Meet Chris Shelton

Hi Chris, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I developed resilience a young child. I watched as both of my parents struggled financially, mentally, emotionally, and in their relationship with one another. As a middle child, I observed as the attention was directed towards my older half-brother who was often in trouble with the law and ended up dropping out of high school and was sent to live with my grandfather in Arizona. What was left of the attention went to my youngest brother, because he was the baby in the family. Therefore, I learned early on that I must find a way to avoid being like my older brother, and I formed the subconscious belief that I would not spend the rest of my life struggling the way my parents did.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Being in business and in clinical practice for over 23 years and realizing that I have found my life’s purpose, we are now focusing on the Chris Shelton (Qigong) brand. A little over 14 years ago, my fight coach, patient and friend, Cung Le, brought media attention to my work and clinic in San Jose, California, that I could not have attained otherwise with the resources available to me at the time. As a result of Cung’s influence, I was interviewed by Showtime, NBC Sports, the UFC, and Vietnamese television from Los Angeles. Following that, Coach Cung introduced me to Hollywood physique expert, Eric The Trainer. On a trip to LA to attend a fundraiser with Robert Downey, Jr., my wife and I stopped to meet Eric for lunch. He told me he heard what I was doing with my healing techniques in the San Francisco Bay area and that this was not available anywhere in Los Angeles. I said to Eric, “Give me a break! This is Los Angeles; there are millions of people here!” He said, “No! I know the Who’s Who.” At first, I thought he was pulling my leg, but then and throughout the years, he referred many high profile clients to me.

For about seven years, my wife, Parisa, and I were flying back and forth from the Bay Area to LA to see clients. I finally asked myself my purpose for doing this because the business in San Jose was doing great. It was then that I realized the next stage in my career in order to expand my ability to reach more people is through television, media and film.

We just wrapped up shooting for a short film that will hit the festivals this year. A Healer’s Journey, details my journey through struggle and hardship to find health and healing and the process of spreading that gift of healing to the world. We are hoping this film will be picked up as a TV series to give people hope that they don’t have to live with chronic pain and disease.

The bigger mission is that people worldwide will be inspired to come study with me, because what I have mastered in clinic I can teach to others. We want expand our reach when these people then go back into their own communities to share what they have learned and help those who are suffering with pain and illness.

We have a two-year Mastermind Program that was launched in September 2022 and another Level One Qigong Teacher Training program launching in August 2023. Also, in response to the pandemic, we began a live Qigong class on Zoom every Monday through Thursday, from 8:00 to 8:30 AM Pacific Standard Time called The Qi Club that can be found at  theqiclub.com. On top of this, we are also offering in-person classes.

Later this year, the book I’ve been working on for the last 10 years on how to resolve back pain yourself will be hitting the shelves. All in all, it’s an exciting time, because all the hard work my wife and I have put into developing these programs has come together as part of our mission to help, inspire, heal, and uplift humanity.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The first skill set to have for personal development and succeeding as an entrepreneur is definitely perseverance. If you learn this skill early on, it will help you develop the mindset to move beyond naysayers as well as your own fears and insecurities. When times get tough, you will instinctively know that you have, contained within yourself, the ability to push through and succeed.

Another recommendation that I have applied to myself is to become a master at the skill sets that you seek to offer before adding extra tools to your tool belt. In my experience, it’s easy to get caught up in trying to learn too many different things at once. If you don’t hone in on your foundational practices first, you’ll risk becoming scattered, making the process of achieving your goals take much longer.

My third recommendation is to avoid being a perfectionist. As one of my editors used to say, “perfection is the enemy of done.” Having the ambition to develop a proper presentation, knowledge, and skill set is beautiful, but it doesn’t have to be perfect. If you try to make whatever you’re doing 100% perfect, it will stunt your development and take longer to reach the goals you have set forth. The saying “fake it till you make it” is sometimes necessary in the process of realizing your goals.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
There are many different inspirational books and teachers that I’ve learned from throughout the years. The most inspirational person is Jim Rohn. His talks on character building, financial independence and mindset are things that have personally helped me during times I doubted myself and the tools that I gained I still incorporate in my life today.