La Opinion (a Spanish language newspaper in the US): The Art of Cultivation

Lourdes Lopes Editor of Life and Style
June 4^th, 2005

Pia-Maria Sandas has found in Falun Dafa a system of relaxation and meditation that has changed her life.

Pia-Maria Sandas, a young Finnish lady based in New York and Madrid, has discovered a system of relaxation that improves physical wellness and that has, according to her (testimony), changed her life. Sandas is assured that Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) is what made her allergies and other physical and emotional problems that bothered her for years disappear.

Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa, is an ancient discipline that originated in China, and that consists of a series of exercises and relaxations of the body through meditation.

According to its adherents, this system that is practiced by over 100 million people in the world, is recommended for all ages and cultures. According to Pia María (or you could say, "our guest", the Falun Dafa practice (groups) aspire to improve health and internal peace, control stress and improve one's moral values.

According to this slender youth, this ancient Chinese discipline is knows as "a practice that promotes spiritual and physical growth", and that consists of two parts:

1. The practical aspect related to the improvement of the body through five exercises.

2. The spiritual and mental aspect, through three universal principles: Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance, the three virtues that form the core of the teachings of Falun Dafa.

Sandas, an ex-model who is now dedicated to promoting a cosmetic line as well as practicing Falun Gong on her free time explains: "For many years I read self help books and even went to therapies to try to resolve some emotional problems, but without satisfying results.

"I was also unable to cure myself from severe allergies until five years ago, when I was living in Sweden, my karate professor presented me to a group of Falun Dafa practitioners that I saw in one of the local parks."

"They looked so calm and peaceful that I decided to join the group. Since then I started discovering the solution to my emotional and physical problems. I also found a true peace that helps me analyze myself and to do better every day.

The adherents of the Chinese practice also affirm that Falun Gong helps one to get away from alcohol, drugs and violence.

The exercises

Sandas clarifies that this Chinese practice is neither a religion nor a sect, and that the five exercises are taught for free by its adherents in over 70 countries.

Sandas practices this routine daily for about 1 hour and 15 minutes:

1. Buddha Showing a Thousand Hands. Through gentle stretching movements this exercises opens all energy channels in the body.

2. Falun Standing Stance. Comprised of four static postures that are similar to holding a wheel. Helps to enhance ones energy level and awakens wisdom.

3. Penetrating the Two Cosmic Extremes. This exercise captures the energy from the cosmos through gentle hand-gliding movements. This exercise purifies the body using the energy from the cosmos.

4. Falun Heavenly Circuit. This exercise runs over the whole body, rectifying all abnormal conditions in the body and circulates energy widely.

5. Way of Strengthening Divine Powers. The exercises strengthen divine powers and the gong potency, and the adherents recommend doing it sitting on a carpet or on the grass. The legs should be crossed and for best results the lotus position is suggested.

Falun Dafa is a Chinese term with double meaning. Fa means law and lun means wheel. The concept refers to the law of cosmic motion and perpetual rotation. At the same time: Da means big and Fa means law.

As for the term gong, the word is used to name practices that develop internal energy.

For Sandas, Falun Dafa is a holistic improvement of the body, the mind and the soul, but clarifies that it is not a religion.

"The principles of Falun Dafa are explained in the texts Zhuan Falun and Falun Gong, the second one is recommended for beginners. These books were written by the founder of Falun Dafa, Master Li Hongzhi, says the practitioner, and affirms that the books can be downloaded for free from the website of the organization.

For more information: www.falundafa.org