Jun. 2, 2002

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Mary Loftus says she's lucky she doesn't have triplets. Her twins, with their big hearts, have given her enough to worry about.

At age 22, Jason and Christine have both survived a stay in a Chinese prison for practising - and telling others about - Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong), an ancient meditative art that blends body, mind and soul.

"They have big hearts. They just believe in what's right. They found something very precious. Personally, I didn't want them to go (to China). I can't look them in the eye and say it's for nothing, (but) sitting there, you won't change anything," Mary says.

"If more people took a stand as a whole and governments backed (Falun Dafa practitioners), maybe things in the world could be changed.

"Jason and Christine are trying to help people without a voice who are being persecuted for their spiritual beliefs and for exercising them."

Raised in Midhurst, a small community immediately north of Barrie, the Loftus twins both visited China earlier this year - and lived to tell the tale of their arrests and prison stays.

University students, they each took time from their studies, handed in projects a week or two before deadline, raised the cash for air fare and flew off to China to share their beliefs about Falun Dafa.

To the untrained eye, Falun Dafa looks a lot like tai chi or yoga. The Loftus twins discovered the practice at a health show in Barrie three years ago.

"In high school, I read a bunch of self-help books, Eastern philosophies and found the whole idea of meditation and spiritual exercise quite appealing," Jason recalls.

The teenage siblings went off to the health trade show in search of ways to rid themselves of pesky ailments that kept them from making the most of their high school years - an irritable stomach for Christine and an indefinable fatigue that forced Jason to miss 50 days of school one year.

"We were interested in Eastern practices and meditation and found the Falun Dafa group. They were very peaceful and very harmonious. They were the only ones (at the health show) not charging money. Everything else seemed to have a catch," Jason says.

Based on the supreme principles of Truthfulness, Benevolence and Forbearance, the exercises of Falun Dafa must be shared, not sold, he explains. Benefits the twins have seen range from freedom from their physical ailments to improved mental clarity, better learning, and more fruitful study time at university.

"The doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong. Now, I feel like I always have good energy. It's also given me mental clarity and I can learn more quickly because my mind is clear and calm. The third benefit is an inner sense of peace and spiritual fulfillment," Jason says..

On a broader, societal level, Falun Dafa practitioners say they have lower health-care costs and less absenteeism at work. At one point, the Chinese government even endorsed the practice, but it wasn't until the exercise technique [...] attracted 100 million followers in seven years that the officially atheist Chinese [Jiang regime] took steps to control it, Jason says.

"Until 1999, it had received different awards from the Chinese government. It was awarded twice as the Number 1 chigong, or meditative practice. Different government agencies congratulated Li Hongzhi," he adds, noting Li introduced the practice to the general public in China in 1992, taught it publicly for two years, and has gone on to lecture internationally about it.

In April, 1999, more than 10,000 Falun Dafa practitioners held a legal, peaceful gathering in Beijing. In July, 1999, the Chinese government raided the homes of practitioners, jailed them, and declared Falun Dafa illegal.

The Loftus twins say they're committed to helping stop the Chinese government's persecution of fellow Falun Dafa practitioners and fighting what they say is a propaganda campaign, which, they say, even extends to small Ontario municipalities.

Christine discovered how far the Chinese government could reach last year, when she did an awareness walk from St. Catharines, where she attends classes at Brock University, to Toronto. The mayor of a small township gave her a copy of a letter he'd received on the topic from the Chinese consulate.

At Brock, Christine and her friends continue their awareness campaign by phoning Chinese police stations and talking to officers.

"By educating the Chinese people, it helps to relieve the pressure on the Chinese practitioners, " Jason says, noting Chinese people are encouraged to tattle on those they know who practise Falun Dafa. Police officers also have quotas for arrests of practitioners, he adds, so the Loftus twins and their friends continue with their phone, fax and e-mail contacts. As Jason walks through Chinatown on his way to class at the University of Toronto, he hands out pamphlets about Falun Dafa.

Jason and fellow practitioner Levi Browde were arrested after holding a press conference in Tiananmen Square, Feb. 11.

"We were big tall guys with blond hair. They could see we weren't Chinese and came from another country. It took seven to 10 seconds before the police grabbed us, " Jason recalls.

"When they threw me in the van, (one officer) seemed shaken up. I felt what a shame, he was under so much pressure (to achieve arrest quotas)."

The underground cell stank. "It was very smoky, as two guards chain-smoked. It's composed mainly of what's supposed to be a bed, a big table with no sheets, and a mat, three inches think, covered in stains of different colours. Very filthy.

"I was handed a piece of newsprint (to use as a sheet). I slept on my coat and for two weeks afterward, people complained my coat stank. Both (Levi and I) did our exercises and sang some songs in Chinese and talked to the guards."

Christine figures she stayed in the same underground cell as her brother when she was imprisoned on March 28.

"There was one police officer I was speaking to. I asked him what will your future be like? He started crying . . . and he had to turn away."

During their incarcerations, the Loftus twins both used the time to meditate on and practise the Falun Dafa ideals of Truthfulness and Compassion, and Forbearance,.

"As the plane left, it was like a weight had been lifted off our shoulders. The pressure is incredible. (The Chinese authorities) can be violent," Jason says. "I was punched and someone grabbed me by the throat and twisted."

For Christine, her arrest with her boyfriend Jason Pomerleau and their deportation inspired her to do even more to increase awareness of Falun Dafa and the persecution of its adherents in China.

"My going to China was a wake-up call, It was different going there and experiencing it, " she says. "Now more than ever, I want to spend my spare time talking to people and encouraging them to stand up for Falun Gong practitioners."

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