I am a practitioner from Barrie, Ontario, Canada. I live in Toronto
during the school year, as I'm a student at the University of Toronto. I'm now 20 years old and I
came across Falun Dafa in Barrie in September 1998. Since early in high school, I had begun to ask
myself a lot of questions. I thought that there must be something more to life than what I was
experiencing at that time. I remember at times feeling quite unhappy and dissatisfied -- I often
tried to satisfy others expectations of myself and I felt I often did things that I shouldn't have
done in order to try and fit this mold.
I wondered how I could become truly happy and truly attain peace in my heart. Also, I wondered if
there was a way to obtain excellent health. Although I had been quite athletic through most of my
growing up, I still had health problems and in my first year of high school I was absent about 50
days due to illness. Doctors were never able to pinpoint or actually solve the condition I was
bothered by at that time.
My search began by reading some books on motivation in around grade ten and I began to set all
kinds of goals and plan to work towards attaining them. At the time, I thought that by changing my
character, becoming more confident, etc. and attaining things such as wealth, success or certain
material things that I was interested in that this would satisfy the void that I felt in everyday
life. Although this new direction was exciting for me -- it provided me with aspirations to search
for something more from life -- I still felt a longing and I continued to search. My focus began to
switch more to spirituality later in high school and I began to investigate some of the modern
spiritual teachings and meditations. I was intrigued by the concept of enlightenment, although I
didn't really know what it was, and I was attracted to the idea that it was possible to return to an
original state and become free from suffering.
When my sister and I came across the Falun Dafa booth at a health show in Barrie in August 1998,
I could feel that there was something unique and special about this group. The practitioners looked
so healthy and peaceful. I remember seeing the practitioners sitting on the lawn outside the
building where the health show was taking place, reading blue books. Just by the appearance, I felt
these people had found something very valuable in this practice. The practitioners at the health
show told us that they planned to begin a practice group in Barrie on Sunday mornings and that they
would come from Toronto to show us the exercises and introduce the teachings to us.
My sister and I began to attend the weekly practice site. I quickly found that the practice of
Falun Dafa was quite different from the practices I had tried before. I realized that this system
was very virtuous and upright. I felt the exercises left me calm yet with an energetic feeling at
the same time, and the people were so kind. Although this practice was obviously something quite
good, there was still no charge to learn it and these people had driven over an hour just to share
it with us, without any ulterior motives or asking for anything from us.
As my practice continued I began to appreciate more how fortunate I was for having come across
such a good practice. The book, "Zhuan Falun" contained answers to so many questions I'd
had - or to questions I didn't even know I'd had. In addition, the changes I felt in my physical
body were beyond comparison to what I'd experienced before and are not easily put into words.
Since practicing Falun Dafa, I don't need as much sleep as before, I have more energy and I don't
tire easily, I don't feel moody as I had before and I find myself gradually becoming more peaceful
and happier. I feel I am a much kinder person than before and now I get compliments from others like
"I've never met anyone so kind" or "I've never met anyone this calm". I know
that all these improvements in me are because of the strength of Falun Dafa -- I really feel it's
magical.
As I benefited from practicing Falun Dafa so much, I would like to introduce this practice to
others so that they may benefit as well. My sister and I began to participate in events in Barrie to
help let people know about Falun Dafa - health shows, festivals, a couple of demonstrations on the
evening news of our local television station and donating books to our local library and bookstore.
I sincerely hope that others in Barrie, and everywhere, may come to learn Falun Dafa and experience
how wonderful it is.
Category: Beginning Cultivation
