(Minghui.org) As an 82-year-old retired teacher, I’m in good health and am told I look about 20 years younger than my age. I can effortlessly climb five flights of stairs to my apartment several times a day.
When people ask me for my secret, I tell them that I practice Falun Dafa. Practicing Dafa gave me a second chance at life.
I was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, an autoimmune neuromuscular disease, in 1995, the year I retired. I had muscle weakness, double vision and difficulty breathing. There is no cure for this disease, and patients have to be on medication for the rest of their lives. Sometimes it can turn into a life-threatening emergency.
After a lengthy hospital stay, I was discharged and had some relief. My two roommates at the hospital suffered from the same disease, but they passed away.
Less than six months later, the symptoms came back. I was given more medication. A month later, I was back in the hospital.
While I was in and out of the hospital, my sister noticed that many of her neighbors had recovered from different illnesses after practicing Falun Dafa. She told me about the astounding recoveries she witnessed and suggested that I give Falun Dafa a try.
But lifelong indoctrination by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its atheist ideology made it hard for me to accept the concept of a miraculous recovery. I thus put off practicing Falun Dafa.
When I visited my sister a few months later, she handed me the main book of Falun Dafa, Zhuan Falun. After reading the book in one go and listening to Master Li's lecture recordings, I was convinced. For the next week, my sister and I went to our community park every day to learn the Dafa exercises.
I continued to do the exercises and read Zhuan Falun after returning home, but I still took my medication daily. I felt nauseous one day after taking them. A relative (also a practitioner) recalled many stories of people no longer needing medications after practicing Falun Dafa.
My relative said, “This is good. Master is watching over you. Maybe Master is trying to enlighten you. But whether to take medication is up to you, and nobody can make that decision for you.”
That was when I decided to stop taking medication for the rest of my life.
However, a week later, I experienced symptoms of my former illness. With diligent study of Dafa, I understood that I was not ill, but rather my body was eliminating karma.
Master said,
“Due to karma resulting from past wrongdoing, one has illnesses or tribulations; suffering is repaying a karmic debt,” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
I thought that I would just keep studying Dafa and doing the exercises–nothing else mattered.
When the thought of my symptoms kept me awake, I memorized passages from the teachings. One day, when my arms were too weak to do the standing exercises, I did the sitting meditation.
Within a week, my strength returned. My confidence increased. Relatives questioned my decision: “Are you alright? Not taking medication?” I replied, “Major hospitals couldn’t help me, but I regained my health from practicing Falun Dafa. Isn't this amazing?”
That was 23 years ago. I no longer experienced any symptoms of my former disease despite not taking any medications. Dafa has enriched my life, cleansed my body and elevated my soul. I am living proof of Dafa's power.