Learn to Question Your Thinking with CHANA MASON

02/04/22 • 49 min

Today I’m talking with Chana Mason, who coaches her clients in clarifying vision, shifting beliefs, and manifesting their dreams. Chana’s work turns complex ideas into easy, accessible tools for transformation. She’s an author, life coach, and businesswoman who challenges her students to question the beliefs that keep them locked in trauma.

Chana was born in Bogota, Colombia. As a young child, she was unaware of just how dangerous a place it was, until--at 5 years old--multiple men broke into her house, held her mother at gunpoint, and threatened to kidnap her and her sisters. Within 48 hours, her family had fled to Miami, Florida, where Chana would grow up.

What Chana didn’t realize was just how much trauma had been inflicted on her and her family. Chana’s trauma manifested in nightmares, hallucinations, and eventually anxiety and depression in her later years. It wasn’t until her 30s that she started to see a change, after years of therapy missing the mark. Chana moved to Israel to connect with her religion, but soon discovered the emotional baggage flying with her: “I’m not enough, God doesn’t love me enough.” She had to unlearn these beliefs, first.

Chana discovered the power of inquiry from a friend. Byron Katie’s book, “Loving What Is”, got passed from hand-to-hand of Chana’s friends, and soon they had a tight-knit, therapeutic circle of women who met weekly to apply the lessons they learned. This was the beginning of Chana’s coaching training--with her friends--and the beginning of a much happier life.

To inquire is to ask questions, and inquiry is asking questions that make you think about your thinking. Chana says that we think so much we often don’t stop to consider our thoughts, and come to believe we are our thoughts. The faculty of thought, in Chana’s words, is meant to process things strategically, to be used rather than to use us. Inquiry allows us to uncover our underlying beliefs and question them.

Chana’s technique of inquiry works by challenging clients’ thoughts with their opposite: rather than, ‘They should love me,’ for example, Chana suggests, ‘I should love me.’ This gives clients autonomy, as well as the ability to vocalize their needs. She teaches clients to replace belief with better beliefs, and in turn, get out of their own way.

Chana explains that we have no control over others, or the world, and imposing our own beliefs on how things should be is fighting a losing battle. It’s a skill of accepting reality, in a way that allows students to unfreeze and meet life with curiosity and enjoyment, rather than with beliefs that underserve them and perpetuate their trauma.

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Previous Episode

Healing Trauma Through Movement with GABRIEL SHAW

Today I’m joined by Gabriel Shaw, who for more than 15 years has helped people heal as a paramedic, a kinesiologist, clinical exercise physiologist and Tai Chi instructor. Gabriel has led specialty workshops at events such as the Victoria Yoga Conference, Tai Chi Mountain Retreat, Burning Man and more. Today, Gabriel is here to speak loud about how he helps people through their trauma-healing with various modalities.

Everyone stores trauma in their body. Gabriel specializes in using movement to heal. Oftentimes, trauma is locked away in our bodies and ignored. Healthcare practitioners especially are often overlooked in the trauma they take on in their fields. Careers in the medical field can have short lifespans because of the stress they induce, something Gabriel struggled with, himself.

During his time as a paramedic, Gabriel put himself last, believing his trauma wasn’t ‘as bad’ as his patients’. One of his tools for healing was Tai Chi and Qi Gong, which let him tap into his body in order to release what was built up. Energy work helps cultivate the essential ‘you’ that may be buried.

Tai Chi blends martial arts and Qi Gong in order to cultivate internal energy. Gabriel says the first step of Tai Chi is learning to relax, and access the places we’ve locked up to store stress. Trauma survivors--and their caregivers--may respond to trauma by locking it away in a certain part of their body. Tai Chi works to bring feeling back into those separated areas.

‘Qi’ is a Chinese word meaning energy or breath, or, as Gabriel describes, “fire without fire.” He explains that people often get caught up with the mystical interpretation of Qi, when it can be boiled down to the physical sensation of living in your body. If you were to stop and just feel your body, you likely wouldn’t feel it in terms of muscle or bone structure, but rather a flow of sensations from one place to the next. Tai Chi and Qi Gong work to cultivate even more of that flow and connect the body’s energy.

Gabriel explains that people often resist healing movement because of the focus it draws to places of discomfort. Movement is change, and humans often resist change. “You can’t rush your healing,” Gabriel says. After an injury, a patient may focus on getting back to where they were before, physically or mentally. That’s where we get into trouble, according to Gabriel, because that stagnation is what stops us from healing.

Listen in to learn about Tai Chi and Qi Gong, intuitive movement as a healing modality, and Gabriel’s experience with kinesiology and wellness coaching.

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Next Episode

The Mindset Athlete with JAMES OWEN ROBERTS

Today I’m joined by James Owen Roberts, a ParaOlympian athlete, entrepreneur, and Tedx speaker who is here to share his story of triumph and resilience. James is a fellow podcaster, with the “Mindset Athlete” podcast, as well as an author with more than 15 years experience in exercise and diet mindset.

James comes from a stubborn family. When he was born with his disability, there was doubt surrounding how he would navigate an able-bodied world. Throughout his life, James learned how to “overcome the monkey bars” and participate in all the things his peers were able to do. Whenever someone told him no, he couldn’t, James responded with, “Watch me.”

In his early adulthood, James went unexpectedly from swimming to rowing as his main sport. He was hesitant to start something new, but a conversation with his mom pushed him to try. In her eyes, it was a win-win situation: either he’s good at it, or he’s not, which means he can try something else. James found the motto, “I don’t know for certain, but why focus on next year when we have now?”

When people ask him how he was so successful, James explains that he learned to thrive off the competitive environment of athletes. The sporting environment encourages athletes to push others by pushing themselves. He took things one step at a time, climbing each rung of the ladder until he made it to the Paralympics. In spite of setbacks, he learned that there’s always room to look at the bigger picture.

Despite his successes, James is no stranger to failure. His business experienced ups and downs as a result of his inexperience with running a business. But losing clients, transactions falling through, and not making any money taught James the valuable lessons he needed to not let it happen again. Whenever James struggles with motivation, he reminds himself that he’s not just showing up for himself--he’s showing up for his community, too, like a lighthouse: if there’s no light, other ships are going to hit the rocks.

Now, James is a coach that focuses on mindset as much as on physical aesthetics. He believes that in order to change a person for the long-term, you have to change their habits, behaviors, and self-confidence. He chips away at underlying beliefs in order to teach clients that just because they may have failed at something, they’re not a failure, and motivation isn’t everything.

James teaches his students to make the conscious choice to persevere rather than relying on motivation. Through this, he teaches resilience. James hopes that listeners will take away that if you want change, you have to make the choice. It’s no one else’s fault or responsibility. If you look at yourself in the mirror, and aren’t happy with it, James says that it’s your choice to make that change.

Listen in to hear James’ journey to the paraolympics, his story with sports with a disability, and his experience with TedX.

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