By Kelly Huang

(Clearwisdom.net) This brown-haired girl always nods and smiles at me when I see her. She speaks softly in a composed manner and strikes me as a quiet, introverted person. But she said, "I was not always like this. It's Falun Gong that changed me."

Practicing Falun Gong transformed Lisa Ellsmore's physical and spiritual health

This young woman in her 20s is Lisa Ellsmore, a geological survey engineer. What was she like before she started practicing Falun Gong? How did she start to practice?

Lisa says she started practicing Falun Gong in June 2003. At the time she was still in college. That year she joined a six-week outdoor camping trip in a Nevada desert.

"Most people would choose to sit together drinking and joking around at the end of the day," Lisa said. "But I noticed one student. He was not like any of the rest. He would occasionally chat with us, but he never touched alcohol or cursed. He had very good character. He was also very polite and willing to help with the camp chores. He was very composed and righteous."

On the camping trip, everyone would drive to his or her respective work area and then return to the campsite in the evening, Lisa said. "I noticed that in the car he would read a book with a blue cover with a few big Chinese characters on it. I had a feeling that the book he was reading must be very special and that's what made him righteous. So I finally approached him and asked what he was reading."

That young man was Andrew Ellsmore. He told Lisa that the book was Zhuan Falun, a Falun Gong book and that the practice teaches its students to follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance.

Lisa said that she was very curious about Falun Gong and kept asking Andrew questions, so he lent the book to her. In two days, Lisa finished reading the book. "I was amazed by the book. More importantly, I felt I had found what I had been looking for all my life."

Lisa then learned Falun Gong's five exercises from Andrew. "After dinner every day, Andrew and I studied the Fa and practiced the Falun Gong exercises together," Lisa said.

Lisa says she was surprised at how completely the practice of Falun Gong transformed her. She no longer cursed and she became more ladylike. According to her, she used to be like many rebellious young people without any religion or spiritual belief who started to curse, smoke, drink, and even use drugs in their teenage years. She used to regard it as "trendy" to have those bad habits.

Lisa said, "I had tried to quit smoking, drinking, and using drugs, but in vain. At one time I decided that I would never be able to quit drinking. But I gave up all these bad habits in less than a week after I started to study the Fa."

She explained it was because of a particular passage of the Fa in Zhuan Falun. Teacher said:

"Don't we practitioners want to purify our bodies? We should constantly purify our bodies and constantly progress toward high levels. Yet you still put that in your body, so aren't you going the opposite way from us?"

"Therefore, I have said that if you want to practice cultivation, you should quit smoking. It harms your body and is a desire as well. That is just the opposite of the requirements for our practitioners." ("The Issue of Eating Meat" in Lecture Seven of Zhuan Falun)

"I have experienced many miraculous changes physically and spiritually since I started practicing Falun Gong," Lisa said. "I became more thoughtful of others and often reflect on my words, acts, and thoughts."

Andrew told her about the persecution of Falun Gong in China that killed many Falun Gong practitioners as early as 2002. After that, she didn't see Andrew in class for a while. Later she learned that Andrew had gone to Beijing's Tiananmen Square and raised a banner that said "Falun Gong Is Good" to protest the persecution of Falun Gong. After Andrew returned to the United States, he became headline news in the campus newspaper and on CNN.

At the time, she didn't understand why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had decided to suppress Falun Gong or why Andrew decided to go to Beijing. But she said she believes everyone should have freedom of belief. "Because of the countless practitioners who have shared their personal experiences [of practicing Falun Gong and of being persecuted] and because of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, I finally understand the history of the CCP and why it has been persecuting the Chinese people," Lisa said. "This is all because of the CCP's greedy and murderous nature."

Lisa said, "Now I understand why Andrew decided to protest at Tiananmen Square. He wanted to speak for the millions of persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in China. It was a righteous and selfless thing to do. I think all kindhearted people should work together to stop the persecution."

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/8/24/161412.html