On weekends, groups of people gather in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene parks to practice exercises known as Falun Gong. The advanced traditional Chinese qigong practice is designed to improve the mind and body through exercise and meditation.
The gentle style of Falun Gong exercises is similar to yoga or tai chi. Some involve holding poses, such as the arms arched up over the head, for several minutes at a time. The exercises are focused on increasing and strengthening the body's qi, or vital energy.
June Curry discovered Falun Gong when she attended the Mind-Body-Spirit Expo in June. "I was really impressed," the Spokane resident said. "It's a whole way of life. You're trying to be the best person you can be."
Local interest in the practice has inspired the first ever Inland Northwest Falun Gong Experience Sharing Conference next weekend at Gonzaga University. People from Washington, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming are expected to attend.
Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa by its practitioners, was founded by Li Hongzhi in China in 1992. The Chinese government banned the practice and a crackdown has resulted in an increasing number of arrests, beatings and deaths.
Local interest in Falun Dafa spiked in July 1999 after the crackdown started in earnest, says local practitioner and leader Heather Meng. She got phone calls from about 50 people interested in finding out more about Falun Dafa, but that curiosity quickly faded and only a handful of people still meet regularly.
Meng, a native of China, discovered Falun Dafa during a return home to visit family in 1996. A friend gave her a book written by Hongzhi, also known as Master Li.
"I read it in one night," Meng said. "There were some fundamental questions I couldn't get answers to in the Bible, but I found them in Master Li's book."
Even though there are spiritual aspects to Falun Dafa, Meng says it is not a religion. Some people who are interested in the practice are looking for a cure for some illness, she said. In order to get any benefit from it, practitioners have to focus on cultivating truthfulness, compassion and tolerance, she said.
"Falun Dafa is not for curing illnesses or keeping fit," she said, although many practitioners report improvements in their health, including Meng herself.
She had diabetes, a painful problem with her spine and some numbness due to pinched nerves. She now reports having no pain or sickness.
"I used to be a medicine jar, people called me," she said. "I never eat a pill (now). I never went back to the doctor. I feel fine."
Falun Dafa also has changed her behavior. "I used to lose my temper all the time," she said. "I have to watch everything I do, say and think.
"Falun Dafa has a real powerful mental fitness behind it."
Curry also reports having a different outlook on life. She sees adversity as a test of her virtues and brushes off small annoyances such as being cut off in traffic.
"I see all these in a different way," she said. "I do see them as a way to increase my Xinxing (moral virtue). It's helped me take a whole new perspective on life.
"Every day I'm conscious of what I'm doing and what's happening to me."
Curry admits that Falun Dafa may not be for everyone. Many people have picked up information on the practice and never come back. Even her husband does not practice Falun Dafa.
"This is something he does not want to do," she said. "I respect that.
"This is what's right for me. I don't know if it would be right for a lot of people."
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"It's not that we want everyone to practice this. ," Meng added. "We just want people to know the truth (about Falun Dafa)...
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Category: Falun Dafa in the Media
