I am a practitioner from Barrie, Ontario, Canada. I live in Toronto during the school year, as I'm a student at the University of Toronto. I'm now 20 years old and I came across Falun Dafa in Barrie in September 1998. Since early in high school, I had begun to ask myself a lot of questions. I thought that there must be something more to life than what I was experiencing at that time. I remember at times feeling quite unhappy and dissatisfied -- I often tried to satisfy others expectations of myself and I felt I often did things that I shouldn't have done in order to try and fit this mold.

I wondered how I could become truly happy and truly attain peace in my heart. Also, I wondered if there was a way to obtain excellent health. Although I had been quite athletic through most of my growing up, I still had health problems and in my first year of high school I was absent about 50 days due to illness. Doctors were never able to pinpoint or actually solve the condition I was bothered by at that time.

My search began by reading some books on motivation in around grade ten and I began to set all kinds of goals and plan to work towards attaining them. At the time, I thought that by changing my character, becoming more confident, etc. and attaining things such as wealth, success or certain material things that I was interested in that this would satisfy the void that I felt in everyday life. Although this new direction was exciting for me -- it provided me with aspirations to search for something more from life -- I still felt a longing and I continued to search. My focus began to switch more to spirituality later in high school and I began to investigate some of the modern spiritual teachings and meditations. I was intrigued by the concept of enlightenment, although I didn't really know what it was, and I was attracted to the idea that it was possible to return to an original state and become free from suffering.

When my sister and I came across the Falun Dafa booth at a health show in Barrie in August 1998, I could feel that there was something unique and special about this group. The practitioners looked so healthy and peaceful. I remember seeing the practitioners sitting on the lawn outside the building where the health show was taking place, reading blue books. Just by the appearance, I felt these people had found something very valuable in this practice. The practitioners at the health show told us that they planned to begin a practice group in Barrie on Sunday mornings and that they would come from Toronto to show us the exercises and introduce the teachings to us.

My sister and I began to attend the weekly practice site. I quickly found that the practice of Falun Dafa was quite different from the practices I had tried before. I realized that this system was very virtuous and upright. I felt the exercises left me calm yet with an energetic feeling at the same time, and the people were so kind. Although this practice was obviously something quite good, there was still no charge to learn it and these people had driven over an hour just to share it with us, without any ulterior motives or asking for anything from us.

As my practice continued I began to appreciate more how fortunate I was for having come across such a good practice. The book, "Zhuan Falun" contained answers to so many questions I'd had - or to questions I didn't even know I'd had. In addition, the changes I felt in my physical body were beyond comparison to what I'd experienced before and are not easily put into words.

Since practicing Falun Dafa, I don't need as much sleep as before, I have more energy and I don't tire easily, I don't feel moody as I had before and I find myself gradually becoming more peaceful and happier. I feel I am a much kinder person than before and now I get compliments from others like "I've never met anyone so kind" or "I've never met anyone this calm". I know that all these improvements in me are because of the strength of Falun Dafa -- I really feel it's magical.

As I benefited from practicing Falun Dafa so much, I would like to introduce this practice to others so that they may benefit as well. My sister and I began to participate in events in Barrie to help let people know about Falun Dafa - health shows, festivals, a couple of demonstrations on the evening news of our local television station and donating books to our local library and bookstore. I sincerely hope that others in Barrie, and everywhere, may come to learn Falun Dafa and experience how wonderful it is.