(Minghui.org) I started to practice Falun Dafa around August or September 1998, when I had just graduated from university and started my first job.

I really liked one of my coworkers who was a year older than me. She was very nice and kind, and I followed her around wherever she went.

I learned later that she was practicing Falun Gong, and she gave me two books—Falun Gong and Zhuan Falun.

I took the books back to the dormitory and read them in my spare time after work. I didn’t quite understand some of it, but I knew in my heart that the books were teaching people to be kind and considerate of others. I wanted to be a kind person, thinking: If there are indeed divine beings watching over us just three feet above our heads, and good and evil are rewarded accordingly, then aren’t we harming ourselves when we harm others?

In Zhuan Falun, it says that “Zhen-Shan-Ren is the Sole Criterion to Discern Good and Bad People,” so I would be fine if I followed this criterion. However, I didn’t quite understand what it meant at the time when I read, “One should return to one’s original, true self; this is the real purpose of being human.” (Zhuan Falun)

Later, I started learning the exercises by following the instructions and pictures of the movements. It was rather hard for me to sit in the full lotus position, so I could only manage to sit in the half lotus position. I also tended to lean backward, so I sat against a wall to keep myself straight and steady.

Master said:

“When our great heavenly circuits are about to open, a situation will occur wherein some people will lean forward during the sitting meditation. Because the circulation in one’s back is opened better, one’s back will feel very light while the body’s front will feel heavy. Some people lean backward and feel their backs are heavy while the fronts of their bodies feel light. If all of your body is opened well, you will feel as if you are being lifted up, like levitating off the ground.” (Lecture Eight, Zhuan Falun)

As time went on, when I was practicing the exercises at the practice site, I truly felt as if I was being lifted up, like levitating off the ground.

I got up after 4:00 a.m. every morning and went to the practice site with a fellow practitioner who lived in the dormitory opposite mine. It was still dark around that time. Once, I fell rushing down the stairs and twisted my ankle.

“Oh, I don’t need to go to do the exercises today,” I thought. But almost immediately I realized that was wrong and decided to go, no matter what. “I will go, even if I have to crawl,” I thought.

I limped to the practice site and joined the others. At that time, we only did the first four exercises in the morning and then did the sitting meditation in the evening.

By the time we finished the exercises, my foot had stopped hurting, and I only felt a little discomfort around the ankle. I went to work without any problems.

We did the exercises together, and everyone was very diligent, focusing on how we studied the Fa and cultivated ourselves. Some of the practitioners who had been practicing for a number of years could sit in the full lotus position. I really envied them, hoping I could soon do the same.

I started to practice sitting in the full lotus position. It was very painful, but I refused to give up and kept going. Sometimes, the soles of my feet even turned black and purple.

It’s very cold doing the exercises outdoors in the winter in Northeast China, and it snows from time to time. Every morning, the practice site assistant would get there early with a tape recorder, waiting for us to arrive.

Usually, we would do the first, third, and fourth exercises and then the second one, “Falun Standing Stance.” We usually took off our coats and gloves (leaving only our sweater on) to make it easier to do them.

Very often, I could see my fingers turning yellowish-white from the cold, and they gradually lost feeling. But when I did “Holding the Wheel in Front of the Lower Abdomen,” my hands turned warm straightaway. When we did the movement “Holding the Wheel Above the Head,” my fingers lost sensation again.

Once, on our way back from the practice site, my fingers started feeling numb, and by the time I got back to the dormitory, my hands hurt like crazy—as if tens of thousands of tiny insects were biting my bones.

I thought: “I only suffered a little from the cold, yet it hurt so much. How miserable sentient beings must feel when they endure other tribulations! If I can achieve consummation, I will help to save them from their painful misery!”

I kept doing the exercises in the winter without a coat and gloves, and by and by, I didn’t feel it as bad as before.

I had been frail and sickly since I was a child. I often caught colds and had a fever and suffered from tonsillitis. I often had to have injections and take medications. My condition didn’t improve even after I went to university.

In my second year at university, my tonsils got so enlarged that I had to have them removed.

However, I regretted it, because after they were removed, I started running a fever more frequently, and sometimes my fever spiked to almost 39 degrees Celsius (102.2 Fahrenheit), and I had to be on an IV drip.

After I started practicing Falun Gong, I stopped running high fevers, and even when I felt a bit feverish occasionally, it was only a little over 37 degrees (98.6 Fahrenheit) and lasted only a couple of days.

At that time, I did the exercises every day, both in the morning and in the evening, and I would study the Fa after doing the meditation exercise. Each day, after I finished work at 6:00 p.m., I would rush home, buying something for dinner on the way. I would eat after doing the meditation exercise, because I didn’t mind if the food was cold.

I was full of energy all day long, and I didn’t feel tired even after working through the night shift.

One year, on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, after another practitioner and I finished doing the exercises in the morning around 6:00 a.m., we decided to climb the mountain in the nearby park for fun.

We climbed up right to the top and didn’t feel tired at all. Looking at the white clouds in the sky, I felt as if I were as light as a leaf, as if I could leap onto one of the clouds with just a light bounce.

On another occasion, while I was doing the sitting meditation, I truly felt as though I was sitting inside an eggshell, just like Master said:

“When you sit there, you should feel wonderful and very comfortable as though you are sitting inside an eggshell; you will be aware of yourself practicing the exercise, but feel that your whole body cannot move. This is what must occur in our practice.” (Lecture Eight, Zhuan Falun)

However, it was only for a short moment before my legs started to feel the pain again.

It was such a happy time for us in those days! We had nothing to worry about, and when we got together, some of us would share how we found our attachments through an incident, or how we dealt with karma elimination with righteous thoughts, or how we had overcome tests.

When there was a Fa conference somewhere, we would ride our bikes to attend or listen to recordings of Master’s Fa teaching until almost midnight. Even though we had to cycle over 10 kilometers (over six miles) back home, none of us felt tired or sleepy. We just felt so happy!

My understanding of the Fa principles wasn’t very deep at the time, but I knew that I must be diligent in cultivation. I often thought: “If there were no persecution by the Chinese Communist Party, more people around the world would practice Falun Dafa and enjoy good health and a peaceful mind. How wonderful that would be!”

Now I understand that, in the Dharma-Ending Age, people have lost their faith, and human morality has collapsed. As a result, humanity is confronted with numerous challenges and one crisis after another.

At this critical moment, Falun Dafa has offered humanity a most precious opportunity. It can guide people to restore their faith in gods and Buddhas, to value virtue and act with kindness, and to become good people by following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance so that they will have a bright future!

I am deeply grateful to Master for teaching us the wonderful Falun Dafa and for offering salvation to all sentient beings.

From the bottom of my heart, I hope more and more people will learn the truth about Falun Dafa, practice Falun Dafa, and benefit both physically and spiritually!