(Minghui.org) When I traveled outside China recently, I was able to do the Falun Dafa exercises outdoors with other practitioners. When a practitioner told me that practitioners would be doing the exercises by the lake the next day, I eagerly woke my husband up before dawn so we could participate. Around 4 a.m., we quietly followed the practitioner through the stillness of early morning, and headed to the exercise site. As the three of us walked along the road I was reminded of the days before 1999, when I accompanied my parents to the local exercise site in China.
My parents began practicing Falun Dafa in 1994 after they attended a class taught by Master. I read the Dafa books and found them very beneficial, so I decided to practice too. My parents introduced Falun Dafa to staff in a military area, and as more people came to learn, an exercise site was established. From 1994 to 1999, we did the exercises outside almost daily. When the weather was poor, we did them in the hall or classrooms. These spaces protected us from the wind and rain, but not from the extreme cold, heat, or mosquitoes. We lived in a coastal city in the north, where winter temperatures dropped below freezing. When we did the slow moving exercises, the cold was manageable, but when we did the second exercise where our hands remained still for a long time, it was challenging. My hands gradually became cold, lost sensation, and then slowly warmed up again. Each day I did the exercises, my hands became more resistant to the freezing temperatures.
The coldest days of winter were bearable, but the sweltering heat of summer, combined with mosquitoes, was harder to endure. One couple who came to the exercise site held high positions in society. The wife was terrified of mosquitoes. In cultivation, we learn to let go of attachments, and sometimes what we fear most is exactly what we encounter. The more she feared being bitten, the more the mosquitoes bit her. By summer, they stopped coming because of the mosquitoes.
I felt enduring mosquito bites was also part of our cultivation. When I first started doing the exercises, the mosquitoes buzzed around me, and I wanted to shoo them away. I later realized that moving around while doing the exercises wasn’t appropriate, so I endured the bites. Each bite left large, itchy welts, and I couldn’t scratch them. I felt very uncomfortable. Because I didn’t move, the mosquitoes bit me everywhere. Sometimes after we did the exercises, my hands, feet, and face were covered in welts. In autumn, the mosquitoes were especially aggressive. They even bit me through my clothing. As I continued doing the exercises every day, my mind gradually calmed down, and I was no longer bothered by their bites. I sometimes felt a mosquito land on my nose, prick me, and then fly away. Over time, the itchy sensation no longer bothered me, and the welts disappeared after I did the exercises, leaving only a small red dot.
When I look back now, those days that I participated in the outdoor exercises and group Fa study were the happiest times of my life.
When the fellow practitioner, my husband, and I arrived at the exercise site beside a beautiful, tranquil lake, other practitioners had already begun doing the exercises. Hearing the melodious exercise music and Master’s voice, I quickly set down my backpack and joined them.
As I did the exercises, tears streamed down my face uncontrollably. Since the persecution of Falun Dafa began in 1999, I haven’t been able to do the exercises outdoors for 26 years. Practitioners in China are still striving for a legal and open practice environment. Practitioners outside China are truly fortunate and should cherish the opportunity to do the exercises in public.
After I returned to China, I told the practitioners at our Fa-study group about my experience, and they were moved to tears. I believe that in the near future, the Falun Dafa exercise music will once again be heard throughout China. We look forward to the day when we can do the exercises outdoors freely, just like practitioners in other countries do.
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