Happy Monday!
I hope you all explored more of the mystery of life this weekend, and ended up in even more Awe of the Majesty in your special moments.
Today in my blog I’ll share:
1. A video blog offering my tips for sharing healthy concepts with others in a way that doesn’t create challenges in relationships, and inspires healthy change.
2. Marshal Dickholtz, DC, NUCCA Chiropractor, HLC 3 completes his TENTH GONG! I’ll share Marshal’s words about applying the CHEK teachings in his life and his experiences of doing ten consecutive gongs. Amazing commitment and leadership!
3. CHEK Advanced Training Program completions.
4. Show-n-Tell of my recent art, guests, and rock stacking with Angie.
Sharing Healthy Concepts
Have you ever tried to share something with a friend, co-worker or family member in regard to how they could get rid of pain, or look and feel better, only to end up being or feeling rejected?
There are a number or reasons people often “reject the very information they need most.” The most common reason I see is that the information is often presented to them as though:
A. They are doing something wrong or that there is something wrong with them because…
B. They are inferior to you; if you present new ideas to most people from a position of being an authority, they naturally resist. It goes against the ego to be “controlled” and if a person feels you are trying – in any way – to control them, they will resist.
C. You are an expert; if you don’t “wear it”, it is usually unwise to “share it”. I regularly tell my students, “wear it – then share it!”
In my 18:00 video today, I offer the following tips and expand on them as I share my offering today:
1. Tell them what “they want to hear” – and – “give them what they need.”
– What is your dream?
– What is your challenge?
2. Always share “your experience” of how the method(s) you are sharing “helped you.”
– Don’t tell them they are wrong!
3. Clearly explain how each action item gets them closer to their dream more effectively.
4. Use 3rd party endorsement; share your experience, but instead of positioning yourself as “the expert”, offer resources written by credible experts on the topics you are addressing.
People today are very conditioned by our educational system to believe in experts above and beyond even personal testimonial.
There is often resistance to new ideas among the people you will help, and if they can engage in a resource by an expert, they are more likely to direct their critical comments toward the expert, not you.
This helps you maintain a healthy dialogue with them, keeping the conversation exploratory, and productive. If you can keep them engaged, they are still in the process of developing awareness.
If you become the antagonist they feel them must conquer, they are acting our of closed-mindedness. This won’t help you help them.
The following resources will give you a LOT of help selling healthy concepts.
This way, you can use me as the third party endorsement of your healthy concepts (where applicable), and maintain a wholesome, supportive relationship with those you are trying to help.
Resources:
1. How To Eat Move & Be Healthy! – book
2. You Are What You Eat! – Audio Workbook program
3. The Last 4 Doctors You’ll Ever Need – multimedia ebook
4. Healing Fungal and Parasite Infections – DVDs
5. www.chekconnect.com to find Chek/HLC Practitioners near you.
Marshall Dickholtz COMPLETES 10-GONG with Tai-Chi RULER!
I always love it when my students get back to me with the news that they’ve completed their gong (100-days of consecutive practice) as agreed in class.
I remember the day Marshall first showed up on one of my classes. I was very glad to see him there because Marshall is a well-known, highly respected National Upper Cervical Chiropractic (NUCCA) doctor who practices in Chicago and sits on the NUCCA Board.
I knew of Marshall and worked with him many years before he attended one of my classes, so I knew who he was. I was excited because I knew of Marshall applied the CHEK Institute teachings, he would surely be a positive influence on countless chiropractors.
Indeed, he was and is. Marshall had me come speak at one of NUCCA’s annual events, where I shared the concept of the CHEK Totem Pole as a means of explaining what other methods could be used to stabilize the upper cervical complex.
From there, many more NUCCA doctors got my book, How To Eat, Move and Be Healthy! and growth was underway.
Meanwhile, many years have since passed, and Marshall has been committed to his practice, and the practice of “being the change.”
When I got news that he’d just completed his 10th consecutive gong, not only was I very impressed, but Marshall is the only person I know (other than Master Fong Ha, who taught me the exercise) that has done so.
I was so excited and impressed with Marshall’s commitment to himself and his life, I asked him to share a little about his journey. He offered the message below and I’m glad I can share Marshall and his journey into silence with you today:
1000 days of Chi practice, my 10th Gong!
In late November 2012, I attended HLC2, which was being taught by Paul Chek. On the second day of class, we went outside in the grass as he taught us all how to do a Chi practice using a Chi stick.
It was a meditative process, where we held the wooden Chi stick between our hands and with a gentle forward and backward rocking motion with our feet planted in the grass, we brought our arms down and out and up and in, using a circular motion matching our breathing to the movement.
During 20 or more minutes that we practiced this routine, I felt like such a rookie often wondering if I was doing it correctly and was Paul watching.
At the end of the session, Paul explained that practicing the routine 100 days in a row constituted a measure called a Gong. Then he asked who in the class was willing to take on the challenge of practicing this meditative technique for 100 days and completing a single Gong. My memory is that along with myself, everybody in the class raised their hand and agreed to the challenge.
I continued from that point, making sure that I worked out my schedule to where I had approximately 20 minutes or more every day to practice my Chi exercise.
It didn’t take long to figure out that if I didn’t perform it first thing in the morning it was very difficult to fit it into a very active schedule. I worked it into my daily routine and scribed a little line on my Chi stick / ruler to keep track that I completed my meditation each day.
As an owner and doctor of an active NUCCA upper cervical practice, with family commitments as well as travel, it always challenged my commitment to make sure that I kept up the practice. It wasn’t like I could take a day off because then I would have to start all over again and I wasn’t about to let that happen.
I even kept my new commitment in place following through the morning after having significant right shoulder surgery doing what I could do with my right arm in a sling strapped to the side of my body.
After completing the first hundred days of my first Gong, I was thrilled that I completed it and that I didn’t screw up and somehow forget to do it on my 99th day.
I started noticing there was a new energy and quality available to me in my life. Also, the structure was in place that it wasn’t taking as much effort to fit it into my schedule anymore. I committed to go for my second Gong and was open to see where I would go from there.
Over the past thousand days of my consistent Chi practice, I’ve had an profound experience of how I can impact my own physiology, experience nature and the world around me, ground myself to the earth and meditate in a way where I don’t fall asleep.
When the Chicago weather allows for it, I get to be outside with my feet on the earth in a meditative state that allows me to richly experience everything around me.
The sounds of the birds, an insect flying by, the rustling of a leaf, the slightest breeze going across my face, the temperature on my skin, my relationship to gravity, gentle movement of all my muscles and joints and the connection to the world far outside of my usual limited experience.
When I am finished with my practice, I stop and reflect for a bit and just experience how my body wants to stretch or move plus appreciating the entirety of my experience.
If I’m traveling, I’ve had the opportunity to do my Chi practice with my feet in the water in the Pacific Ocean the Golf and the Caribbean.
I’ve practiced generally at sunrise finding a place to practice on the back of Cruise ships, in parks, next to hotels, in parking lots, alongside roadways and many other places where I could get my feet planted on the ground and spend that time starting my day being centered and connected.
It is really remarkable beyond words, the richness associated with the memories of all of the different places where I have done my Chi practice. It feels like there is an area in my brain where all of these different memorable images are filed and available.
Another one of the huge benefits that I’ve gained is the ability where I have much better control, to shift my nervous system from fight or flight a highly energized sympathetic mode, to a relaxed parasympathetic expression.
It’s not only that I start my day this way, but through my daily practice it’s easy to reactivate my diaphragmatic breathing, settling down my nervous system into a more healthy state.
Following through and maintaining my daily Chi practice I’ve also learned something very important about my own ability to choose, commit and follow through on that commitment that can be applied not only to my own health, but to any area with in my life.
So what started as a challenge to take on a new practice that I was completely unfamiliar with, can now be looked at from a whole new perspective.
As I have started my 11th Gong, the new question isn’t just “why would I take the time to get present to my life and my environment,” but instead the question should be “why wouldn’t I?”
What I have experienced over the past thousand days is the value I get back in the contextual areas of my mental, physical, experiential and spiritual self. That value is far greater than the cost of putting aside a small amount of effort and time each and every day.
I’m thankful to Paul and his commitment that his students and the individuals that have taken up his work, apply it to their own lives first. If you don’t own it, then you can’t give it away.
Dr. Marshall Dickholtz Jr.
Certified NUCCA Doctor, HLC3
Co-chair NUCCA Standards and Certification
NUCCA and UCRF Board Member
CHEK LEVEL 3 Students Finish Their Course EXUBERANTLY!
Matthew Wallden, CP4, Naturopathic and Osteopathic Physician, and CHEK Faculty flew in from London to teach a lovely group of nine Level 3 CHEK Practitioners.
The practitioners came from a number of different countries and backgrounds and were all very motivated to learn from Matthew Wallden.
Mathew is a very experienced teacher and as a wealth of knowledge to share. Matthew has been one of my primary brain-storming buddies for a long time and I’m sure that the students were just as blown away with his intelligence as I am whenever we are together.
I went to visit the students last Thursday and gave a four-hour lecture on why people don’t heal.
I was very impressed with the student’s level of participation and self-awareness. They were ready and willing to dive into issues that are often uncomfortable for people to look at honestly.
As part of their training, I shared a classification schema that encapsulates the four kinds of clients/patients in society:
1. People that are willing to follow directions, participate, and generally heal efficiently.
2. People that don’t listen to anyone, always do exactly what they’ve always done, and heal very slowly or not at all.
3. Hypochondriacs. These people have become so identified as their symptoms, and often the leverage they gain by using them for power in relationships and life in general, that healing often feels dreadful to them. They can heal, but usually not without significant mental-emotional healing.
4. People whose time has come and no therapeutic intervention can stop the inevitable.
It is because the group #1 people (above) are so hard to find in any healthcare practice that the famous Dr. Bernard Jensen had a sign on his door that read, “Good doctor looking for a few good patients.”
I had a great time with my students and with Matthew. I’m really excited to see them at CHEK Practitioner Level 4 in 2016.
Thank you all for your tremendous commitment to your own well-being and to the CHEK Institute teachings. You are living examples for all to follow.
Thank you Matthew for making the long trip from London to share your love and wisdom with our students!
HLC1 with Jator Pierre – San Francisco
Jator Gonzalez (CHEK HLC 1 Instructor) just completed another amazing HLC 1 with this beautiful group of students this past weekend.
Jator informed me that they are great students, very engaged, and that they all had a fantastic time. It was a particularly special class for me because two of the ladies in the class are the mothers of two of my amazing and special clients (one is actually the mother of two of my special clients and their families, very exciting).
I’m very happy that everyone in Jator’s class got to be with Jator for this special HLC 1 experience.
Jator has studied with me for many years, and is truly a Master Practitioner in all regards. He is soft, loving and exemplifies what it means to be a balanced man…a rare finding in the world today!
Great Work Jator!
Thank you to all of you who attended HLC 1 with Jator in San Francisco this weekend. May your lives be forever abundant with love and chi,
Paul Chek
SHOW-N-TELL with Paul
After CP3 ended, Cam Nell (Now a CP 3, HLC 3 and CHEK Mentor) and Matthew Wallden came to spend Saturday with Angie, Vidya, Maggie (Angie’s dog) and I at the heaven house.
Here you can see us with our paintings. Cam was the only one of us to finish his painting, so Matthew will finish his at home.
We relaxed, painted, enjoyed each others company, and great food together.
I came in to the office to relax Sunday and lift stones and finished mine painting below.
This is my painting finished. In the middle, it says “ETERNITY”, and the painting expresses how ETERNITY becomes experienced in life as love. I had a lot of fun painting it.
We had a wonderful, playful, restful day together.
Thanks for being the amazing people you are Cam and Matthew, we loved visiting and painting with you!
Fun With Stones!
Sunday, Angie, Maggie and I came up to the Heaven House to enjoy an easy, relaxing day of exercise, painting, and catch-up work.
Mid-morning, after my breakfast settled, I went out to my stone circle with Angie and Maggie and we enjoyed about 50 minutes of rock stacking.
This is my Sunday workout. I had a lot of fun. Some of those stones are heavy!
Angie had fun building a stack while I built mine. We put Maggie in the shade away from the rocks to keep her safe. It was warm, sunny and lovely out. We really enjoyed being outside with all the creatures and the elements.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my blog this week.
Feel free to visit the CHEK Institute to see our schedule of upcoming events and product specials this month.
We’d love to see you in Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 1, or CHEK Exercise Coach!
You’ll be amazed how much your life can change with the guidance of a masterful teacher!
Love and chi,
Paul Chek
