Shared at the 2002 European Fa Conference in Copenhagen by a practitioner from Iceland
Hello all!
I would like to start with thanking you all for giving me this wonderful opportunity to share my experience of Falun Dafa with you here in Copenhagen.
The first time I learned about Falun Gong was on a summer vacation with my children in a little town in the south of Iceland. I came across an article in an Icelandic newspaper with an interview with a Swedish lady and a Falun Gong practitioner, who was at that time introducing Falun Gong in Reykjavik. This was actually the first formal introduction of the Falun Gong practice in Iceland. The newspaper also showed pictures of the 5 exercises and briefly introduced the practice and the principles behind it.
At that time I wrongly thought that the 5 sets of exercises were only 5 holding positions that I tried to do and hold each one for a short time. When I was done with this little experiment I took a walk with my children. We went hiking up a hill right above the house along a little creek and through a small forest.
I had walked this hill many times before but this time it was very different. I sensed this beautiful and benevolent being connecting with me and in the same time a light, but powerful energy rushing up my body and inside my inner self. My body felt so light and easy that I actually told people later on that I felt much more like flying up this hill than walking. Due to this special experience I decided to go and find out more about this practice when I got back home to Reykjavik.
When I first arrived at the practice site, I met the Swedish lady who voluntarily assisted the group. People were already doing the exercises there and she was facing the other way from me. What I noticed then to my great surprise was a huge white round energy shield that seemed to be rotating around her.
My first thought was that this person must have come down from heaven, the energy field around her body seemed so strong and bright to me. I had never seen anything like it.
Later on I talked about this with other Icelandic people that were learning the practice and some had come to this practice site before. They had also met with a few other practitioners, who had at this time left Iceland. The Icelandic people told me that the other practitioners were all vibrating this bright energy like the Swedish practitioner, as if they were some kind of heavenly beings. After hearing these people express what I thought I knew, I was assured that there was something extraordinary about Falun Gong.
These were my first impressions of the Falun Gong practice, but since that day I have practiced Falun Gong every day, and in a short period of time it became the most important thing in my life, the most precious thing I have ever got to know that is pure and good in this world.
The personal benefits I have experienced from the practice are quite enormous. Panic attacks I had to deal with in the past and mental discomfort have completely disappeared. I am sleeping about 50% less, but I have 100% more energy. All the same things still get difficult in my life from time to time. But since I started the practice the difficulties or tribulations I experience do not last for long and I can understand how some things that seem to be bad can be turned into something good and benefit everyone involved. Now I look at difficulties as chances to strengthen my mind, heart and moral nature, compassion and tolerance.
I have three sons and I believe they have all benefited greatly from my practicing Falun Gong. The two older ones have learned the exercises and the oldest one is practicing a little bit on a regular basis. My youngest son is only three years old and he often sits down with me for the meditation or sending forth righteous thoughts for couple of minutes at a time. Those are very special moments. My children have also seen our Master's video seminar and I could tell that it was very good for them also. My oldest son, who's third eye has been opened since he was a little boy, felt like he had finally found someone that could explain to him the things he always needed and wanted to know. "I want to meet this man," he said after watching the second lecture.
Up until June this year, I was, from what I know, the only serious practitioner in Iceland. At least one hundred practitioners had learned the exercises from the Swedish practitioner last summer, but I was not aware of anyone else that had kept doing it on a regular basis. I was therefore on my own and my practice became very private and quiet for me. Last June, however, after I had practiced for almost a year, things changed dramatically. The Chinese president came to Iceland for a public visit and the Icelandic government decided to bar Falun Gong practitioners from entering the country during that visit. The Icelandic media and the people of Iceland greatly opposed this decision and in two weeks time Falun Gong in Iceland changed from being something that only a few people in the country knew about to being something that everyone in Iceland had heard of.
In a few days my personal practice also changed from being a very private and quiet one, to absorbing all of my spare time and becoming known to almost everyone in Iceland. Besides practicing and reading I have since then been doing all kinds of Dafa work, in almost all of my spare time. For this I am very grateful. I am very grateful for having been given the chance to help a little bit with the Fa-rectification process at this time in our history.
I am also unspeakably thankful for having found the Fa that can rectify everything, including the whole universe and me.
Thank you for listening. At last I want to tell you that I am looking forward to the future, to continuing this practice and being able to help more people getting to know Dafa as well.
Thank you very much
(Copenhagen, 22nd September 2002)
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Category: Journeys of Cultivation
