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Photograph by Franchesca Esquibel
From left to right, Winnie Ji (cq), Li Mei (cq) and Eva Chuk (cq) meditate during the first part of the two-hour Falun Gong exercises, held on Saturdays at Ortega Park in Sunnyvale. They spent the first hour doing five different meditation exercises.
Keeping Balance
Falun Dafa Day brings out supporters of the exercise system banned in China
By Daniel Hindin
Local supporters of the ancient Chinese practice of Falun Gong a.k.a. Falun Dafa had their day in the sun when the city of Sunnyvale celebrated Falun Dafa Day on Oct. 7.
The official day was proclaimed by Mayor Pat Vorreiter earlier this year, to celebrate the fourth anniversary of Falun Dafa founder Li Hongzhi's visit to Sunnyvale's Ortega Park. Hongszi actually visited the park on Oct. 5, but the celebration was moved to the 7th because it was a Saturday.
Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a series of slow, gentle movements used to control one's internal energy, or chi. Practitioners of Falun Dafa say the results of these exercises help the mind and the body by improving health, reducing stress and increasing energy.
According to local participant Steve Ispas, the movements, practiced in China for ages, were recently choreographed by Li Hongzhi of China with slight modifications so they could be taught to a wider audience.
This method consists of five exercises. The first is an eight-minute standing meditation consisting of four different positions. The next three are slow movement exercises. The final exercise is a sitting meditation that lasts as long as participants can maintain their positions--beginners usually last for five minutes, but experts are known to stay in the same position for up to an hour.
"We concentrate on the three main principles: truthfulness, benevolence and forbearance," Ispas says.
According to Ispas, these movements were not historically made public; they were passed down individually from master to student. After fine-tuning his methods, Hongzhi made these movements public in China in 1992. Within six years, Ispas says, more than 100 million people worldwidepracticed Falun Dafa.
Ispas advises interested people to read about it so they can truly understand it. He says, "There's a book called Zhuan Falun that explains the principle behind the practice. I want to let more people know about Falun Dafa because it helps people stay calm. It is helping me become a better person."
Ispas thinks that it is important to keep it alive in the wake of the recent crackdown on the practice in China. The government banned the practice in July 1999.
"My best guess is that a lot of people are still practicing in the privacy of their own homes," he says. "The government fears that a lot of people are practicing the same thing.
"Part of the fear is that they could be a threat. We think this is false. There's absolutely no political involvement at all."
According to Ispas, Chinese people are beaten or tortured if they practice the movements in public. He says there is a recent call for a national dialogue about what's going on. Ispas says people should contact their local politicians about it in order to bring more attention to the problem.
Ispas says that Falun Dafa is practiced in 20 to 30 places in the Bay Area. Participants meet in Sunnyvale's Ortega Park every day. On weekday mornings, people practice the movements from 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. On weekends they meet between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Ispas says there are usually about 10 to 20 participants on the weekdays and about 30 to 40 on the weekends. Teachers provide their services for no fee.
"There is a consistent group that comes all of the time," says Ispas. "But there are always new people, too."
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
