Pioneer Square, considered Portland’s living room, is a busy place during the holidays. One thing that could not be missed even in the midst of the throngs of people was a huge banner written in both English and Chinese. A group of volunteers protested on Dec. 14 against organ harvesting in China.

According to the protesters, in China practitioners of a slow motion meditation by the name of Falun Gong are threatened every day.The Chinese Communist Party threatens practictioners wanting to have their healthy organs harvested. Nataly Teplitsky, who was campaigning for this cause, was handing out brochures with information about Falun Gong and the crime against its practitioners to passersby.

Teplistky, 65, moved from Ukraine to the United States 22 years ago. She currently lives in Lake Oswego and heard about Falun Gong in the states. Teplitsky has been practicing the meditation Falun Gong  for 12 to 13 years.

“I’ve tried them all, and nothing has impacted me like this traditional cultivation system of mind and body,” Teplitsky, said. “Everything starts to change in your life once you start Falun Gong.”

Falun Gong, according to http://faluninfo.net,  is an ancient Chinese spiritual discipline in the Buddhist tradition that consists of moral teachings, a meditiona, and for gentle exercises that are truly unique and highly effective way to improve health and energy levels. A practice of slow meditation, defines self improvement, and has brought inner peace and healing to 100 million people across the world. Since the 1990s there has been between 700-100 million followers of this meditation living under the principles of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.

This ancient meditation tradition for mind, body and spirit, taught for free, was introduced to China in 1992 and has spread across the world. Fearing Falun gong’s rapidly growing popularity was overshadowing his own legacy, then-Party leader Jiang Zemin ordered the practice “eradicated.” According to a 1999 Washington Post article, “Jaing alone decided that Falun Gong must be eliminated.”

It is believed to be the largest, longest, most enforced, costliest and most destructive oppression to a single group of people in China, reports http://faluninfo.net . There has been 5,000-7,000 estimated deaths, three million imprisoned and 100 million persecuted, according to www.NineCommentaries.com.

The practice of Falun Gong is said to bring health and cleanliness to one’s body. As a result, the CCP, surgeons, prison authorities and military officials are after the organs of these people. About one hundred thousand practitioners have been secretly murdered for their organs for as long as 13 years in China.

Petitioners have taken notice of this crime against human rights and are fighting calling for the end of the killing of innocents according to http://faluninfo.net.

Approximately 25 people in the Portland area practice this traditional self cultivation system, slow meditation according to Teplitsky. The followers in Portland volunteer to campaign against organ harvesting in China.

Teplitsky has not been personally affected by organ harvesting. However, she knows of a practitioner who has been put in jail three or four times while living in China.

Sophie Liu, 35 at the time, was kidnapped for the first time in 1999. This series of jailing continued for about six years. She stayed in labor camps/jails for four years in total.

During her last jail sentence, to protest her illegal imprisonment, Liu went on a hunger strike. Liu did not eat or drink for three months straight. As a result, her blood tests were not good enough for her to be considered a candidate for organ harvesting. Thus her life was saved.

Through being kidnapped and beaten by the police, she kept the Falun Gong principles in her mind. She believes that this kept her alive through this hardship.

Liu came to the United States in 2006 after she was released from the fourth kidnapping. At the end of the hunger strike, Liu almost died, as the size of her body was reduced to that of a baby. Her ex-husband then convinced her come to the States. she has been living in the States for six years with her three children.

Before Liu began practicing Falun Gong, she said she was seriously ill and had bad temper. After practicing the cultivation, her body became healthy and her mind peaceful. Her family environment became peaceful as well and she started to help people in her community.

“[Falun Gong] is not a religion, it is a way to better yourself,” Teplitsky said.