Falun Gong exercises focus on cultivation of one’s mind
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 27, 2002 9:00 p.m.
 CHRIS BACKLEY/Daily Bruin Economics Ph.D. student
Hsinling Hsieh relaxes during her workout.
By Sasha Ali
Daily Bruin Contributor
With all the hype for its trendy counterparts yoga and tai chi,
Falun Gong is a practice that has received little attention.
However, it is receiving attention on campus through
UCLA’s The Falun Gong Club, which has been sponsoring free
workshops throughout the quarter in Ackerman Union. Falun Gong,
also referred to as Falun Dafa, is an ancient form of
“qigong,” or “cultivation practice,” which
is comprised of slow, meditative movements.
To a Falun Gong practitioner, it is as important to cultivate
the mind as the body. The purpose of the exercise is to improve
one’s mind because inner health is thought to help achieve
physical health.Â
“Students can benefit immensely from the exercise, which
reduces stress and increases physical health within the competitive
atmosphere at UCLA,” said Hsinling Hsieh, who teaches the
workshops offered on campus.
One of the ways in which Hsieh says cultivation is achieved,
aside from practicing the meditative exercises, is by reading the
Zhuan Falun, written by Master Li, the founder of Falun Gong.
People should read this as often as possible to learn to live by
the three universal principles ““ Truth, Compassion and
Tolerance.Â
Zhuan Falun, literally meaning “turning the wheel,”
is a compilation of the processes by which a person can cultivate
his or her energy levels. Falun Gong’s intent is to cultivate
the mind by amending selfishness, excluding bad thoughts,
increasing consideration toward others, and eliminating attachment
to material desires and things.
A little monk-ish? Not at all.  According to Hsieh,
Falun Gong does not ask people to relinquish their wealth or
belongings; it merely emphasizes the relieving of their attachments
to those things.
All thoughts must vacate the mind before beginning the practice,
which consists of four main standing exercises and one seated
exercise. The recommended time for doing the exercises is one hour,
but due to the continually functioning falun, which can keep
someone energized for 24 hours a day, those with a time constraint
can still feel the energy during shorter sessions.Â
“I’ve been doing this for the past year, and I
don’t have a lot of time on my hands. But since the energy is
constantly going, I feel like I’m always charged. Kinda like
the Energizer bunny but mellower,” says Christian Hinojosa, a
Falun Gong practitioner and fourth-year art history student at
USC.
To begin the exercises, Hinojosa and his friends practice the
first four standing exercises, which open up energy portals within
the body. With a series of hand and arm motions, each set of
exercises is thought to expel energy from within the body and
absorb it from the universe, circulating it around the body.
After the standing exercises are done, the seated exercise
begins, which Hinojosa enjoys the most.
“(The sitting exercise) really reflects what Falun is
about, the cultivation of your mind,” he said. “It
strengthens you internally.”
The sitting exercise employs the lotus position from Yoga; it is
a cross-legged position in which each foot rests on the upper
thigh. While the hands move in various motions in front of and
around the seated body, the mind moves into deep tranquility, or
“ding.”
Although there isn’t a body of medical and scientific
knowledge of Falun Gong, practitioners marvel over the benefits to
their health. Hsieh has been practicing Falun Gong for four years
now, and hasn’t caught a cold since.
However, Falun Gong professes that only with inner, spiritual
health can the body maintain physical health. Professor Yingnian Wu
from the Statistics Department at UCLA, who has been practicing for
about six years, praises the spirituality of Falun Gong.
“I was immediately attracted by its teaching of
spirituality,” Wu said. “Falun Gong teaches high
morality and clean living, and that certainly has had a profound
impact on my life.”
Despite the impact the practice has on people’s lives,
Falun Gong has been outlawed in China, branded as a
“cult” and perceived as a threat to the Communist
regime. However, many have taught it anyway on a voluntary basis
and its practices are now shared in over 40 nations.
“Falun Gong has made me happy, and I want to share that
happiness,” Hsieh said.
FALUN GONG: For more information, call (310)
699-1020 or visit www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/falun. The
next meeting will be held on March 7 from 6 to 8 p.m. in
Ackerman 2408.
