(Clearwisdom.net) The 2007 UK Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference was held in London on Sunday, August 26. The occasion brought many practitioners to London for the weekend to join other activities, be it demonstrating the exercises or clarifying the facts in city parks or subway entrances.
Passers-by join practitioners to learn the exercises
In London, there are several established group practice exercise sites, of which the centrally located Regent Park has the longest history as a practice site. For the past eight years, practitioners have been going there for two hours of exercises every Saturday and Sunday. Now, it is not only an important practice site, but also an important window through which local people come to know about Falun Dafa. Newer practitioners often go there to learn the exercises, and many who have just come from mainland China go there first to find their fellow practitioners in London.
The whole of Saturday afternoon, practitioners demonstrated the exercises, sent forth righteous thoughts, and hoped more people would learn the goodness of Falun Dafa. At 2:00 p.m., practitioners began to arrive to the practice point under the big tree near the lake. It was a very nice day and the sun was shining. Many Londoners went to the park enjoying the late summer sunshine, and many tourists also went. As usual, the practitioner who usually teaches newcomers, wearing a T-shirt with words "Falun Dafa is Good" both in Chinese and English, put truth-clarifying leaflets, discs and beautiful bookmarks with the words " Falun Dafa is Good" on the lawn near the practice site for people to pick up. The peaceful exercise music and the scene of practitioners doing the exercises together immediately drew people's attention. People having a rest on the lawn kept raising their heads to watch, and tourists passing by, one after another, stopped and watched and accepted leaflets. More people accepted leaflets than usual. It was not until the end of the activity that all the materials were distributed.
Not long after the practice started, a young couple arrived, saying that they wanted to learn the practice. They had moved to the UK from their native India. A practitioner asked how they got to know Falun Gong. They said that one of their friends gave them a leaflet briefly introducing Falun Gong. After reading it, they wanted to learn, so they came to the practice site. They learned the exercises quickly and were very excited, as if they had met up with friends they had not seen for a long time. When leaving, they told the coordinator of the practice site they would come and do the exercises together with other practitioners every weekend.
A family of three sat nearby watching while the practitioners were doing the second exercise. When a practitioner came forward asking them, with excitement, they answered: "We live near the Chinese Embassy in London. We know Falun Gong and the persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP. We often see Falun Gong practitioners doing peaceful protests in front of the Chinese Embassy. We are very pleased to see Falun Gong practitioners here. We support Falun Gong and hope that Falun Gong practitioners carry on like this."
A Chinese who looked to be in his sixties asked a practitioner for Chinese materials after standing near the practice site for quite a while. He left with delight when he got a booklet telling the fact about Falun Gong. Not long after, he returned and watched the practitioners do the exercises for a long time.
In addition to Regent Park, other practitioners were doing the exercises together and clarifying the facts in Russell Square Gardens and at the entrance of Russell Square, located in the centre of London.
