France: Teaching a Disabled Young Man the Falun Gong Exercises

When we hold our group exercise practice early in the winter mornings, it is still very dark. As I arrived there, I saw the silhouette of a young man at our exercise site. He was stretching his limbs while greeting practitioners who had already arrived. I was amazed as he walked towards me. He seemed to be disabled, his body looked shriveled/curled up and he moved slowly with difficulty. I didn’t think he would come here on foot to learn the exercises.

I asked him how he found out about Falun Gong. He told me that he often passes by our exercise site. I started to demonstrate the exercises to him. Slowly, I taught him the exercises with care.

His movements were very slow and he couldn’t do some of the movements too accurately. He asked me whether this is a practice where one must enter the state of tranquility. When I got to know that, comparing to others, his disability makes it hard for him to calm down, I was very moved. This makes him aspire to tranquility even more than others, but he must put in more effort than others. At the end of the first set of exercises, I asked him whether he would like to practice the first set of exercise a few more times, or carry on and learn the next exercise. He told me, it is very hard for him to remember what he has just learned. He said, it doesn’t matter, let me do it a few more times. My body will remember.

We communicated very well. He fully learned and remembered the first exercise. At the end, I realised that his movements had improved a lot under the effect of good energy and compassion. Then I showed him the second exercise. He could hold every position for a good few minutes. When the exercises were about to finish, the sky was already fully light. We shook hands together. The atmosphere was very happy and peaceful.

He was very relaxed and smiling and told us he will come again to learn the exercises.