Repost of an Article From 2000: A Young Canadian Woman's Experience Learning Falun Dafa

A practitioner from Canada

I first learned about Falun Dafa in September of 1998 at a health show in the town where I live. My brother and I saw the Falun Dafa booth and became interested in the beautiful exercises and kind-hearted people that were there. We purchased the book Falun Gong and decided to attend the first class the following weekend. Practitioners from Toronto drove to our small town an hour's drive away every weekend to practice with us. This really touched my heart and brought out my curiosity to find out what was in this book that made these people so selfless. A few of them came for nearly one year, every Sunday, without earning a penny. They came because they realized how good Falun Dafa was and wanted to share it with us.

Since beginning to practice Falun Gong I have experienced tremendous changes in my body and huge improvements in my moral character. I used to suffer from sharp pains in my stomach. This had been happening for a few years, maybe four or five. The pain seemed to last longer as time went on, starting with half an hour or so and increasing to a day or two when I got older. This pain would interfere with my life. I remember having to cancel a babysitting job because of it, or another time I had to ask my friends to stop at a drug store to ask for advice from the pharmacist one night while out with friends. When it came I just wanted to curl into a ball in my bed and fall asleep so that I couldn't feel it. No one really knew what it was. But now, after practicing Falun Dafa the pain rarely comes back and when it does I can tolerate it better. I even forgot about it. I just recently realized that I don't really get it anymore.

Also, I have changed my attitude towards my school work and my job. In the past I had a habit of just doing the work that was necessary to do, the superficial work, and I thought that it was a drag to do it. I complained about it when I had too much homework and I became frustrated and upset when I didn't understand something. Now I feel that I'm a calmer person.

The main book Zhuan Falun has really taught me a lot about how to be a more tolerant person and why I should try to do my work well because it reflects what kind of person I am. I now put a lot more effort into my school work and when I don't understand something, I just read it over again or ask for help. As a result my grades have gone up but I'm actually less stressed out about it than I was before. I also help out around the house a lot now and I don't feel as tired as I did in the past and I don't complain about it anymore.

Physically I feel different than before too. Generally, I sleep about two to three hours less than before practicing Falun Dafa. And usually I feel very calm, yet energetic, after practicing the exercise and reading the book I know that my appearance has changed also because relatives or friends that I haven't seen in a while have said that I look different than before and that I look healthy.

Also, I react differently in tough situations. I used to get flustered and nervous easily and sometimes be very shy. Now I feel that I have naturally become a more easy-going person and I'm not as shy as I was before. And in situations when, say, someone got upset with me or if someone was to say something bad about me or other difficult situations like this, I am able to remain calm and rational. I don't raise my voice anymore or take things to the heart as much. But it's not like I have to bite my tongue to stop myself, from practicing Falun Dafa I have naturally changed.

Since I find Falun Dafa so precious, I like to let other people know about it whenever possible. Here in my town we have been involved in health shows, demonstrations and we have appeared on the local TV station a couple of times. We have also made the books available at the local public library and bookstore in Barrie, so that others may come across this special cultivation system.

I think Falun Dafa is unique in that it's not just a physical exercise, it's a cultivation system of both mind and body. I think that by improving your Xinxing (heart and mind nature) you improve yourself holistically. Reading the book and practicing the exercises really go hand in hand as a complete system of self-improvement.

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