“I think in Western exercise, people always think you need to be moving,” Liu said. “Which is contrary to Eastern practice. Believe it or not, holding a pose — and yoga does this, too — requires a lot of endurance.”

Exercise two is made up of four static stances, but in the interest of time Liu and Thurston had the group perform only the second stance, in which they held their arms out in front of them as if they were hugging a large beach ball at eye level. According to Liu and Thurston, this stance is one of the hardest stances in the practice.

“This is where endurance, tolerance and forbearance come from,” Liu gently reminded her class. “You may be sore, but endure it.”

Sighs of relief fluttered across the room when the group moved out of the second stance of exercise two after a full seven minutes.

Performing all five exercises can take up to two hours. Liu and Thurston shortened Saturday’s practice at the Eccles Community Art Center to an hour by shortening exercises and leaving out the fourth exercise, Falun Heavenly Circulation.

Falun Gong is similar to Tai Chi in that both practices stress meditation, the conservation of chi, and slow, mindful movement. Unlike Tai Chi, Falun Gong is also a religious practice that combines the teachings of Daoism and Buddhism, and preaches truth, compassion and tolerance.

Liu said the practice of Falun Gong began in China in 1992 and that by 1999 it had nearly 100 million followers. Communist leaders in China, who promote atheism, were threatened by Falun Gong’s popularity and spiritual nature and began a campaign against the practice.

“Communist leaders felt like there were more people in Falun Gong than there were in the Communist Party. They felt threatened by the possibility of a political presence in the Falun Gong,” Liu said. “So, they started throwing people in jail, slandering practitioners and saying Falun Gong was a cult.”

Liu said there is nothing secret about the practice, which instructs its followers to be good and benevolent and to find balance and tranquility in their lives. In fact, Falun Gong’s teachings are available free of charge at www.falundafa.org for anyone who wishes to see them. Thurston said many practitioners facing persecution, imprisonment and torture in China view their situation as a test of faith.

“They view it as test,” said Thurston. “To see if they can overcome.”

Liu said the Chinese government isn’t making it easy for them and that despite a law banning the removal of a person’s organs without consent, the government has removed the organs of Falun Gong prisoners and sold them internationally. The Chinese government has denied such allegations.

“In the past few years, Communist leaders have started extracting organs from people involuntarily and selling them,” Liu said. “There should be no market in China because they believe in being very whole. There is no way that Chinese people would donate their own organs. The organs come from prisoners and most prisoners are Falun Gong.”

Although a 2006 report by David Matas, a human rights lawyer, and David Kilgour, a former Canadian Secretary of State, corroberated the theft of organs from Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese government, other reports have failed to find enough evidence to support the claims in the Kilgour-Matas report.

Liu said that the Falun Gong have no political aspirations, but they do want to be able to practice freely and they want people to know about what is happening to the Falun Gong in China.

“People still continue to practice in China because they strongly believe in this faith,” Liu said. “They have pressure all around them — from family and government and employers — to stop, but for them it’s a choice between good and evil. What’s wrong with wanting to be good?”

Liu said her life is very full with two boys, family obligations, and a full-time job, and that practicing Falun Gong has helped her to become grounded and to take an enlightened view of everything around her.

“The challenge for us is we have to live in the normal world with work and family and other demands, and still find the time to practice,” Liu said. “Falun Gong is a practice you bring to school, to work, to your family. When you feel good, you bring it forward to the people around you.”

Liu and Thurston are members of the Falun Dafa Association of Utah. The association holds weekly practice sessions on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Salt Lake City Hall, 451 S. State St. Liu and Thurston will be leading Falun Gong classes at the Eccles Community Art Center on Feb. 15 and March 15. Falun Gong practice sessions are free.

“We believe in bringing wellness to everyone, unconditionally,” said Thurston. “Payment would be a condition.”

For more information on Falun Gong, visit http://www.falundafautah.org/or http://falundafa.org/.