By A Falun Dafa practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) In order to have more time to study the Fa, I figured I should reduce the time I sleep each night. Having made this conscious decision, I overcame the problem of sleepiness by doing the Falun Gong exercises. I couldn't stop yawning when I was practicing the first, third and the fourth sets of exercises. I began to practice the second set of exercises again and I started sweating, my nose was running, and my eyes were full of tears. It was as if a large mountain was pressing on me from the top, and I couldn't straighten up my back. My whole body was shaking, and I felt suffocated. I had to keep my mouth wide open to breathe. I started to recite in my mind what Master had taught us: "It's hard to endure, but you can endure it. It's hard to do, but you can do it." (Zhuan Falun) I felt as if I was about to collapse, when suddenly the big mountain disappeared and I felt like I couldn't even sense where my body was. Only my mind was still there. I felt greatly energized when I ended the exercises. I believe that the matters that caused sleepiness were tossed away with the sweat, tears, and running nose. Since then, I have shortened the time I sleep each night and replaced it with Fa study. As soon as I feel sleepy at night, I start doing the Falun Gong exercises. (Please note that this is my personal experience. Every individual practitioner may be in a different state; therefore please don't go to any extremes, so as not to affect your job.)

I used to be an introvert. I began practicing Falun Dafa back in 1998. When Falun Gong was first persecuted in 1999, I lost contact with fellow practitioners and therefore I have been practicing Falun Gong on my own. I have never felt lonely, though. Whenever I think of the millions of fellow practitioners around the world, I become full of warm feelings and I sometimes can't stop crying. This is hard for me to describe, though. Whenever I feel fear, I recite in my heart Master's poem:

To live with no pursuits,
To die with no regrets;
All excessive thoughts extinguished,
Cultivating Buddhahood is not difficult.

2004-7-23

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/7/25/80177.html