Darmstadt Echo [A German newspaper]: “Energy floods the body”

February 1, 2002

“Energy floods the body” – People in Dieburg practice Falun Gong

MUENSTER. Their eyes closed and concentrating inwardly, a few young women and a young man from Indonesia whom everyone calls “Rudy” sit in a meditation pose in someone’s living room and practice the technique of Falun Gong, which is said to be a Buddha cultivation way, incorporating Buddhist and Taoist elements, the visitors are told.

Followers of this “movement” in China have been hunted for years by the ruling power elite that has declared them an element dangerous to state stability. Totally unfounded, say the friends who meet here in Muenster in a private circle and also maintain contact with a group in Darmstadt. The Darmstadt group invites anyone on February 3rd at 11:00 am to meet with them at Huegelstrasse No. […] for a free-of-charge information meeting. Contacts may be established by using telephone numbers […].

Falun Gong is somewhat similar to Tai Chi or Qi Gong, training for body, mind and spirit, declares Angelika Hahn in whose apartment the small group gathers during the winter months in the Dieburg area. During the summer months, the exercises are regularly performed in the Schlossgarten (castle garden), weather permitting. Five exercises are supposed to be integrated into one’s daily life.

A “master” in China brought Falun Gong to the public in 1992. Its movements found followers. “Falun Gong really has nothing to do with politics and sects,” said Angelika Hahn, who as everyone in the group is addressed by first name only. “The movements, even standing and in motion, but always slow and concentrated, are of great benefit,” she says. A woman named Maria, for instance, who had newly joined the group by chance, “felt really at home,” after having tried all kinds of other systems before. Beate speaks of “heart energy” the system fosters. One becomes a warm-hearted person. The system is not only good character training, but also physical training. Even physical and psychological blocks have been eliminated. Rudy speaks of a mysterious energy called “chi” which floods the whole system of a healthy person…


(Original Text in German)