Beginners Class: Transcript of San Gee teaching the Golden Flower Warm Ups.
Topics: The Golden Flower Warm Up Exercises; The Dan Tien; Connecting to your center (using attention); Moving from your center; Opening the joints vs flexible muscles; What will these exercises do for you?; Dealing with stress; No Effort; Getting Results (no quick fix); Quitting Smoking; Dealing with problems/negativity;

(The class starts with the ROLLING ROCK exercise: San Gee demonstrating and talking as the students follow along) Don't try to stretch your neck, just let the weight of your head stretch your neck. Keep your knees and legs relaxed.

Become aware of your lower center: the dan tien. It's really the whole area not just the acupuncture point. This area is the balance point as we would spin you on a stick!

(They move on to the SWINGING SCYTHE exercise) The Dan Tien is the energy and balance point of the body. Eventually all the movement comes from that center. Normally when you move, you don't realize, but your attention goes to that center. It makes an enormous difference for health and martial arts where you put your attention. Try grabbing hold of a partner's arm and then pull them with your attention in your hand. (the students try this in pairs) Then try to put your attention in your elbow. That's a device which connects your elbow to your center. Try It! Everybody can do it! (They try this way and are surprised at the difference). When you move from your center, moving from your lower dan tien or energy points in your body (more or less the same as Indian chakras). When you learn to move from that energy point you can use 20 to 30 times your maximum muscular potential! Literally! Not for lifting a straight weight, but for producing effect. Why did the elbow work? You're not used to articulating your elbow like your hand. Every time you move your elbow the whole body tends to move, unlike using your hand.

So in this warm up exercise, the basic stance from the form, your hands can be over the dan tien. Before you can move from this center you have to be aware of it. Most likely, your attention is in your head. How you get it down there [to the dan tien] is to feel down there. Put your hands over your center As you move forward and back your center moves from knee to knee: knees stay open, in line with the toes.

This is good to open up your hip joints and open that whole area. It makes everything loose and limber by opening up the joints rather than, like Yoga, stretching the muscles... You can have loose muscles but tight joints. When you open up the joints, you can have tight muscles and still move [flexibly]. When the joints open up, your whole body can move, it's a very deep opening.

Also, you never want to twist your knee joints. Okay for the hips because they're designed to rotate. So knees should stay stationary over the toes, not lean in and out. Also you'll notice if you are turning your head more than your center: focus on the belly more.

So watch when I move in the form, it's the same as the movement in this exercise. Very solidly shifting the weight. Not weight half and half, weight solid in front or back leg so that you can lift the other off the ground. There's a lot of result from all of that.

Were not just learning these [exercises] because there's something or some way to do it, these principles are part of a very integrated system of development which will affect everything: from your physical to spiritual systems. They will gradually change the state of your mind, and your health, to a much better state. Even just doing these exercises. If you just practice, you'll notice less overall sense of pain, because the energy is flowing more - more calm; more patience; less stress. I could take time to explain why it works, but you'll see for yourself.

Next exercise (SHIFTING SANDS). This one is completely different: the knees are flexing in this; feet are 90 degrees; center just in natural position. Looking forward, but your waist is not forward in this one. This is more of a LEG exercise (the other is a HIP/CENTRE exercise)

Better slow and relaxed, none of this should be done with tension or effort. You don't need to make any EXTRA effort (you are making some effort of course, just to stand up!)

Knees: (SPINDLE exercise). Only go as it's comfortable: don't force it. Later, you can go lower so that your thighs are parallel to the ground!

The results come from slow, regular effort, over time. If you just do a little Tai Chi every day, or every other day, you'll get a result. There's no quick way to get ANY result: with your mind, or body, or anything, there's just no quick fixes. People don't know how your body works. It doesn't work like a machine or how we think it does. It slowly moulds itself day after day. And your mind too. Like quitting smoking: if you just stick with not smoking for long enough, you'll have quit! If you do a little Tai Chi, over time, slowly, your body moves that way and gets stronger.

There's so many problems in all different levels, it gets pretty complicated. Consider all the warranties of all the appliances in your house - that's a full time job! Just sorting your mail could be a half day job! How do we deal with all those problems? [We deal with them] on an energy level. Because your mind simply functions on an energy level. Your energy gets low, your thoughts get negative. That's all a mechanism. What you eventually learn is that you are not your energy or your mind. When your mind gets negative, you don't have to go down. Tai Chi keeps your energy up so that your mind doesn't go down in the first place. Eventually, you'll learn that you are not your body, mind, or energy. The more you learn this, you'll see that your mind and energy go up and down but your deeper mind goes thru it. That's the only hope I see. That's worth cultivating. Then you can enjoy everything, even being sick! You might as well! because that's what's going on. That's really your capability. Nature changes; seasons change; nothing complains. They just drop the leaves. The trees don't say, "I hate dropping these leaves every year, it's all so annoying, AND I have to grow some new ones now!" (everyone laughs)