United States: Falun Gong Welcomed at a Yoga Conference in Philadelphia

"With body standing upright, push both hands forward. The fingers point up. Keep the arms at shoulder level. After the arms are straightened, stretch the whole body..." On the afternoon of October 24th, attendees of the 30th annual Yoga Research Society (YRS) conference performed "Vajra Toppling a Mountain" (the first Falun Gong exercise) at Thomas Jefferson University following the instructions of Dr Jingduan Yang, a psychiatrist at the University.

Psychiatrist Yang of Thomas Jefferson University gave a lecture on Falun Gong to the 30th annual Yoga Research Society conference	Conference attendees learnt Falun Gong exercises

After performing Falun Gong exercises, Suiya Green, a respected Yoga researcher said, "I feel wonderful and very happy. I feel very energetic now and it [Falun Gong] is really great!"

The annual YRS conference traditional invites individuals to lecture on Yoga and Qigong and for the first time YRS added a Falun Gong lecture this year.

"I quit smoking shortly after I started to practise Falun Gong. I had been smoking for 10 years by that time, " Dr Yang said. He went on to talk about Qigong and cultivation. His talk was very easy to understand and very interesting. After his talk, some attendees asked him to teach the Falun Gong exercises. Then, following Yang's demonstration and instruction, everyone started to do the exercises.

Dr Yang said, "The feedback of this talk was very good. Many people seemed to have been looking for Falun Gong. Therefore, they were very excited when they heard my introduction." Yang said that a bookstore owner whose husband practises Falun Gong also attended the conference. The lady told Yang that her store had Falun Gong materials and she asked him to send more periodically.

Jingduan also talked about the ongoing persecution of 100 million Falun Gong practitioners in China including his sister who is still being detained in a Chinese labour camp.

Suiya Green said, "I have heard about the persecution of Falun Gong and I feel very sorry about this. There were also persecutions in history. Nevertheless, goodness has always defeated evil in the end. I believe that Falun Gong will prevail as long as practitioners stay firm in their practise and belief. With time past by, Falun Gong will for sure receive more recognition..."