Lunar New Year: Tai chi workshop

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Hengsheng:

So now, I will teach you one simple form of tai chi. This move is formed - only has - five moves. So I'll show you first, everybody - just have a look. Very simple, five moves.

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Okay, that's all that you'll be learning for today. So, don't worry if you not sure - just try copying me. I'll show you slowly. Okay, first move - tai chi start, tai chi begin. Stand feet. Body relax. So, left heel up. And open the leg. And hands up... Breathe in... Hands down, breathe out.

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Don't move your foot. So left side. So left hand actually push off. Right hand open push up. So right goes first. Twist and then turn - opposite. So now don't move your foot. And move your hands around. And move your weight. And bring knee up. Okay, open your leg.

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So, hands round, circle back. Now forward. Okay... hands down. Left - don't move. Your right arm and right knee up. One... Two... Okay, so we repeat this move again.

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So I'm gonna stand here. Follow me. We bring left heel up - left leg. And move to the left, move your weight, bend your knees. And take it back. Breathe in, hands out. Breathe in... And your hands - not too high. Same height as shoulders. And breathe out, let them fall.

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Don't move your foot. Twist your body to the left. Same height as shoulders. So left hands, push. Right hands, push up. Okay, don't move your foot. Hands twist. And twist your body. Twist your body this way, move your feet. Now move your feet forward and when you feel steady on your feet, knee higher. And gently move your knee back.

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So, don't move your hand, don't move your feet. Your hands round in circles. Both hands together. Circle back. Down... And then twist your left hands. Move your right foot forward. And hands up... And down. Yeah? See? So like, I'll do this for you so you can see.

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Your hands start from here. Hands up... Down.... When you bring your hands up - knee higher, right, and down. Okay everybody? That's the first and the second move. We'll repeat one more time. One... Two... Hands up.... Hands down....

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So, left. And twist to the right. Move your weight. Knee higher. Open leg. And straight. Down... And move your feet forward. Hands. Down. One... Two... Yep, that's it everybody. Okay everybody, we'll carry on.

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Next one - number three. Okay, watch me first. Start from here. Number three - go. One... Two… Three - knee higher. Open your leg, so move your hands to the left side and to right. Sit down. Okay everybody, that's number three. You try to repeat - copy me.

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So start from here. Now cross your hands - right hand on top. Cross... Circle... Move, keep moving. Knee high. Open leg. Left. To the right. Sit down. Okay everybody, we'll try again. This time, I'll face this way.

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So we start from here. So cross - open your hands, cross, and keep going. Right hands up, left hands go down. Move - circle. Keep going more, more, more. And the knee higher starts from here. Move the knee left - right side, sorry. On the left, on the right, sit down. Okay everybody, stay there.

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Right, that's the number three move. Now next one - number four. So I tell you already, you'll learn five today. So number four - watch me first. Left hand up and both hands back. Don't move your foot. Hands steady, move your foot. Twist your body, push out. 45 degree - push. Okay okay, so really start from here. Left hands... Both hands... Sole of foot... Push. Okay, okay, one more time. Go - follow me.

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Right everybody, we got the last move you're learning today. Watch me start from here. Don't move your left leg. So, don't move left hands. Right hands, back. Left hands, back. Right hand out. Okay your left knee higher... Gently open your leg... move your weight. Now left hand, follow it round. Open...sit down. Yeah? Stand up. That's it - that's all the five moves.

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Okay, concentrate. Learn from here. Ready? Right hand back... Left hand back and right out. Knee higher. Open your leg... Move your weight. Round, and over. Yep, stand up.

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One more time – ready? One... Two... Three... Four. Move, and over. Down... And stand up. Okay everybody, well done - that's all that we'll be learning. Now, copy me. We start from beginning one more time. No stop, keep flowing.

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So, stand here, relax. When you're ready, go. One - lift. Open your leg... Bend your knees... Hands up, breathe in. Hands down, breathe out. Twist your body to the left side... Twist your hands to the right. Move your weight. Knee higher... Open leg... Go - hands back. Move your feet forward... Move your hands... Down.

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One... Two... Open hands first, cross... Keep going. Knee higher. Back. Left side... To the right.... Hands up... Back... Move your foot. Close - 45 degrees.

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One... Two… Knee higher. Move your weight. Open your hands... Down. And stand up, relax. Okay, everybody. Okay well very good. So that's all the moves we're learning today.

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I hope you've enjoyed tai chi class. Okay, we're ready for the last move to do - it's a nice relax. You need hands up. Breathe in, slowly... Hands down, breathe out. Nice, relax. All the breathing is yours. We're gonna three times repeat. Inhale. Hands down, breathe out. Nice.

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One more time. Inhale... Back out. Okay, right. Happy Lunar New Year!

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Hengsheng:

Hello everybody. Happy Lunar New Year. I'm Hengsheng. Today I will teach you some tai chi workshop. So when you're ready, just copy me.

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OK stand still and eyes closed. Three times deep breath. So hold breath, use your nose. When you're ready breathe in breathe out breathe and repeat.

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OK, next we do some warm up, so follow me. We start from head. OK, go. Neck. Nice, relax, gently, other side. OK, so arms straight, shoulders back. Go forward.

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Next, hands up, elbows bent. Go, repeat. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Again. [Counts in Chinese] That's counting in Chinese.

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OK, let's try one more time. Ready? Go. [Counts in Chinese] Very good. So next one, put your hand on your shoulder, then backwards, big circle backwards. Nice, slowly. OK. Backwards, other arm. Now both hands together, same time, go forward.

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Right. Next one is very hard. So one hand goes forward, one hand goes backwards, at same time. So starting here. So one hand forwards, one hand backwards. Ready, go. Now change, forward goes backwards, backwards goes forward.

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OK, right, next one put your hands on your hips, start rolling your hips. Other side. Good. So next one, you move your foot and then join your hands together, join your finger together.

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When you're ready to go move together. Just make circles. Other side. Good. Next one, put your hands on your knee, so rub your hands. Watch OK we do it together. So rub your knees. OK, so when you're ready for the next one, feet together so move your leg your left side and the right. Open, close. OK, again. Left, right, open, close. OK, one more time. Go.

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Alright. Next one. Join your fingers together. Push out and feet together as well. So when you're ready, keep your arms straight. Straight, pushing. Don't move your foot. Twist your body to the left. Go. One, two, three, four, five. And the right. [Counts in Chinese] OK. Don't move your foot. Follow me, left side.

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Watch me. Go. [Counts in Chinese] On the right [Counts in Chinese] OK. When you're ready, keep your legs straight, go forward. Try to use your hands to touch your foot, if you can. Make sure your leg is straight. Down. One, two, three, four, five. Now move your hands to left side. [Counts in Chinese] And the right. [Counts in Chinese]

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OK. So when you're ready. So next one, watch me first. Open your legs and hands up so you got three counts forward and three counts backwards. Ready? Go. One, two, three, and back. One, two, three, repeat. OK. [counts in Chinese] Back. [Counts in Chinese]

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One more time. Yes everybody. Next one. Ready? Watch. Open legs again so your body like circle. So go side, back, other side, and then forward. Same move, go backward upside. One, two, three, four, repeat. One. Two. One. Two.

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OK, right, so we're nearly there. So when you're ready next move. So bend your knees. So when you bend your knees make sure your heel on the floor. Make sure your feet are on the floor. So one leg bent, one leg straight. So hands on your foot, one, two. Stay there. Make sure one leg straight, one leg bent. Other side.

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OK. When you're ready, don't move your foot, and changing weight. So follow me, so go [Speaks in Chinese] OK, so next one, last move. Twist your body to the side. Hands on your knee. Keep your back straight. Good, other side.

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Right, OK everybody, that's all the warm up. So next one, we do balance pose. Because in tai chi you need really good balance. So let’s try. So one leg stand, and one leg higher. So keep your hands up and concentrate, don't move your eyes or focus what's in front. Focus somewhere, keep your balance, hands up.

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OK, stay still. Normally we do five minutes, so today I let you try one minute only. So make sure you breathe, knee higher, stay still, don't move for your balance. Keep going, one minute, don't move your foot. So keep your arm straight, eyes towards the front and the body relaxed.

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OK, we nearly there. Not much time left. [Counts in Chinese] Well done everybody. Now relax. Let's shake your legs, little rest.

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So when you're ready everybody, we repeat the move, other leg. This time I will count for you. One minute. OK everybody? Ready - three, two, one, go. Other leg. Arms straight, shoulders relaxed, lower leg straight. Concentrate for one minute.

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OK. Stay there, don't move. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Very good everybody.

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So next one we do some basic move. OK, so not sure, don't worry, just copy me. So first on, open your legs. So left hand on your waist, right hand 45-degree open. So sit down there, don't move your foot. So back straight. OK we already move your hands like a circle.

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Follow me. One, two, yeah ready. Eyes try and follow your hands. So don't move your foot. Move your body. Relax. Your arm can't be too straight and keep your hand open as well.

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Repeat OK everybody, keep trying. Done, finish. And stay there. And then we change the other hand. OK everybody, stay still, don't move. Ready, open your legs. Right hand on waist. Left hand open.

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OK, when you're ready move your hand like so, go.

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Ready, now finish. Now stand up. Relax. OK everybody, that's the first basic move. OK you can practice, so when you're ready.

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So the next one, we do tai chi second basic move. This one little different, this one is move double hands, both hands together. OK I show you first. So when you do this make sure your hand's out you never done this, you know tai chi move, this move always hands out. So you need both hands to move at the same time.

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For example, you lift this hands down, other hand's up. One hand's down, one hand's up. Yeah, same time. One hand's down, one hand's up. Yeah, move same time. OK? Everybody copy me, ready? Open legs and the right hand's hook, same height as your shoulders. Right hand's pushed out, so your hands can't be too straight, not too forward, it's like a curve. Your hands both ends. So don't move your feet. Go, one, move your right hand. Move to the left side.

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Go on, OK we go back over. Repeat. Move your weight. Ten times. Repeat nice slowly. Turn round. You see move from this side. You can see move from my back. Right hand, left hand, move together.

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Stop, finish. Stand up. Relax. OK everybody, that's tai chi second basic move. Now we come on to number three.

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OK. When you're ready, follow me. This time, we do left hands together. Just left hand. So move back, and forward. Back, forward. Sideways. This time, circle your hands, your hands move circle, sideways. Keep going, relax.

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So when your hand's down, move your weight back to other leg. When you move forward, other hand up. Repeat. OK. One, two. One, two.

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OK everybody. Same move, other hand. Right hand. Go backwards, forwards. Back, forwards. Don't move your feet. One, two. One, two. One, two, repeat. One, two, finish. Well done everybody. That's number three.

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Number four, follow me, is different. Open leg like this. Right hand forward. Left hand, on your waist. So we're really moving both hands together. So one hand, goes forward. So go forward, like this, and then backwards. So forward, backwards. Your hands move forward and then down, so keep like a circle, like, see, a circle.

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So we do the same move other side. One, two. Forward backwards. Repeat again. So actually this move you need to do both hands move the same time. So number one moves forward, other moves backwards. One hand goes forward, other goes backwards. And move your body as well.

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OK. Like to copy me, we start from beginning. Open your legs. Right hand up, left hand back. Go. One, two. Repeat.

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Then step around, do this way. So right hand up. Left hand back. One, two. Relax. One, two. Finish.

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OK, stand up. Well done everybody, so that's number four. We come last move. Last basic move for tai chi, so move performance, together as well, watch. So this time basically circle from the body. Circle from the body. So watch me.

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First, one hand's open, one hand's back, then when you're ready, go. Circle. Up. Down. Up. And down. Yeah and repeat. OK everybody. Try to copy me, we do it together. So open your legs. Left hand's up. Up. Right hand is up. Is different. Same height as your shoulders.

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OK, ready? Circle back. One. Two. Three. Four. One. Two.

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So, going to swap other side. Right hand goes up. Left hand goes out. Go backwards, circle. Don't move your foot. Hands nicely together, circle. And repeat. Now we finish.

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Stand up. And relax. OK everybody. That's all the basic moves we've done. So basically we've got five basic moves, so it's different circles. Five basic moves, the five different circles. OK everybody so now have a rest.