(Minghui.org) I am a 34-year-old Falun Dafa practitioner. I used to work at the renowned Rongmin Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan as the head of the Infectious Diseases Department. After my parents moved to Kaohsiung, I transferred to a hospital in the same city.

I suffered from asthma ever since I was in kindergarten and was often too sick to attend school. I never did well in sports because I was too thin, had very little stamina, and was sick most of the time.

Before I entered high school, I didn’t exercise very much, due to my heavy school load. However, when I went to college, I joined the volleyball team to get some cardio exercise. With the combination of exercise and medication, my asthmatic condition greatly improved.

Later, I began to experience severe joint pain in my fingers, wrists, knees, and toes, whenever my blood pressure reached a certain level, or when I was very tired due to lack of sleep. The pain was so excruciating that I could not move in bed. I experienced about ten major flareups like this, and hundreds of minor ones, too.

My condition went from bad to good, sometimes within the span of a few hours. I recall going to class on crutches in the morning and then playing volleyball in the afternoon.

I was later diagnosed with palindromic rheumatism, which is a type of incurable auto-immune disease wherein the immune system destroys the body's joints. The medicine that I was given only provided temporary relief from my joint pain.

During my senior year in medical school, I gave up volleyball and started jogging. I once completed a 42 km (about 26 miles) marathon within 3 hours and 27 minutes and a 100 km (about 62 miles) marathon in 12 hours and 56 minutes. Physically I felt great, even though I had not completely beaten my asthma.

I recall that my eldest sister, Zheng Yuhan, was also frail and sick since she was young, but to date, no one was able to properly diagnose her condition.

One day, she underwent surgery for appendicitis. After the operation, she often vomited and was very weak. Shortly after, the hospital found that she was suffering from a severe sodium deficiency.

At that time, the Taipei Rongmin Hospital transferred me to Jinmen City. I called my sister’s doctor and discussed her condition over the phone with him. After sharing our professional insights with each other, we figured out that she was suffering from pituitary atrophy. Since she could not afford to properly treat her illness, she had to resort to taking steroids and thyroxine, just to get by.

The medication severely effected her emotions, so much so that one day she simply stopped taking her medicine for five days and got very ill. She later accidentally overdosed on her steroid medication, causing her to miss work.

In July 2012, my sister was in severe pain and went to the local emergency room. After she recovered from this bout of illness, her mood drastically changed for the better. In addition, her body edema disappeared and her face returned to its original size. She sometimes worked overtime, well into the night, she never called in sick again.

One day, she told me, “Brother, please don’t get mad at me, but for the past one and a half months, I have not taken my pituitary atrophy medicine. The last time my inflammation flared up, was the last time that I had an injection. After that, I have not taken any medicine at all.”

I could not get mad at her because not only had her mental and physical condition improved, but her swelling subsided, too. Seeing her progress, I was very happy for her, yet very confused!

Then, my sister told me that she had started practicing Falun Gong on July 1, 2012. Shortly after, all of her diseases disappeared and her outlook on life improved. However, in the beginning of her practice, she said that she still experienced some inflammation.

My sister was introduced to Falun Gong by one of my father’s high school classmates, Shuoying Yang, who is a professor at the Management College of the National Sun Yat-sen University.

At first, I only regarded Falun Gong as an amazing qigong that was able to heal peoples' diseases. However, I still kept jogging to keep physically fit.

My sister introduced me to the book, Zhuan Falun, which I read once then put aside. In September 2012, Professor Yang invited me to sit down with him for a chat. I accepted his invitation, having witnessed my sister's improvement.

For most of my life I had pondered many spiritual matters, such as: what is the origin of human life? what happens after death? are human beings on some sort of mission? and, does destiny really exists? However, after speaking to Professor Yang, I felt inspired and understood that the goal of healing and keeping fit was solely to prepare oneself for high-level cultivation.

The next morning, before heading off to work, I went to a nearby Falun Dafa practice site. An elderly lady briefly introduced herself to me then began teaching me the exercises. After work, I noticed that I had a high fever, which eventually lasted almost 24 hours.

Although I was extremely tired; coughed a lot, and spit out thick sputum, I never felt any pain. Basically, I experienced the same healing phenomena as my sister, when she first learned the practice. Teacher talked about this in Zhuan Falun, where the whole body is purified.

Being a doctor, I know when and when not to take medicine. I also know that cold medicine does not get rid of a person's cold, rather, it simply suppresses the symptoms and pushes them back into the body.

Thus, I decided to take only the cough medicine, since a loud cough would adversely affect my duties at the hospital. Later, my joint, neck, and back pain suddenly disappeared, as well as my hemorrhoids.

Not only could I feel that Teacher was purifying my body, but I also found that I had a lot of energy and a deep sense of peace in my heart. The physical and mental transformation that I underwent, in such a brief period of time, was astounding! No other medical or spiritual method could compare to the results I experienced from practicing Falun Dafa.

Therefore, I decided to use all of my free time to practice Falun Gong, instead of playing sports. I realized that purifying our bodies and minds is laying a foundation for high-level cultivation.

Running marathons has never benefited me as much as Falun Gong has.

In addition, long-distance running takes a heavy toll on the body, as it consumes a lot of the body's energy. Also, distance runners are prone to injuries and it takes up a lot of one's time.

It took me a long time to let go of my attachment to showing off, especially since those around me had always admired me for my physical endurance. When I look back, I realize that my running always involved my attachment of showing off and vanity. In order to raise my xinxing, I had to let go of these attachments.

I feel thankful for everything that has happened in my life, including the seemingly negative things, too. Everything had been arranged by higher beings so that I would become the person that I am, which has led me to Dafa.

I hope that my experience will encourage more people to walk the path of cultivation and experience the joy of a sound body and a sound mind.