“My trademark brand of positivity is called Positosis.”

– Chris Toledo

I had the delight of speaking with Chris Toledo, keynote communicator, storyteller, multilingual surprise and delight speaker, and MC who helps organizations improve and develop company culture through a dynamic crafted experience on the power of Positosis™

We discuss: 

• How professional basketball prepared Chris for a lifetime of motivation
• From TV fame to discovering Tai Chi and a new mission
• Introducing Positosis: a unique brand of positivity

How professional basketball prepared Chris for a lifetime of motivation

Ever since Chris was a kid, he loved basketball. He can recall being as young as two years old holding a passion for the sport. However, there was one thing out of his control that could have hindered his basketball pursuits.

“On a good day, I'm 5’8. Once I realized I wasn't growing any taller, I had to figure out a way to level the playing fields,” Chris says. “What I discovered was, besides hard work and practicing and all that, my way to level the playing field was my level of positivity.”

He learned that the more positive he was, the more coaches, teammates, and organizations loved him. Being bilingual—speaking both English and Spanish—also added an extra layer of value to his contributions and made him an obvious choice for future opportunities. 

“My ultimate goal of playing professional basketball was realized when I got a chance to play in the NBA Summer Pro League in San Diego, California. And from there, they sent me to the Pro League in Mexico,” Chris says. “I played in the pro league throughout Mexico for 4 or 5 years and I played in their national league.”

In his travels, Chris realized the value of positivity crossed borders. The more positive he was internationally, the better it was for his career and relationships.

He was always a fan favorite and was the team captain, alongside being the media point person, giving him a strong foundation for dealing with the media world and managing others from a very young age.

“That was where a lot of my leadership skills developed. As a captain of the team, oftentimes, I had teammates that were super mad. Maybe it was a big championship game, and one of my teammates is going crazy,” he says. “It was my job to calm everybody down. Sometimes even including the coaches, but typically, I didn't have all day—I had to do that within seconds.” 

Chris started developing the ability to keep people calm and in control, with an even pace and a positive mindset in the heat of the moment, a skill that would follow him throughout his whole career.

His next step—after his playing career was at an end—was Club Med, where he worked on a team of roughly 120 to 130 people, across 60 or 65 different nations. This setting allowed Chris to gain a well-rounded understanding of diverse cultures and thought processes. 

But as wonderful as his spot with Club Med was, this was only the beginning for Chris.

From TV fame to discovering Tai Chi and a new mission

Alongside his basketball pursuits as a child, Chris also had a love for dance but never expressed it due to his sisters being accomplished dancers. That changed when he joined Club Med, and they started putting him out in shows. He gained enough confidence on stage, started teaching to hone his craft, and eventually started a studio where he taught droves and droves of people to enjoy the art of dance.

“The right people came to my class. Initially, they wrote an article about me in the LA Times Magazine,” he says. “2 weeks later, every single class from that point on was sold out in record time. And, at about this time, I was getting a lot of recognition.”

From brand deals to his program becoming globally certified, Chris was on a roll. He even signed a deal with Universal Studios in Orlando to turn his program into a television show.

“I did this [the TV program] for 5 years, and I got to the point—we were in Singapore. We were gonna film an episode there, and I was in the back of a taxi, and it was really early in the morning, and I didn't arrive till really late the night before, so I was tired,” he says. 

“We're driving by this park, and I looked over, and I saw all of these people in the park with these cool, silky-looking costumes on, and I didn't know what they were doing,” he continues. “I asked the taxicab driver to please stop, and he did. I asked him what it was, and it was Tai Chi.” 

Mesmerized by the peace and beauty of the movements, Chris knew something was shifting inside of him. It was time for a change. 

“I found an older Chinese woman who decided to take me on to teach me Tai Chi. But one of the things that I love, before she would teach me one move, she was assigning me all these books that I had to read on Taoism,” Chris says. “I had to read them, and then she would ask me questions, and she would not give me the next book until she was satisfied that I actually read the book, and I could answer questions intelligently about Taoism.” 

This method helped show Chris the other side of motivation—whereas he was familiar with the fast-paced motivations of sports and dance, Tai Chi showed him the power of being steady and calm, an inner sense of motivation that prevailed through circumstance. 

The calm he found in Tai Chi led him to realize his true passion lies in motivational and inspirational speaking, giving people the tools they need to thrive and achieve their goals in life through practicing Positosis.

Introducing Positosis: a unique brand of positivity

Chris’s younger sister had scoliosis growing up, and he watched her struggle throughout their childhood. 

“I just remembered that—my back is fine, like, I've never had any issues with my back— But even at the mention of the word [scoliosis] my back would start hurting. And I would see my sister struggling with pain all the time, so I thought there's gonna be a time that I'm gonna be able to do something good with this scoliosis thing,” Chris says. “As I was figuring out what I was gonna call my brand of positivity—scoliosis, positosis, scoliosis, positosis—it rhymed.”

The original definition of Positosis was the curvature of the positive perspective—meaning within the right mindset, you can turn anything into a positive: 

• Scoliosis, the curvature of the spine 
• Positosis, the curvature of the positive perspective 

Today, Chris is working on his second book, but his first to have a focus on Positosis. He breaks down the process into a few main ideas: 

• Identify a mindset you resonate with
• Find your motivation
• Visualize your desired outcome
• Put that motivation and vision into practice

“Momentum is a really, really big thing in what I do, and I have enough momentum that I could probably ride on my momentum for the rest of my life. However, I don't depend on my momentum,” Chris says. “I feel like, every single day, I have to give my positive mindset, my Positosis—I have to give it energy, I have to give it fuel to keep the momentum rolling.”

How have you kept your momentum in life? Or, what have you done to regain it if you’ve lost it? 

Be sure to check out Chris’s full episode for further insight into Positosis and learn more at Positosis.com!