Enlightenment About Being Tense While Practicing the Exercises

(Minghui.org) While practicing Falun Dafa’s second exercise with another practitioner, he reminded me that I need to relax my shoulders instead of tensing them. I then realized my shoulders were always stiff when I did the exercises.

A few days later, I noticed that my shoulders were stiff and tense for all of the positions of the second exercise, except for the position of “Fuqian Baolun” (Holding the Wheel in Front of the Lower Abdomen). I was quite shocked. The practitioner suggested that I read The Great Way of Spiritual Perfection thoroughly and correct my movements in accordance with Master Li’s (Dafa’s founder) movements. I took his advice.

Master said,

“The body is kept upright and relaxed. You need to completely relax from the inside out, but without becoming too loose. The head should remain upright.”

“Whichever part of the body is tense can’t be fully transformed. So any part that’s not relaxed will end up being excluded and not transformed or evolved. The upper and lower teeth will relax if you leave a space between them. These are the basic requirements for the exercises.”(“Chapter III Mechanics and Principles of the Exercise Movements,” The Great Way of Spiritual Perfection)

I had always thought my movements were accurate since I am a veteran Falun Dafa practitioner of more than 20 years. However, I had unknowingly been doing the exercises without fully relaxing. No wonder my shoulders were uncomfortable. I quickly corrected myself and the discomfort in my shoulders vanished.

Though practitioners may be able to assimilate to the Fa and eliminate their attachments in certain respects, many of them still have notions and habits that they overlook. Some made excuses for themselves and say, “This is just how I am” or “I am just hot-tempered.” They don't take it seriously and don't adhere to the Fa principles in a timely manner.

In some cases, practitioners might think they’ve already eliminated an attachment, when in fact it has not been completely removed at the root. Just like when a certain part of the body is not relaxed and has not reached a certain standard, that body part will be excluded and will not be transformed.