The mission of the Golden Flower School is to make the deep knowledge passed down as the art of Tai Chi and Chi Gong (a powerful practice for generating energy) available to anyone who sincerely seeks radiant health and natural wisdom.
The School was created to teach Tai Chi and make it accessible as a path to health and mastery, but there is also a deeper level of learning taking place. You are, on every level, much more than you think you are. Golden Flower is here so that you can discover your true depth and what you really want with this life.
Golden Flower Exists as a Workshop on Living
It is valuable to spend time in community with like-minded people, sharing experiences in which you co-create and practice what you need to know and learn. Golden Flower is a place where people learn deep, effective and meaningful communication. You can also learn how to manage your emotions and take care of your body. Whether you are enrolled in a Tai Chi Class, riding the horses up at Heavenly Way, working in the garden with Annukka, doing a project with the Instructors, or hiking the nearby waterfalls, Golden Flower Principals and Practices help you to access that deeper part of yourself that is ready to awaken.
The world is changing at a rapid pace and people are quickly evolving in their lives. At times this can be overwhelming. We can help you manage the transformation and access a place of clarity, balance and mastery in your life. Join us!
What Golden Flower is Really About
Golden Flower was originally designed as a school to educate people in areas where they typically lack experience and where mainstream education provides little if any support or guidance. Master San Gee Tam focused on three important areas: health, exercise, and communication.
Health is incorporated into the Golden Flower teaching in a very broad and practical sense. It is about consciously understanding what really nourishes us on the physical, emotional, and spiritual levels. It includes exercising in many different ways that are naturally very enjoyable to people. It also focuses on learning how to effectively communicate with others.
As the Golden Flower school developed, it became clear that Tai Chi was by far the best choice as the main “technical” focus of the school. Tai Chi gives people a powerful tool they can use on their own and has tremendous value for self-support and self-centering. Tai Chi does not conflict with any religion, philosophy, or political viewpoint. It is merely a practice of natural laws and energy that support people deeply.
Master San Gee Tam Describes the School Like This:
“The Golden Flower School is an environment of education specific to what people really need to lead happy, fulfilling lives. People need to trust in their abilities and in themselves. We need to produce environments in which people can really learn and grow and work together. In this way, we can discover what people can create and what they really need to know based on their abilities. This is what we mean when we say that you can experience mastery in your life. Golden Flower provides a path for everyone to do exactly that!
The influence of the community you’re in is vitally important. If people around you are supporting what you’re doing and are positively-minded, it’s a very healthy atmosphere. But if people are mistrustful and suspicious, then it can be very unhealthy. Golden Flower has two major aspects. First is the self-cultivation aspect, which is all in the study of Tai Chi. The second is community, or family. Golden Flower really is a family, not just a community or loose association. Golden Flower provides a creative and supportive family-type environment in which people can deeply benefit from being with each other.”
Golden Flower History
Starting in London more than three decades ago, Master San Gee Tam, one of the top living Tai Chi Masters in the world, has worked with his wife and Master Teacher, Annukka Holland, to establish an international community through the Golden Flower Schools they have founded in Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Charlotte, England, Belgium, The Netherlands and Siberia.
During his thirty-eight years teaching Tai Chi, Master San Gee Tam observed that many people first studied with enthusiasm and interest, but then gave up when their learning process became too lengthy or complicated. His intention with the Golden Flower Tai Chi System is to present a method based soundly on traditional principles of T’ai Chi Ch’uan that is appropriate to what most people really want and need.
The Golden Flower Tai Chi Association International
Beginning in 1982, Master San Gee Tam established classes in England and continental Europe. This marked the beginning of the Golden Flower Tai Chi Association International. Today, Golden Flower is a vibrant, inclusive community that reaches across borders and boundaries all over the world. The Golden Flower Center in downtown Winston-Salem and the Heavenly Way Retreat Center represent the headquarters of the Golden Flower Tai Chi Association International. There are currently dozens of active instructors and hundreds of students in the United States, England, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Russia and those numbers are growing every year. This culturally diverse family is united in their enthusiasm for Tai Chi and their appreciation of a very supportive and powerful international community of friends.
Thanks to the modern miracle of the Internet, instructors and students all over the world now communicate regularly using Skype and email. The Heavenly Way Retreat Center located near Hanging Rock State Park, North Carolina hosts yearly instructor trainings and retreats, which attract growing numbers of instructors and students eager to learn more deeply about Tai Chi and to rest, relax, and rejuvenate themselves in the quiet beauty of nature. Heavenly Way continues to grow and evolve into a haven for people who yearn to get away from the hustle and bustle of daily life, find some quiet time for themselves, and begin to find out who they really are and what undiscovered possibilities life has to offer them. Please click the Heavenly Way link to find out more about this special place and the opportunities it can provide to you.
When Golden Flower Tai Chi Association was started in 1985, Master San Gee Tam was Chief Instructor at Large in the International Tai Chi Chuan Association of Master Chu King Hung, an official certified representative of the Yang family. Master San Gee Tam was also Chief instructor of the Golden Flower Tai Chi Association in Belgium, having established the ITCCA in Brussels and popularizing Tai Chi in Belgium. He has also studied extensively with Master Dong Zeng Chen, 3rd generation Yang Style master and Grandson of the famous Tung Ying Jie.
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