(Minghui.org) I got my biomedical Ph.D. degree in France and came to the U.S. for postdoctoral training in 2014. As a biomedical scientist, I was amazed by the miraculous health benefits and spiritual guidance of Falun Dafa.
My cousin in Los Angeles has practiced Falun Dafa for several years. After I moved to the U.S., we had more opportunities to get together. From our conversations, I realized that Falun Dafa is not like what the Chinese Communist Party described. Instead, it is good for one's mind and body. My cousin helped me withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party and recommended that I read more about Falun Dafa.
When I first started to read Zhuan Falun, I did not know what to do with it because of my busy schedule and lack of understanding of traditional Chinese cultivation. I also did not know that I needed to read the book from beginning to end, without skipping any sections, to understand the practice. I picked a couple of chapters from the book and skimmed through them. That did not give me much information about the practice, so I set the book aside.
My cousin and I read the book together in May 2016. After we finished “Lunyu” and the first three lectures, I naturally started to gain a better understanding of this practice. I greatly respected Falun Dafa and wanted to learn more about it.
After I finished reading Zhuan Falun, I joined two 9-day workshops to learn the practice systematically. The first session was in English, where two Western practitioners shared with me their understanding and experience. The second session was in Chinese, where I learned the practice from a Chinese perspective.
That was how I got started. Since then, I have read the book Zhuan Falun multiple times. Every time I read it, I get new understandings. The more I read it, the more I admire its profound teachings. I also listened to and read the English version of Zhuan Falun with Western practitioners and started to read other lectures published by Master Li Hongzhi to improve my understanding.
I read Falun Dafa books and do the exercises every day, no matter how busy or tired I get after work. My daily routine includes one hour of standing exercise, followed by sitting meditation in the early morning and at night.
Meditation has been challenging since it caused great pain, especially in my ankles and knees. When the pain became unbearable, I recalled Master's words:
“It’s hard to endure, but you can endure it. It’s hard to do, but you can do it.”(“Lecture Nine” from Zhuan Falun)
I told myself to trust Master and Falun Dafa, because Master will help me.
During the fifth day of the first 9-day session that I attended, my legs were so stiff at the beginning that my right leg was high in the air when I sat in the half lotus position.
As I continued the sitting meditation, the right leg got lower and lower. Then, there was no pain; instead, it felt numb, as if my legs did not exist any more. My body felt very light, as if I was flying. It was a very encouraging experience.
Day after day, I was able to sit for longer and longer. Two months after I started to do the Falun Dafa exercises, I was able to sit in the half lotus position for one hour. Meditation also became a beautiful experience.
On July 31, when I was meditating with my cousin and with my eyes shut, I “saw” a blue ocean in front of me. There was a giant ship in the sea. The ship was several stories high. The scene was so beautiful and serene that I did not want to open my eyes.
My normal work is full of pressure. When I first started my postdoctoral training in the U.S., I suffered from insomnia, an irregular menstrual period, and hair loss. Within months after I started practicing Falun Dafa, my period became regular. The hair loss also stopped. I was very impressed by the amazing health benefits of Falun Dafa.
On Oct. 27, 2016, I had a runny nose for a whole day. I used so many tissues that my nose ached. In the evening, my cousin and I read Master's lecture during the 2016 New York Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference. Then, we meditated for 45 minutes. After that, my runny nose stopped. All symptoms of a cold disappeared by the next morning.
Like many Falun Dafa practitioners, I study the books of Falun Dafa, do the exercises, and tell people about the persecution of Falun Dafa in China. Through these activities, I get to know the profound meaning of Falun Dafa teachings and understand the difficulties practitioners in China are going through. I am very grateful for the benefits that Falun Dafa and Master Li Hongzhi have brought to me and the world. Thus, I want to share my experience, from a biomedical scientist's perspective, to help people understand this practice and hopefully benefit from it.