A Little Bit of Tai Chi

(A Toastmaster Basic Speech)

Ladies and Gentlemen:

        ...did you know that each time I am introduced,   I take pleasure in it because more often than not,  what I expect always happens - which is, people usually look for a Chinese-looking female for the name Sonja Chan but end up disappointed because yes, they see a female... an Asian female... but definitely not a Chinese.  Not like one of those that Steven Spielberg accused of bombing Pearl Harbor! (you remember our old Spielberg joke, of course...him thinking the Japanese, the Chinese and the Burmese are all the same!)

        But I love my name, you know, and it goes back to my college days during my Oriental history classes.  Here we discussed the Chinese revolutionary leader Dr Sun Yat Sen whom you might know played an instrumental role of overthrowing the Qing dynasty - the last Imperial dynasty of China.  And this was in 1912.  He was then made the first provisional president when the Republic of China was founded....and well, that was that.

        Now you must think this is crazy but I loved the euphonic effect of the name Dr Sun Yat Sen... and from there,  I began to love everything Chinese: - food, clothes, song, dance - everything Chinese, I tell you....until my husband came along and made my name Dr Sonja Chan.  Fascinating, don't you think?  So I loved everything Chinese - and that necessarily included my love for Tai Chi.  As you must know, Tai Chi, or Tai Chi Chuan, as it is also known, is an internal Chinese martial art usually practised for health reasons.  Some of the training forms known in the Western world include slow-motion routines that a group of people practise together every morning in the parks around the world and with music.  But as a martial art, it is also recognized as a death tool notwithstanding its slow-motion routines.

        Well,  I'm quite  interested in the health aspect of  Tai Chi as it concentrates on the relief of physical stress from both the body and the mind. - which I need!   And I can only mention a couple of these in a 5 to 7 minute speech.  So basic to Tai Chi we might say is the philosophy of the yin and the yang - the receptive and the active always in cooperative combination.  Like it is said - when there is a violent brute force, Tai Chi meets it with a softness until the brute force exhausts itself.  But in a regular training exercise, well,  the sequence of movement emphasizes a straight spine, abdominal breathing and a fluidity of movement.

       And so as it goes:  Tai Chi philosophy maintains that strength comes from one's communion with the ground thus the spine continues on a straight line to the ground like this.  Then exercises normally begin with abdominal breathing: - left left thumb on the navel,  right hand over the left  and breath deeply -1, 2, 3....  As for the fluidity of motion, this example is my favorite.  Start with the right foot forward. the left one foot apart on a 90 degree position... then raise the left hand and move it slowly to the back as you twist your waistline and bend your left knee, the right hand following the left in a lower level. Now the right hand alternates with the left:  raise the right hand in a circular motion as you lower the left.. moving the right hand to the back and the eyes follow the hands as they express. The body now turns to the right,  the left foot stepping forward with the right taking the  one foot distance this time, the waistline correspondingly twisting and the right knee bended.  In here is a total interaction of the body parts which encourages blood circulation,  joint flexibility, and simple relaxation. Interesting?

        Right!  Spielberg supposedly said that the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Burmese were all the same. But that isn't true, is it?  The Chinese have the Great Wall, - the Japanese and the Burmese do not!  The Chinese have Tai Chi Chuan, - the Japanese and the Burmese do not!  The Chinese have me....!  -by name, at least !  The Japanese and the Burmese do not!!! :)

Mister Toastmaster.....