Interview with Tatiana from Latvia (2025)

I first learned about the practice in 1998, and that is when I began practicing. It interested me very deeply. An old friend of mine suggested that I try the exercises. At first I did not really understand what they were. I thought they were simply some kind of physical exercises, fitness or something connected with sports. For a long time I refused because I was much more interested in something spiritual, something connected with the soul. I had many questions in life. Why do we exist? Why did we come into this world? Why were we born? Why are there such great differences between people? Why are some people poor, while others are rich? Why are some people healthy, while others are ill? More than anything, I wanted to find answers to these questions. After that, my old friend suggested that I read the book Zhuan Falun. I was fascinated by this book, and I spent a long time reading it. I actually came from a family of readers. At home we were used to reading many different kinds of books, but Zhuan Falun was the first book that I read slowly over the course of three months. What touched my heart were the simple, fundamental truths, things that everyone may know, but perhaps not many people truly apply in their lives, and I do not presume to judge the actions of others. What moved me was that the book explains in very simple and accessible language that when a person does good things, goodness returns, and if a person does bad things or carries bad thoughts, then sooner or later karmic retribution will come. This was explained in such a clear and understandable way that I immediately accepted this principle with all my heart. It truly touched me. And there was another point that reached very deeply into my heart. Through cultivation, a person can return to their original home, to the place they come from. A person can leave the cycle of reincarnation. Since childhood, I had always felt that a person does not live only one life. The human soul is immortal. But I also felt that there was something beyond that. I understood that people, while living in this world, experience suffering, not only joy and positive emotions, but also suffering, pain and hardship. Somewhere within me, I had this understanding that it was possible to leave the cycle of reincarnation. And these things moved me very deeply. The self-cultivation system of Falun Dafa is based on the principles of the universe – truthfulness, compassion, forbearance. This is a universal principle of the universe, and it helps me in my everyday life. I work with children, with teenagers, with adults and with professional athletes. This universal principle helps me deal with different kinds of stress and conflict situations. The self-cultivation system teaches people, in the process of cultivation, to look within themselves, to search for their own shortcomings and attachments. In difficult situations, it teaches us to look inward, and in doing so to find those places inside ourselves that are being touched, those sensitive places, those splinters. When you compare your thoughts and actions with the principles of truthfulness, compassion, forbearance, life becomes much simpler and much lighter. You stop waiting for other people to change according to your own notions. Instead, you change yourself. You open your heart, and you fill your life and your actions with compassion. At the very beginning, I read Zhuan Falun many times. I had so many questions, I found answers to them. And the more I studied the book, the more questions arose. I had a deep longing to understand. Whenever I met with my friend, I would ask him, what comes next? He would suggest that I continue reading the book, continue studying it further. And at a certain point, while studying the book, I realized that I was no longer receiving answers to my questions. I could no longer understand what was written there. So once again, I turned to my friend and said, listen, something is not right, maybe the time has come for me to do the exercises. I was invited to a practice site, where I met incredibly kind people. By nature and because of the circumstances in which I had lived, I had been quite a bold even sharp person. Sometimes I would even provoke people. It was all connected with my own inner conflicts, with insecurity and with deep personal complexes. I understand that now. And in fact, even back then, when I behaved that way, I also realized that these were not right things to do. Then I found myself surrounded by very kind and very patient people. It amazed me. I had never experienced anything like that before, and I had never been in such an environment. When I did the exercises for the first time, I felt an incredible lightness. I had been involved in professional sports in much of my life, a very large part of my life. Had been connected with sports, with professional sports. I had problems with my joints, I had problems with my spine. My throat hurt 365 days a year. I had tonsillitis all the time. When I began practicing, I felt an incredible lightness throughout my entire body. I no longer experienced the pain that I had lived with before, migraines, a sore throat, spasms in my back, a knee that would not fully straighten. After I began practicing, these transformations in my body happened incredibly quickly. I did not even notice how I began to feel lightness throughout my whole body, and I stopped experiencing those painful sensations.