Natural Awakenings (Richmond, VA): My Story . . . Life Beyond Illness (Photo)

By Cat Rooney

March/April 2003

I was in desperate need of a miracle, as I was losing an eight year battle with a chronic illness. I had to move to my parent's home in Richmond in October of 2000, to an unknown fate as I could no longer eat, sleep, or stand.

A miracle was truly in order as there were no other options for getting better. I had already explored the best therapies and healers alternative and western medicine had to offer, but to no avail. My chronic health symptoms looked similar to those associated with thyroid and adrenal dysfunctions. Add severe allergies, chronic yeast infections, an inability to sleep, plus chronic fatigue, and it was just a nightmarish existence. With the advent of a medication reaction, I had incredible pain and gas in my digestive tract, unfathomable fatigue, and pain from the degenerative discs in my back. Shower water hurt my skin and making a simple breakfast was about all I could do for the day. There was no relief for me as lying, standing, sitting or walking were excruciating.

Because of my condition, I had lost everything - including my ability to support myself, my own living area, my job, beloved dog companion, friends, and my personal belongings. I felt betrayed by my body, the medical profession, and by spirit. By now, my mental health was completely off the charts with anxiety, grief, depression, and suicidal thoughts!

In May of 2001, a friend e-mailed me about the Falun Dafa web site. She was doing the Falun Gong exercises and feeling better, and maybe it could do the same for me. I turned to the local Richmond Falun Gong practitioners for help in learning the exercises. A Falun Gong practice consists of four gentle standing exercises and one sitting meditation, along with studying the teachings in the book, Zhuan Falun, by Li Hongzhi, the teacher of Falun Gong. Soon after starting the practice the severity of some of my symptoms lessened. Then, a pattern to my healing emerged, and I realized it was solely due to the Falun Gong practice. I slowly stopped other modalities of healing including medications, herbs, and supplements.

It was unbelievable and liberating as one by one the physical and emotional symptoms disappeared. I have had allergies all my life and was shocked when six months later I was totally allergy free. Prior to doing Falun Gong I weighed as little as 92 pounds, and getting to 100 was a real struggle. However, as the digestive pains lessened and my digestive system drastically improved, it was fairly easy to get to a normal weight of 125.

Today, I no longer have the chronic back pain that has plagued me for 20 years. Thus, I am able to exert myself physically, such as learning to throw pots on a potter's wheel - an activity I could have never done before. I am most blessed to be without fatigue and just recently started to sleep soundly every night. My miracle I so desperately needed came in the form of an ancient Chinese Qigong practice called Falun Gong.

Cat Rooney acts as a Falun Gong volunteer contact for practice sites in her new community in Lawrence, Kansas. She enjoys ceramics, takes care of houses, gardens and pets, and consults with nonprofit agencies.

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