“Finding Deeper Layers of Ourselves” – My Interview with Dr. Paul Lam

I’m honored to speak with Dr. Paul Lam on health and wellness issues he has championed for over 40 years. Paul was born in Vietnam but was left as a baby with his grandmother in China. At sixteen, malnourished and arthritic, he escaped to Hong Kong during Chairman Mao's disastrous regime. From there, he moved to Australia, where he pursued his dream of becoming a physician. In 2010, he and his colleagues established the Tai Chi for Health Institute. His tai chi programs have been used to train over 10 million people around the world.

Paul and I will be discussing a range of topics, such as the nature of relationships, using tai chi practice to create harmony and wellness, and the important role of safety for learning and growth. His long career as a physician and world-renowned tai chi master has given him deep insights into these topics that you won’t want to miss.

The following is just a taste of Paul’s insights.

Q: Based on your experience, what can you tell us that might be helpful to us in moving beyond our own fears and our own sense of powerlessness to create the lives that we truly desire?
Paul: The will to live, to learn and to enjoy life keeps pushing us to work harder and to love others.

Q: What would you say are the most important benefits of practicing tai chi?
Paul: The slow, smooth, movements, and the coordination of body and mind, the right posture and the right breathing all contribute to being mindfully present and that brings a sort of inner strength and an inner serenity.

Q: What have your many years of mindful tai chi practice and training taught you about healing challenging relationships?
Paul: Tai chi practice trains us to listen to the incoming force and then absorb, redirect, or use the opponent's force to combine with ours to reach a win-win situation. I can translate that to life in our interactions with people. All relationships have to do with interaction.

Q: Based on your experience, what can you tell us about the importance of having a safe place from which to learn and grow?
Paul: The center of emotional security having to do with survival is in our brain stem. Having someone we feel we can trust with our insecurities is a part of survival. It allows us to open up and grow.

When asked if there’s one last thing he’d like our listeners to hear, Paul says, “I would love everybody to think that anyone can do tai chi. Have a go. In Australia, it means have a try.”

Dr. Paul Lam’s latest book, Born Strong: From Surviving the Great Famine to Teaching Tai Chi to Millions, shares his life experiences and his belief that no matter how desperate things are, there's always hope.