The Adult Chair Podcast with Michelle Chalfant

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 b...

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...

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-forgo...

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...

"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. Unfortuna...

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 understa...

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 ab...

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 conver...

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 unawar...

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 t...

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 goi...

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...

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...

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 p...

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 fee...

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...

According to Arielle Ford, one in three relationships that end in marriage start online today. And she ought to know; her work in the field of relationships over the last 30 years has earned her the title, "The Fairy Godmother of Love." She's on the show today to talk to us about soulmates, our search for love, and the law of attraction that can help us to find our next perfect partner. Already fo...

Our relationship with food is supposed to be one of healthful nurturing, building a strong family and community connection, growth and bounty. But what happens when our food connection becomes spoiled? Today on the show, Karly Randolph Pitman joins us to share her insights on food struggles, especially when it comes to sugar and addiction. She brings some truly surprising insights around where our...

If you're a regular listener, you know how much I love meditation. While most of us don't actually have a regular meditation practice, that doesn't mean a regular practice isn't something to aspire to. This week on the show, we talk plainly about why meditation can be such an important role in your emotional and physiological health. We have a number of recommendations for apps that can help you g...

Your life is a revolving door. You date the same people. You report to the same bosses. Over and over again, in spite of the effort you're making to change your life, you find that you're stuck in the patterns that have defined you and now you want to get out. This week on the show, we're talking about those patterns, and how you can take steps to own them, control them, and break them in favor of...

Navigating the murky waters of middle school can be tough on a kid. But navigating the murky waters of parenting a middle schooler can be even tougher! Today on The Adult Chair, our middle school maven Michelle Icard joins us to talk about how middle school has changed since we had to face it (and how it hasn't!). From social skills to hormones to technology to the parental relationship, Michelle...

We cover our feelings with numbing agents. Food. Alcohol. Work. The drive of our adolescent chair tells us that if we only had something to fill these holes in our lives, we'd be better, so we eat more, drink more, work more. Maybe we get married or have a child, always expecting that this next great thing will heal us. But the holes keep growing, and as soon as we stop for bit, stop covering up,...

The baggage we bring with us to adulthood can be stunningly resilient. Relationships with our family, friends, and mentors have a staying power far beyond our conscious memories. Lisa A. Romano is a Certified Life Coach who specializes in mentoring adult children of alcoholics who are seeking to move beyond their painful pasts. She is also a bestselling author, radio show host, and speaker. Her la...

As humans, we feel things deeply. Many of us cope with those feelings — particularly the negative ones — with some sort of numbing agent like food, or booze, or anything to minimize the impact of those feelings in our daily lives. But what do we do with those feelings and emotions get stuck? What do we do when we start to get baked in that shape of grief? This week on the show we're talking all ab...

The journey of The Adult Chair is not one of a destination, but rather an understanding. This week on the show, we talk about the confusion that can come to those who expect to live in their adult all the time, the frustration that comes with you feel like you finally understand what it feels like to sit in your Adult Chair, only to experience being snapped back into your Adolescent Chair thanks t...