(Clearwisdom.net) "I really wish I could say that when I first got the book Falun Gong that I started reading it immediately. But somehow I wasted two months before I started to read it. When I finished reading it, I was told that there was another book called Zhuan Falun. However when I got Zhuan Falun, the same thing happened again. I didn't start reading it until two or three weeks had passed. Meanwhile I went to a practice site that I had been to once. I have since been practicing Falun Gong with full hope for the future."
Rob didn't realize it back then, but Falun Gong is his path. He even almost let the opportunity pass him by.
Rob, who is 24 years old, is a manager at an office supply store in London, England. He had been seeking the meaning of life since he was nineteen. He had tried religion, and even tried meditation. But although he wasn't sure exactly what he was looking for, he knew that he still hadn't found it.
In the summer of 2007, a practitioner visited his shop and gave him some material about Falun Gong. He told him what Falun Gong is, and suggested he go to learn the exercises in a nearby park if he was interested. Rob went to the practice site that Sunday. He felt strong energy, unlike any he had ever felt before, going though his whole body when practicing the third exercise. He felt wonderful and told his friend James about the wonderful experience later that day. James has the same interests as Rob, and they often talked about their experiences in meditation. Rob suggested that James try out Falun Gong.
All Rob wanted back then was to live a better life. He had been drinking heavily for months, and trying to enjoy life. Instead of finding fulfillment, he felt empty, and his determination to change his lifestyle grew stronger. He stopped drinking in early 2008, but after a month he began again.
What surprised Rob is that although he only mentioned Falun Gong once to James, James had gone to the practice site and started practicing. This time it was James who brought Rob Falun Gong. Although he didn't start reading it right away, he finished it in the end. Then Rob started to read Zhuan Falun. Rob came to understand some of the wonderful experiences. He returned to the practice site and became a practitioner himself.
Rob soon stopped drinking and smoking. Rob had tried everything to stop substance abuse in the past, but nothing had worked. "I had been smoking for seven years. I tried to quit using the gum, or by myself, but nothing worked for me." But it became so easy when he started practicing. "Falun Gong teaches people to treat smoking as an attachment, not something natural that we need to do. When I understood that, I quit smoking right away. After that I once or twice tried to smoke again, but whenever I smoked, the smell wasn't right. It was different from before. I have now quit completely."
Before Rob began practicing Falun Gong, he changed jobs. Soon after he began practicing Falun Gong, he went back to his old company. His colleges noticed a great change in him in the passing months. Rob himself also noticed the difference. "My colleagues now see a completely different me. I am a friendly, happy Rob. I noticed the changes in myself, and the effect I have on others, especially when working as a manager. When the situation is unbearable, or when I can't control my temper, it affects others. But now they are all willing to work with me."
This also makes his family very happy. Not only did Rob quit smoking and drinking and become healthy, but he is also happy inside. "I used to be a argumentative person, but I am now becoming more peaceful. When I encounter different situations, I am able to look at them more sanely. I am sometimes still selfish however, and think that everything revolves around me."
Falun Gong teaches people to look within when there is a problem, to find the root of the issue. This gives Rob a new understanding and another option for handling situations other than arguing. "If one person argues, the other will argue back, and they will keep doing that. However if someone argues with you, and you treat him kindly instead of arguing back, and let him know there is another way to work this out, that will make things better."
A month after Rob began practicing Falun Gong, he took part in a parade. Back then he couldn't even remember all the exercises. This was when he first learned about the persecution in China. He cried. It was a special day for him.
Rob subsequently started attending various events, telling people about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. He thinks that all the events are necessary, like spending the night in front of the Chinese embassy and distributing truth-clarifying materials in Chinatown.
"My life changed after I started practicing. I became a better person. However thousands or millions of people don't have the same opportunity. I think it is so sad."
He is moved by the experiences that practitioners have been through, in the jails, in the forced labor camps and brainwashing centers.
"I am so glad that I can help to tell people the truth about what is happening with Falun Gong so that they can make their own decisions. I would love to spend more time on it."
Rob started play baritone in the Divine Land Marching Band in 2009. His new girlfriend does the same. In the beginning he just wanted to relax by playing music, as he did when he studied the piano. But after he joined the Divine Land Marching Band, he found out he could display the beauty of Falun Gong with other practitioners, and help people to understand the nature of Falun Gong.
"This is a very nice and a whole new way to help people know that truth, and the situation in China. When we are done playing, I can see that people are all so happy."
