In Harmony with Nature - Spreading Dafa at an Earth Day Celebration in Tampa

(Clearwisdom.net) Cathy just moved to Tampa, Florida. She planned to find a local meditation class. She talked to her good friend who suggested that she try the Falun Gong exercises. She was told that Falun Gong is powerful and easy to learn. On April 19, she came to the Earth Day celebration at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo. She was excited to find the Florida Falun Dafa Practitioners Association booth. She talked with a practitioner to learn the basics of Falun Gong and said she would join the exercise at a nearby park in Tampa.

This was the second year that local practitioners participated in the Earth Day celebrations at this location. The goal of Earth Day is to promote harmony with nature by adopting a new way of life, such as conserving energy or helping to sustain and protect wildlife habitats. For the practitioners in Tampa, the event offers a great opportunity for the people in the greater Tampa Bay area to learn about Falun Dafa, as well as traditional Chinese culture.

April is the best month of the year for weather in Tampa, and the event was packed with visitors. A steady stream of people came to the Falun Gong booth. The bright yellow banner with "Falun Dafa--Truth-Compassion-Tolerance" drew people's attention. Elaborately-folded colorful paper lotus flowers decorated the booth. Some practitioners explained what Falun Gong is and how and why it has been persecuted by the Communist Party in China, while other practitioners demonstrated the exercises.

The loud music from the stage did not bother the tranquility of the practitioners who were practicing the five exercises. Jane, a local artist, was doing face-painting for kids at the event. She could not help but start to follow along with the practitioners' movements. A practitioner went over to teach Jane the exercise. Jane has quite a few health issues and was visibly quite exhausted. She has been practicing another exercise method for 15 years, but had not felt any more improvement. When she heard about the benefits of Falun Gong, she said she needed this exercise and was glad there was a practice site where she could go learn it--and for free!

Jane, an artist doing face painting at the Earth Day celebration, learns the Falun Gong exercises from Maureen, a practitioner in Tampa.

Looking at the peacefully meditating group, it was difficult to imagine that this group is savagely persecuted in China. Many people had not heard about what is happening in China. When they were told about organ harvesting in China, they were shocked. Cathy listened carefully to the horrific crimes happening in China. She said repeatedly that she was shocked and that it was the most horrible story she had ever heard. When she heard that Mother's Day is coming but many overseas practitioners' mothers are jailed because of their belief, she signed her name on the signature drive letter and also asked for a poster and wanted to see how she could help.

Cathy from Tampa was shocked to hear about the crimes committed by the Chinese Communist Party against Falun Gong practitioners.

The Florida Falun Dafa Practitioners Association is the local co-host of world-renowned Shen Yun Performing Arts shows in Florida and will be hosting the show next year in Tampa. They have hosted 10 shows since 2007, and about 20,000 Floridians have enjoyed the beautiful performances. Many people were fascinated with the wonderful pictures as practitioners took the opportunity to introduce the great show with the beautiful performances photo album. Over and over again, you could hear the excitement and eagerness in people's voices when they heard that the show would be coming again in January of next year with new programs. They were eager to sign up on the email list for the earliest information on when the next Shen Yun show will be in Tampa.

The Earth Day celebration ended at about 4:30 p.m. The practitioners feel that each opportunity for sentient beings to learn about the wonderfulness of Falun Dafa is precious. As part of the community we live in, an event like this not only offers an opportunity for people to learn the truth of Falun Dafa and the genuine Chinese culture, it is also a good opportunity to network with other organizations so we can better serve the community.