(Minghui.org) I was fortunate to start practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. I was searching for a way to improve my poor health at the time.
My father was not around when I was a child, and my mother raised me on her own. Since she had to work, I often went hungry and over-ate at times, which caused me to have stomach issues from a very young age. I also developed lymphatic tuberculosis, for which my mother took me to a hospital for six months of penicillin and streptomycin treatments, which ended up affecting my hearing.
After starting elementary school, I wanted to participate in the school’s sports competition, but the teacher refused to let me because I was too frail, and they feared for my safety. By the time I was in junior high school, I had developed severe neurasthenia and began taking brain-boosting and kidney-nourishing pills. Before every exam, I had to drink a special tonic, or else I wouldn’t be able to function. On one occasion, I was so weak that I couldn’t even hold chopsticks.
My mother began taking me to physical fitness activities and various forms of qigong. My health continued to deteriorate, however, and I even began to experience sleep paralysis. In the first semester of my senior year, I started having sharp pain on the left side of my lower abdomen. My intestines became inflamed, and I had chronic diarrhea that couldn’t be stopped. Every morning I went to school, and in the afternoon I went to the hospital for IV infusions. I saw many doctors, and after six months the diarrhea finally stopped.
In the second semester of my senior year, the pain shifted to the right side of my lower abdomen. It was the same routine—school in the morning, infusions in the afternoon, but the pain couldn’t be cured. In May, I had an appendectomy, and due to the long-term IV treatments, my blood vessels became fragile, which led to bleeding in one of my eyes after the surgery.
During the three days of the college entrance exam in July, I took the exam in the morning and had infusions in the afternoon. I was shivering, yet I had to use handkerchiefs to wipe away perspiration. Due to my health problems, I didn’t pass the entrance exam. The following year, I took the exam again and finally passed it. When I entered college at age 19, I weighed only 82 pounds. I wondered if I would even survive long enough to graduate. Given my frail health, I wondered how I could work after graduation. My future felt hopeless.
During college, a fellow villager learned about my situation and introduced me to Falun Dafa. He said, “Start by reading Zhuan Falun. If you have any questions, ask the assistant, then decide whether or not you want to practice.” I agreed and began reading the book, jotting down any questions I had. After reading the first three lectures, I had quite a few questions, but by the time I finished the fourth lecture, all my earlier questions were answered.
The day after I started practicing at the exercise site, lumps grew in my eyes. I asked the assistant about it, and he said, “That is a good sign. It indicates that Master Li is watching over you.” I was confused, “How could I tell that Master was watching over me?” Soon after, I developed a fever, and I asked the assistant if I could bathe. Since it’s humid in the south during summer, people often took cold showers daily. The assistant said yes. I was skeptical, thinking, “Can I take a shower with a fever? Won’t it make me worse?” I reluctantly took one, and by the next day, my fever had subsided. I was amazed!
After a month of practicing, my myopia decreased from 600–700 degrees to 400–500 degrees. The optician was astonished, saying, “I’ve never seen anyone reduce their prescription before!” A practitioner who started practicing with me, and had also worn glasses for nearsightedness, no longer needed them. However, a fellow villager who entered college with me, with a similar degree of myopia, saw his vision worsen to 1000 degrees after graduation.
I was on a train heading home during a holiday and vomited a lot of black substances. I subsequently stopped getting motion sickness, and my stomach issues improved. In the past, I couldn’t drink before or during meals because it made me feel full and I wasn’t able to finish the meal. But if I drank after my meal, I got a stomachache. I also constantly felt like I couldn’t stand up straight, and that my stomach was pulling me downward. My stomach now feels like a flexible pouch, and eating too much or too little no longer bothers me.
My neurasthenia also improved. I can fall asleep instantly, sometimes even without dreaming, which was something I could never imagine in the past. Before practicing, I also suffered from rhinitis, gynecological issues, and joint pain. After I started practicing Falun Dafa, all these ailments disappeared, and I felt truly free from sickness for the first time!
Besides the significant improvement in my health, my mindset also changed greatly. Before practicing cultivation, I was quick-tempered and narrow-minded. My mother often told me, “Don’t always focus on other people’s faults; look at their strengths.” After I started cultivating Dafa, I began reminding my mother, “Don’t focus on other people’s flaws; notice their strengths.”
Throughout my time in college, practicing Dafa made me feel incredibly fulfilled. I later realized that the reason I felt so good was because I was practicing with other practitioners and internalizing the principles of Dafa—learning to think of others, acting kindly, and understand the true joy of helping others.
The years from 1997 to 1999 were two of the most wonderful years of my life. We were immersed in the beauty of practicing Falun Dafa, and our minds and bodies continuously elevated. I felt an indescribable sense of gratitude and joy.
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