(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners participated in the Yoga Festival Helsinki 2026 from February 28 to March 1. The event brought together the concepts of yoga and wellness and included yoga and meditation classes, Pilates, workshops, lectures, and other exhibitors. This year’s theme was “Connection.”
Practitioners introduced Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, and told people how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecutes the spiritual discipline and targets practitioners for forced organ harvesting. Practitioners demonstrated the exercises at their booth, distributed flyers, and collected signatures on a petition to stop the persecution.
Practitioners demonstrate the exercises.
Many people were interested in Falun Dafa and asked where they could learn to practice it. Some learned the exercises during the festival.
One of the event staff members, Kare, talked with practitioners during his break. He said he felt strong energy and that something was spinning around his head when a practitioner spoke with him. A practitioner invited him to try the exercises.
Kare (right) learns the Falun Dafa exercises.
A practitioner tells Kare about the book Falun Gong.
After Kare did the exercises, he said he felt energy flowing in his feet, arms, and head. He bought a copy of Falun Gong and said he would read it. He also planned to go to the local group practice site the following weekend.
Kare returned to the booth the next day, gave practitioners his phone number, and said he wanted to receive information about future events.
Nina and her friend at the neighboring booth signed the petition after they heard about the CCP’s persecution. As they watched the exercise demonstration, a practitioner invited Nina’s friend to join in. He agreed. When he told Nina what he felt when he did the exercises, she decided to try them, too, and afterwards said she was touched. They bought a copy of Falun Gong.
Nina (left) learns the second exercise.
Nina meditated with a practitioner the next day. She remained in tranquility after the exercise music ended. She said the noise from the festival seemed to vanish. and she just felt relaxed and at peace. After he did the exercises with practitioners twice, her friend said he intended to continue doing them. He also said he felt inner calm when he meditated. They gave their phone numbers to a practitioner and asked to be notified when they planned to hold future events.
People Learn the Exercises
The hosting organization arranged a one-hour session for the Finnish Falun Dafa Association, and over 10 people learned the exercises. A staff member in charge of registration at the entrance was one of them. Afterwards, he said he felt energy flowing in his arms and upper body.
People learn the Falun Dafa exercises.
Heikki (second from right) and his friends learning the exercises
After Heikki learned the exercises, he said, “At every Yoga Festival, if I see Falun Gong, I must come see you. It is amazing.” He brought two friends with him, and they later returned and did the exercises for half an hour with the practitioners. Heikki bought a copy of Falun Gong and said he’d bought Zhuan Falun last year.
Signing the Petition to End the Persecution
Practitioners also raised awareness of the CCP’s persecution at the event. Many people signed the petition calling for the human rights abuses to end.
Visitors sign the petition.
“Falun Dafa is a spiritual practice. The CCP persecutes practitioners, imprisons them, and even carries out forced organ harvesting,” Heidi said. “I pay attention to the Tibet issue, and I saw news about your group. I naively thought that, with China’s economic development and international collaborations, such persecutions would be curtailed. But, in reality, it is not so.”
Heidi said, “We need compassion and good people.”
She said she was sad that peaceful and kind groups like Tibetans and Falun Gong practitioners are persecuted and thought that forced organ harvesting was unimaginable and terrible. She commented that an increasing number of Chinese tourists are visiting Lapland, a famous tourist destination in northern Finland, and she hopes they are able to see this information there.
A woman who’d read about the persecution but hadn’t heard about the forced organ harvesting said, “Human rights belong to everyone and are important to everyone.” She asked if she could take photos and post them on social media so more people could learn about the persecution.
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