The Adult Chair Podcast with Michelle Chalfant

We don't end relationships well, unfortunately no one teaches us how to do this. We get stuck in our victim or get caught in the blame game which only keeps us stuck! Katherine Woodward Thomas offers us a fresh perspective on breaking up and ending well. On today's show we discuss her book and process called Conscious Uncoupling, which Gweneth Paltrow and Chris Martin made famous. She shares with...

Life can be overwhelming at times and it can cause us to lose ourselves. This may look like difficulty in making decisions, setting boundaries and or standing in your truth. This meditation will help change that, as it helps you to tap into your inner strength and regain empowerment.

It seems like a growing number of kids today are suffering from anxiety. As parents and caregivers of these kids, witnessing their anxiety can leave us feeling helpless and not sure what to do. Often times, what we do doesn't help and even makes things worse. Today Sharon Selby, Registered Clinical Counselor and expert in the field of anxiety with children, teens and families joins me on the show....

Anxiety, ruminating thoughts, stress and negative impulses can make us feel like we are imploding! When we implode, it feels like our world is collapsing and we have no way out. In today's show, I help you find your way out of imploding and even stop yourself before you collapse with 10 easy tips. The great news is that it only takes minutes to change your emotional state with these, and you don't...

We are born with a divine connection and guidance system. This part of us is the spiritual aspect of who we are, the part of us that is wise, all-knowing and always connected with us, that is always guiding us and illuminating our life path. We have the ability to connect with this part and deepen the connection. Let us now awaken and connect to this divine part: the higher self. Enjoy the journey...

People change and relationships end. This can be such a painful time but also a time of great change, perhaps positive change. In the episode today, I talk with you about how we can go through the ending of relationships in a new way, a conscious way, from our Adult Chair. Sitting here can change how you navigate the end. In today's show, I offer 6 "Truths" for relationships and how and why they m...

We use statements like, "I'm so in the flow today, everything fell perfectly into place." We also hear, "I was so out of the flow today, it was the worst day." Does this "flow state" randomly happen to us or can we choose it? I believe we can access this state and ride it like a wave! In today's show, I explain how we do this, with a 4-step process to access and harness your own flow state. Sponso...

"How do I find my way out ?" What are you in? That doesn't matter! If you're in a situation that is painful, scaring you, causing you discomfort, no matter of external advice is going to help you get yourself out of it. To dig out, you have to go inside , to find the parts of you that that you don't understand that keep you locked into a cycle of pain, that prevent you from finding clarity, from f...

I could not be more excited about today's show! Dr. Dan Siegel joins me to talk about his new book Aware , and the work he's been doing that can radically accelerate our journey toward learning to live in the present moment. This is an amazing partner to all the work each and every one of you are doing to learn to live in your Adult Chair — I know you're simply going to love this! Sponsor: This we...

We're back! I'm thrilled to be back to the podcast after our summer break, a break that's been filled with much emotion for me personally. I share that experience with my friend Karen Campion on the show this week as we talk about the true power of letting go to move forward. Karen is wonderful and I'm sure her insights will resonate with you, just as they do with me! Sponsor: This week's show is...

Unfortunately, we all experience shame at some point in our lives, some of us more than others. In this guided meditation exercise, you will be guided through a process from the Adult Chair model that releases and transforms shame.

How do I live authentically? If you find yourself asking that question, you're not alone. I hear this from clients practically daily, each feeling a connection with the concept, knowing they're disconnected from their true, authentic selves, but at the same time struggling to move into that place of living their own lives authentically. To help us answer this question and better understand the pra...

Pain can feel heavy, like a dark cloud that won't go away. We often times don't realize that we are carrying our pain with us from the past, in hopes that something or someone will make it magically go away. Today, Rea Wright and I offer 5 ideas for relieving the darkness of pain and living a lighter more peaceful life. Sponsor: This week's show is brought to you by Audible! Get a free audiobook t...

The Enneagram is a personality typing system that helps us to identify more clearly who we are, and is an exciting tool that is gaining in popularity all over the world. Today on the show Ramona Reid blends the wisdom of the Enneagram into the Adult Chair. Ramona shared with us how she experiences the Child, Adolescent and Adult through the lens of the Enneagram and the commonalities of the two mo...

This week on the show I have a guest to talk to us about one of the most misunderstood and over-used labels I've run across: borderline personality disorder. Dr. Robin Arthur is a fantastic and knowledgeable expert who has been working with BPD individuals for years and has managed to offer us the tools we need not only to understand it, but to differentiate it from other personality disorders tha...

It's a little bit of a heavy subject today, but it's one we have to talk about: Healing our Shame. It's a subject that crosses my office practically daily in insidious and subversive ways. Shame contaminates our work and our relationships and creates a cycle of binary, either/or thinking. But we can take back our power in our relationship with shame if we work to understand it, relate to it, and u...

I adore our guest today! Patti Elledge joins us to talk about adult attachment wounds. She's a brilliant therapist and practitioner and gives us so much depth through our conversation on the role of attachment in our lives and how we can heal ourselves — plus, her work fits _perfectly_with what I teach in The Adult Chair. So grab some coffee or tea and settle in for a wonderful conversation that c...

What do we do when we feel like we just can't put one more thing on our plates? When the people we love and care about are expecting so much from us, it feels like we're suffocating? When our career obligations increasing anxiety beyond our ability to cope? I know the feeling, and I know you know the feeling, and today on the show, I'm going to share a recent experience that had me turning to MY A...

The rush of anxiety and overwhelm can quickly take over our experience of the world. Being equipped with the tools to ease that experience is central to living in the Adult Chair. Let us journey.

The only way you're going to heal is to own your life. That's the overriding message of the show today and it comes thanks to the story of a fabulous client we'll call "Carolyn." She's graciously offered her story for this week's show as a demonstration of owning your own stuff, and making great strides in breaking the damaging patterns and programs that play over and over in our lives. Thanks to...

We do everything we can to keep ourselves safe and loved in the world. To do this, we look to the past and gather up stories and then based on those stories we project into the future based on assumptions. Living like this creates stress and keeps us out of the present moment and stuck in the Adolescent Chair! When we learn to become "story busters" and live from a place of fact and truth, we find...

As children, we unknowingly inherit dysfunctional or unhealthy beliefs. This meditation takes you on a journey to find your true self and along the way, remove the inherited unhealthy and dysfunctional beliefs. Find yourself at the end feeling more worthy, strong, empowered, confident, brave and lovable with a beautiful boundary keeping others dysfunctional opinions or beliefs out. Enjoy the journ...

Ted is back! This time we're kicking it off with a big question about men and emotions, but I guarantee you there are some surprises in store from there! Ted shares his personal journey to understanding, learning to feel and experience his emotions. Along the way, he teaches us some important lessons on men and women and how we experience our emotions in different — but powerful — ways! Join us! S...

I get this question all the time : "how to do I get (fill in the blank loved-one here) to get into their Adult Chair?!" I get it. You're doing all this fantastic work on yourself, you're sitting in your emotions and learning to move with them, not in spite of them. You're doing all the great things that you need to do to live authentically yourself … now why won't other people get on this train wi...

Annie Waugh is an integrative therapist and dear friend and she's joining me on the show today to talk about an area of particular expertise: Essential Oils! I love oils and cherish everything Annie has taught me — and I can't wait for her to share some of these great lessons with you all today. We tackle depression and grief and hormone balance and so much more! So grab your diffuser and settle i...