A n n u k k a   H o l l a n d

I was born in Finland in 1968. My training at college in Finland was in landscape gardening and design. After graduating, I ended up in England in 1989 intending to develop my gardening skills and improve my English, but, after just two weeks, I met San Gee Tam and my life has never been the same since! From then until now I've intensively studied Tai Chi and trained myself to assist people's Well Being and physical health. One of the most memorable times for me was visiting Siberia in 1992. San Gee was invited to come to Siberia and share Tai Chi and the other spiritual work he had developed. A group of 25 of us went and had an extraordinary 2 weeks where every single one of us experienced the deep love and generosity of the human Spirit as expressed by our new Siberian friends. To be in a country apparently so impoverished, but yet so alive and vital was a true revelation to us all! I was called upon to demonstrate Tai Chi by standing in a foundational Tai Chi stance and letting the top All-Siberian Karate Champion try and push my delicate, feminine frame. To my and every one else's astonishment, he could not push me!!! In that moment I realised the power in Tai Chi, and how much I must have developed without even knowing it! That time was remarkable for us all. Suddenly our family had expanded to include several hundred Siberians - we had truly become a global family. In 1994 San Gee and I moved to America and got married. Together with new friends here, we founded the American part of the Golden Flower School. I was proud and honoured to become one of the first Golden Flower Instructors along with Maria Van Orshoven in 1995. Nowadays, I help San Gee Tam create and run his classes and workshops and regularly practice all of the school's syllabus: Golden Flower Form, Traditional Long Form, Small Circle, Pushing Hands, Standing Chi Kung, Hsing-I and Pa Kua. I'm also a mentor in Master Ni's organization, the USIW, and am dedicated to promoting his work. I have a perfect job where I can exercise my love of flowers and gardening, and whenever I have time to play, you'll find me riding my mountin bike or wind-surfing. My dream for the near future is to have people from all over the World come together and enjoy a yearly retreat in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. I'm also working to help the school to share its gifts generously, especially here in my new homeland of America, and in my motherland, Finland. Lots of Love to you all, Annukka.