(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners in Invercargill, a remote region on New Zealand’s South Island, taught Falun Gong to over 25 participants after a local newspaper ran an article about the health benefits of the practice.

A journalist from the Invercargill City newspaper Southland Times, with a readership of 51,000, wrote about and photographed the practitioners doing the exercises in Queens Park. The article, which was featured in the paper's “health” section, also discussed the practitioners’ enthusiasm for introducing the practice to the community.

Doing the standing exercises

Tahu assisting the learners in Queens Park

Tahu, a local practitioner, said there was a beautiful sense of serenity in the park on the day of the class. “It was very warm, and all the people who wanted to learn Falun Gong seemed quite interested. It was a great sign of people's willingness to explore traditional forms of exercise,” he said.

A 5-City Tour

As part of a South Island tour, the Invercargill practitioners also hosted classes in Queenstown, Wanaka, and Dunedin, where local media came to film the practitioners meditating. The final video clip was aired on the daily news bulletin. Dunedin’s largest newspaper also published a short article about one of the classes.

A local festival in the picturesque seaside town of Riverton was the last stop on the tour. The Riverton Harvest Festival welcomed Falun Gong. The festival fosters a return to traditional ways of healthy living, and is an educational weekend of displays, workshops, and family fun, all centered around a heritage fruit and vegetable theme.

Robert Guyton, from the Heritage Harvest Festival Organizing Committee, said the colorful tent and friendliness of the practitioners helped to attract a regular stream of interested festival goers.

At the Falun Gong tent, many people learned the exercises and spent time listening to practitioners talk about how they have benefited from the practice.

Mr. Guyton said the feedback was positive, and everyone reported a sense of peace and relaxation from the exercises. The festival has already asked Falun Gong to come back for the third time in 2016.

Local television station Cue TV created a short video clip about the festival, interviewing Mr. Guyton and Falun Gong practitioner Kathryn.

Kathryn, who assisted with the 5-city tour and has been practicing Falun Gong for over ten years, said she “likes seeing people gain instant benefits from trying the exercises, and that it is great to see the community trying something new.”

Kathryn and other practitioners are very active in the community. They host regular classes at the Southern Institute of Technology, participate in parades, and organize other community activities to introduce Falun Gong to the public. Falun Gong has been practiced in the South Island of New Zealand since the 1990s.