsbad library. He’s loving it, and loves all the kids.
Angie says he is quick to find the center of the circle and he’s not afraid to get involved with anything.
Hmm, that could be Mom, or Dad’s genes, so probably both.
We all love him, and I’m excited to share Mana with my mother, my sisters, my son and my brother for our family get-together next week too.
Healing and Growing With Greg
My client (Greg) flew out to see me from the East Coast for a couple days of focused healing work.
We’ve been working together for about a year now, and he’s made amazing gains in many areas of his life.
Above, you can see him holding a piece of art he created as part of his healing process, and then a mandala we created together as well.
You can also see me in my healing room working on balancing his brain hemispheres using a shamanic healing technique.
While I was treating Greg, he felt changes in energy and sensations in various locations in his body, which is fun because he can feel what’s changing inside him.
Greg is one of my Zero Force Coaching clients, and we do a lot of fun and interesting things together. I’m really proud of how much he’s grown in the last year of our work together.
His mother was also here and brought Greg’s sister to work with Angie for some shamanic work for half a day, which they both really enjoyed.
I’m very impressed with how loving and supportive Greg’s parents are of their kids, and how open minded and willing to learn and grow they are.
If I could vote somewhere for “Parents Of The Year,” I’d vote for Greg’s parents for sure!
Jason Meets Alex Grey and His Wife
My buddy Jason recently got a chance to meet and visit with two of our favorite people (and hero’s!), artist Alex Grey and his lovely wife Allyson.
Alex and Jason had time for some deep and meaningful conversation, and had a meal with Alex and his wife too.
He was so blessed to be with these amazing people, and I feel blessed that one of my buddies got to spend time with one of my all time heroes!
Thanks for being the amazing examples of conscious, spiritual growth and development Alex and family! Your art, books, and audios are a part of my life!
Thanks for sharing the Love Jason!
C.H.E.K Professional and Zero Force Coaching Client Paul Bourne Gets Married!
Congratulations to Paul and Megan Bourne, who just got married last weekend.
Paul is a longtime student of the C.H.E.K Institute, and has been a Zero Force Coaching client of mine in the past, and is currently in my Love-4-Mastery coaching program.
I love Paul, and we’ve grown a lot together. Now he has long-term help to manage his new and emerging biodynamic farm in Barbados. Get ready to get dirty Megan!!
Love and blessings to you both on your intimate journey of life together.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my blog today.
I look forward to sharing more with you next week.
If you’d like to know more about what’s happening at the C.H.E.K Institute, see our calendar of events, shop for great education, or be on our mailing list to receive notifications, feel free to visit us at: www.chekinstitute.com
Love and chi,
Paul Chek
