The Soft Answer - a Verbal Tai Chi System
 
Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a conversation, meeting or family gathering, when suddenly you become uncomfortable? Things may have become unexpectedly confrontational; you may feel like you're being singled out, blamed, accused or criticized. Without warning, you find yourself at a loss for words or action.

It's probably happened to all of us at one time or another.  

What's the best way to address this problem? Well, "Susan Lowell, an ATCQA-certified Tai Chi Instructor (Level III) believes that the soft, internal self-defense principles we learn from Tai Chi can be effectively applied to social situations. She and her sister and sisters-in-law have developed "The Soft Answer", a verbal Tai Chi system that helps people to develop internalized and effective conversational skills. The group of four has decades of collective experience in education, communication, Tai Chi, business, group facilitation and kinesthetic learning, not to mention family and interpersonal dynamics.

(Photo: Susan Lowell in her Tai Chi class.)

The system promotes a reflexive kindness and a natural grace in navigating interpersonal exchanges, following a Tai Chi-influenced philosophy of "respecting and empowering ourselves such that we have the confidence and freedom to respect and empower others, and, in so doing, commit to and share in a more balanced, just and peaceful world." Instead of reacting to a verbal attack with hardness or defensiveness, techniques of respectful connection and redirection are applied. "Whenever possible, we seek to allow others a graceful way out," Lowell says.

In addition to the foundation of Tai Chi's self-defense principles and the traditional and related writings of Cheng Man Ch'ing, Chuang Tzu, Lao Tzu, and Sun Tzu, the Soft Answer system folds in wisdom from the writings of Eric Berne, Suzette Haden Elgin, Shakti Gawain, Stephen Karpman, Jack Kornfield, Virginia Satir, and Deborah Tannen, and others in the areas of psychology, language and communications, Tai Chi, meditation and mindfulness, education and more.

Through their own cultivation of a Soft Answer practice, the founders have discovered that a lot of the pain and suffering and wasted time they experienced in difficult social interactions could be avoided by simply applying Tai Chi inspired communication skills. They developed this system so that they could share with others the effective strategies that have helped them (and others) bring greater balance and peace into the world.

The sisters have created their community-minded business with a mission of social change, and as such they have offered Soft Answer sessions to neighborhood groups and non-profit organizations at low or no cost.