Success is something we all want. Because success is viewed as positive and powerful, we all want more of it in our lives. Yet how often are you stressed out on the road to success? Do you wake up at night thinking about your work, your kids, the meaning of your life? How worried are you about that next deadline or that date with the scale? (It is bikini season!)

Our culture is so focused on climbing the “ladder of success” that we’re rarely encouraged to contemplate what’s at the top of that long, long ladder.

As we scurry upward, we’re often panicked, pressured and feel less than powerful. Some of us are known to keep climbing until our arms and legs fall off. Many of us reach the top only to realize we’ve placed our ladder up against the wrong wall; we work hard to “arrive” but we feel like we’re in the wrong place.

Success is not only a state of planning, doing and achieving (sometimes called a joyless life path of “save-slave-retire”). At Morning Crane, we believe that success is a state of Being.

If you’re at peace, content and able to take inspired positive action, you’re successful. Success is a balancing act of choice-making.

Sometimes doing nothing takes tremendous discipline and strength, especially when others are bolting up the corporate ladder and threatening to climb right over you.

That is the illusion of the ego – that we can fall behind, fall down, fall off the ladder and fail. When we access success as a state of Being, when we stop doing and start feeling, we are one step closer to enlightenment.

According to author and healer Deepak Chopra, authentic success can be defined as “the continued expansion of happiness and the progressive realization of worthy goals.”

It’s absolutely okay to have desires and to set worthy goals for yourself. Be proactive, take inspired action, celebrate your wins.

Just remember that if you define success as something outside yourself – as something to be obtained through constant action – you are missing out on your most precious blessing and your success birthright: a peaceful, mindful, inspired state of Being.

When you bring acceptance, enjoyment and enthusiasm to what you do (big or small actions), you are successful.

Below are five tips for climbing the ladder of life while practicing a state of Being that guarantees a lifetime of success.

• Self-awareness
• Discover your “why”
• Create healthy relationships
• Consistency
• Self love and self care

We hope this month brings you success and happiness.

Love and Gratitude,
Chris & Parisa Shelton and the Morning Crane Team

Click below to listen to Romeo Marquez Jr & Chris Shelton discuss 5 tips to elevate your success.

5 Keys to Elevate Your Success

1.  Self-awareness

2.  Discover your “why”

3.  Create healthy relationships

4.  Consistency

5.  Self love and self care

Summer time is here! It’s time to put away your wool sweaters and fuzzy socks, and pull out your slinky tank-tops and short-shorts.

As the spring season winds down, we start to speed up. The school year is ending so there are talent shows to attend and open houses to visit. Our gardens patiently wait for their annual make-over. Vacation brochures and beach blankets start laying around the house and pool.

As we step into the sunshine of summer fun, it’s important to nurture the source of our light and energy: our big giant heart! The happier you are, the more your heart shines like the sun. Below are some tips for keeping your beautiful heart healthy, happy and beating in perfect rhythm with summer fun.

R & R needs R & R. We all love to rest and relax. But do you practice healthy R & R? Most people approach rest and relaxation as stopping, sitting and eating. Does this sound familiar? Shutting down, watching television and eating junk food. We advocate for a healthier kind of R & R that leaves you energized and tuned in to what (and whom) matters most. The better, healthier R & R is all about rest and recovery. Rest by going to bed at a reasonable hour, and getting 7-10 hours of sleep per night. Recover faster with conscious breathing. Take 10 deep, slow breaths each morning upon waking, and each evening before going to bed.

Drink plenty of summer’s favourite beverage. No, not cold beer and wine spritzers! Water, water, water. Preferably filtered water served at room temperature. Add some lemon or lime to your water to add flavor and better liver function.

Get plenty of sun-shine. Summer time is about spending time in the outdoors with nature. You can take vitamins D from a bottle (available at the studio) or you can spend time outside.

Sending you warm wishes from the Morning Crane Team.

This month is all about appreciation and gratitude.

This is the perfect time to introduce you to something new, fresh and life-affirming. Nothing in life – person, place or thing – is inherently good or inherently bad. Nothing in nature is absolutely good or absolutely bad. Life just IS.

Have you ever had something happen in your life you perceived as “bad,” but eventually it showed itself to be a giant blessing? So many of the events in our lives are learning opportunities that offer us chances to grow and evolve. Spring is a perfect season for moving into a space of appreciation by counting our blessings. Expressing appreciation and gratitude is like planting seeds in a garden. When you nourish appreciation and gratitude in your life, you absolutely want to reap what you sow!

There is one state of Being without an opposite and that is unconditional love. Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power Of Now, one of our favorite books and one we highly recommend, assures us that “true love arises from beyond the mind.” Love is an inner state of Beingness that is universal, unconditional and eternal.

As we move towards Memorial Day (May 26th) and honor the people we have loved and lost, please remember that love is eternal. Whether remembering and missing family, friends and the men and women who have served in our armed forces, know that true love transcends death. Love never dies. Without death there cannot be life. Without war there cannot be peace. Without yin there cannot be yang. The spiritual masters have been teaching such truths for centuries. Embrace what is, and watch your spring blossom!

So what are you most grateful for right now? In this exact moment? Here’s my list: I am grateful for my health, my breath, my partner, my parents, my kids, my friends and clients, my pets, my work and purpose, and – I’ll admit it! – my car.

We hope you make the time to create an appreciation list of your own. Lean into “what is” in your life and know that all is well. May this month bring you true love, appreciation and gratitude.

Love and gratitude,

Chris & Parisa Shelton & the Morning Crane team

The month of April is all about Spring Cleaning. Out with the old, and in with the new! We hope to motivate you to open those messy drawers in your kitchen and bedroom, dust off the cobwebs, and clear out the clutter. Spring Cleaning can relate to cleaning your environment, but it can also relate to your cleaning your body.

To clean your house from the colds and flus of winter, open all the windows in your house during the day. Let the breeze move the air and Qi.

Here are 6 essentials for having a clean body and mind, free from yucky toxins (Brought to you by Zachary Taffany):

1. Oxygen – Take ten deep breaths upon waking, before meals, and before sleeping.
2. Hydration – Instead of sugary and caffeinated beverages, substitute water infusions like cucumber /mint and Lemon/Stevia.
3. Rest – Adults need a minimum of seven hours sleep per day.
4. Sunshine – We have a nationwide epidemic of Vitamin D deficiency. Get twenty minutes of sunlight daily.
5. Movement – Perspiration is the body’s preferred method of eliminating toxins, so make a habit of daily movements that create a light sweat.
6. Diet – eat LOL (Live, Organic, Local)
   Master these basic health principles to increase the body’s ability to detoxify and clean itself

May you have a clean and clear mind, body, and spirit this month!

Month of GREEN 

The month of March is all about going GREEN. Get ready to bust out your shamrock tee-shirts and green socks, and celebrate a color that signifies renewal, rebirth and rejuvenation. Spring is a time when kittens are born and buds get ready to bloom.

In Chinese medicine green relates to the element of Wood, which regulates the liver and gallbladder. Seasonal allergies such as springtime hay fever are considered a symptom of liver dysfunction and usually indicative of a body that needs purging and less stress. Stress can be caused by diet, negative emotions, and the environment. Eat organic and avoid genetically modified foods, and food grown with pesticides. The positive virtue of Wood is kindness so now is definitely the time to complement your green wardrobe with positive thoughts about yourself and others.

Here are some tips that encourage your health and home to blossom as winter weather gives way to everything green and fresh.

Eat green. Organic fruits and vegetable are like a pot of gold for your body. Add as much green to your plate as you can. Try green favourites like broccoli, rapini (Italian broccoli), sea vegetables (e.g., Irish moss, kelp) and asparagus. Drizzle fresh lemon and coconut oil on vegetables to improve liver function and flavour. Popular and powerful green foods and spices that support your body’s Wood element (liver and gallbladder function) include wheat spring greens, lemon berries, quince (fruit), quinoa, daikon root (white radish), vinegar, chrysanthemum flower and turmeric.

Clean green. Green living means you’re conscious of the products you use and how they affect the environment. Consider homemade cleaning solutions that are both effective and economical. Common green ingredients such as baking soda, cornstarch, cooking oils, essential oils, lemon juice, salt and vinegar are good for your health, your home and the planet. Another bonus? When you make your own cleaning supplies you save a lot green (money!) and that’s always good luck.

May you have the luck of the Irish with you this month and always. We wish you kindness, growth and abundance. Happy St. Patrick’s Day !

Love and gratitude,

Chris & Parisa Shelton & the Morning Crane team

Wednesdays

9-11:30AM 
Suggested donation

$25 per session

Help the interns who have graduated from our Medical Qigong program, gain experience while they work with you to eliminate pain. Under the supervision of expert healer & therapist Chris Shelton.

Medical Qigong can help with the following aliments

(not limited to)

·       Back pain

·       Join pain (acute and chronic)

·       Migraines

·       Depression/Anxiety

·       Cancer

The clinic is primarily for low income.

For more information and to sign up call (408) 391-2846

March 29th, 2014 1 – 3pm 

Relax and rejuvenate your mind, body, and spirit.  This practice will include one hour of gentle  yoga followed by relaxing tension releasing guided visualization.  Avail yourself to the rich practice of yogic traditions.  Leave feeling restored and refreshed.

Wear loose comfortable clothing and bring a blanket.

Cost: $35

 Click here to sign up or call (408) 391-2846

Instructor: Kyczy Hawk

Drawn to yoga later in life, Kyczy Hawk has enthusiastically embraced the practice as well as the philosophy. Trained at the Lotus Yoga Teachers’ of The Himalayan Yoga Institute in the Chicago area (2005), she returned to California to leave her corporate career and to teach / practice yoga full time. Combining the traditional hatha practices from her teachers with therapeutic techniques Kyczy teaches a holistic class offering modifications and focused poses to address the issues of befriending our bodies as they change. She has taught somatic, restorative and gentle yoga classes as well as chair yoga and is currently a yoga teacher with Kaiser at the PM&R chronic pain recovery clinic in Santa Clara. Kyczy also specializes in yoga for people recovering from all types of addictions. More about that work can be found on her website: yogarecovery.com.

Kyczy also teaches “Body Befriending Yoga” at Morning Crane every Tuesday 11:30am-12:30pm.

Click here to sign up for this class.

This month Cupid delivers joy and love, and might even deliver some chocolate and roses your way. Whether you are in a romantic relationship or not it is important that you nurture your Heart now and always.

They say that the Heart houses the Spirit, also known as the Shen  神. The Shen’s power is reflected in the sparkle of ones eyes.   Lots of sparkle signifies a spirit that is in tact. The Heart (Yin) is also know as the “Emperor of the body,” and is related to the Small Intestines (Yang) and the Fire element.

If you are deficient in the Fire element, you are likely to experience abandonment, loneliness and/or lack of joy. Such attitudes and behaviors do not serve ourselves or the people we love. If you’re Fire deficient and want to bring balance back into the bedroom, consider honoring Feng Shui principles. For example, ensure that your bed’s headboard faces south. Find red and pink accents that you can add to your linen and bedding.

The positive virtue of the Heart is LOVE.   Remember that Love conquers all. “The only way to fight darkness is with light.” Our hope for you is that you find your passions and share your light.

Love & gratitude & Happy Valentine’s Day,

-Chris & Parisa Shelton and the Morning Crane team