Avalanche Journal: Banned Chinese exercise finds its way to South Plains of Texas, Falun Gong practitioners to teach form, history at free workshop

Avalanche-Journal

Because of allergies, a tumor in her breast and several diseases, June Liu was in pain. The ailments were accumulating and so were the restless nights.

After being introduced to a traditional Chinese form of exercise and meditation called Falun Gong, Liu reported that her pain evaporated.

''It was all gone when she started,'' her husband, Hongyi Pan, a research fellow at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, said Friday. ''After she started practicing, she was totally fine.''

Pan and other volunteers are teaching a session on Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, at a free workshop from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. today at Mahon Library.

The workshop also will include information about the persecution the followers of Falun Gong have received in China.

Pan said he spends about an hour a day practicing Falun Gong while he exercises and meditates in a park in San Antonio.

''It helps you deal with every day pressure and conflict in a more peaceful and positive way,'' he said.

Falun Gong, he said, transcends religions and nationalities. Although it has reported ties with Buddhism and Taoism, Pan said Falun Gong is not related to the two.

Pan, who is from China, said Falun Gong has helped him with school and every day life.

''As a foreign student, there is a lot of pressure,'' he said. ''There is studying, the environment, the language. As a foreign student, there is a certain kind of pressure to daily life. After the practice, it was so easy.''

Pan said Falun Gong has helped people with more serious problems than studying.

''It promotes the good value of life and helps people to get rid of bad habits like violence, drugs and alcohol,'' Pan said. ''It helps people pursue a better life.''

Falun Gong was founded over eight years ago by Master Li Hongzhi. The practice, which involves physical and mental exercises, started in China and has spread over the world. The universal principle is Zhen-Shan-Ren or Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance, Pan said.

Texas Tech Health Sciences Center resident physician Zhi Liu said she watched a video about the exercise and then read a book by the master. She said her relationships with others, including her husband, dramatically improved after reading it.

''The exercise is just part of it,'' she said. ''That gives you good health. Meanwhile, reading the master's book makes you a better person. The book puts you in better health mentally.''

The difference Falun Gong has made in her life is why she volunteers to teach it to others.

Zhi Liu said all of the materials to practice Falun Gong can be downloaded free from the Internet at the website www.falundafa.org.

''If you have something good, you want to share it, not keep it to yourself,'' Zhi Liu said.

Falun Gong has not been accepted so readily by everyone.

China banned Falun Gong more than a year ago.

The Associated Press has carried numerous stories of death, imprisonment, beatings and other harsh treatments by the Chinese police and government of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Zhi Liu said she was shocked the first time she heard about the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

''Why can the government not tolerate this?'' she said. ''In China, you only believe what the government says. The media is controlled by the government.''

According to Zhi Liu, more and more people have been practicing the exercise and Chinese government officials have become scared.

''There is no reason for them to be afraid of these people,'' Zhi Liu said. ''It has been banished since last July and people keep doing it.''

Zhi Liu moved to the United States in 1989 just missing the massacre in Tiananmen Square.

''The system did not change,'' she said. ''The economy is better. The politics are the same.

''The system is totally different from here. It is limited freedom. Not real freedom.''