1. A Spiritually Integrated Approach with Falun Gong
2017 International Conference on Spirituality & Psychology
With Wings, Will Fly
A Spiritually Integrated Approach with Falun Gong
Dr. Margaret Trey
Doctor of Counseling
Holistic Wellness Practitioner
Author & Researcher

2. With Wings, Will Fly … April
Caucasian, early 50s
Anxiety & depression
Inner peace, joy, & resilience
2014: “When I first started Falun Gong, I felt really good physically & mentally. It was something to focus on … gave me a sense of purpose in my life … calms my mind & body. When emotional stuff resurfaces, Falun Gong helps me to stay calm” (Trey, 2016b, p. 174).
April’s Story
A Caucasian woman in her early fifties. sough help with her general anxiety disorder (GAD) and mild depression.
“My doctor suggested that I come to talk to you,” she smiled nervously. Despite her smiles, April’s eyes conveyed a feeling of sadness.
About two and half years later, April visited me for the last time—after she found out that I was leaving my position for the city. It was a windy cold winter afternoon. Outside the window of my therapy room, a straggly bottlebrush, one of the hardiest Australian native plants, tussled about in the gusty wind. The waiting room at the only medical center in the little country town was quiet. The telephone buzzed. It was the receptionist announcing April’s arrival. I greeted her and invited to sit down on the same therapeutic chair that she had sat many times before. April had no longer needed to come for counseling, soon after she consented to try a spiritually integrated approach with Falun Gong. Her presenting issues became non-issues. Instead, she went to the local community center where I held a weekly Falun Gong meditation and book reading session. April chose to visit me in the counseling room, where she had first met me. It was a positive connection for her. She came with a gratitude card and I a pair of earrings—of angels with wings—for her.
When April first sought counseling, she and her husband had moved from the big city—about 450 miles away. It was far enough for her to lose her network of friends and relatives. They moved in order to care for her ailing father-in-law. Although April was unable to see the root of her anxieties at the beginning of therapy, she soon realized during the process of looking inward that the move had impacted her more deeply than she had thought. As therapists, we see clients not only coming with presenting issues. They bring with them their spirituality, beliefs, and values (Pargament, 2011) and with that, also their capacity to grow beyond. Using a spiritually integrated approach with Falun Gong, April began to cultivate more compassion for herself and others, have more forbearance, such as accepting more fully her own pain and suffering, and the suffering of others. As her inner world changed drastically, this transformation was soon reflected in her outer world, through a different sense of perception that brought her inner peace, joy, and resilience.
 During a follow-up telephone interview in 2014 (more than a decade later), April recollected her experience. “When I first started learning Falun Gong, I felt really good physically and mentally. It was something to focus on and it gave me a sense of purpose in my life. Falun Gong calms my mind and body. … Whenever emotional stuff resurfaces, it [Falun Gong] helps me to stay calm” (Trey, 2016b, p. 174).

3. Overview Interest in spirituality & spiritual practices
Relevance & Definitions
Falun Gong (Video)
A Spiritually Integrated Approach with Falun Gong
Six-step Spiritually Integrated Approach
Ethics Considerations
RRICC—5 Virtues Model (Plante, 2007)
Outline of Presentation:
Renaissance of interest in spirituality & spiritual practices
Definitions of spirituality
Relevance of spirituality in helping professions
What is Falun Gong
Background
Effects of the practice

4. A Spiritual Renaissance
Growing interest in spiritual & meditative practices
Mindfulness in work-place—Apple, Google, Intel, Nike, Target, & Yahoo!
Reduce stress, boost creativity & increase productivity
Spirituality plays an important role in human life. According to the Gallup polls, nearly nine in 10 Americans reported believing in God or a universal spirit (Newport, 2016). These figures imply that more counseling clients could benefit from a spiritually integrated practice. More counselors and other health professionals—recognizing the relevance of spirituality in their work—realize that clients’ spirituality and/or religion can be strength and a source of resilience.
People from all walks of life are embracing Eastern spiritual practices (or some aspects of them) because these approaches harmonize with their beliefs and lifestyles.
The appeal for Eastern spiritual meditative practices has expanded to include corporate businesses. Big companies, such as Apple, Google, Intel, Nike, Target, and Yahoo! share something in common. They are bringing mindfulness and meditation into the work place!
reduce work stress, enhance creativity and productivity.

5. Trends …
Increasing awareness of benefits of Eastern meditative practices
Gel with their values, beliefs, & lifestyles
Many already integrating mind-body spiritual practices with professional work
Meditation as Meta-therapy (Schopen & Freeman, 1992)
For relaxation, stress reduction, self-care between sessions, reinforcing insights gleaned from talk therapy
Schopen and Freeman (1992) described meditative practice as “meta-therapy” (p. 5)—for relaxation, stress reduction, self-care in between sessions, and enhancing insights gleaned from talk therapy.
(Austin, 1998, Shallcross, 2012, Trey, 2016a, 2016b)

6. Role of Spirituality… Lasting benefits Transformational changes
Healing agent
The ‘fifth force’
Paradigm for client care:
Integrative & holistic
Re-defined as heart & soul of therapy
The paradigm for client care is now changing to an integrative and holistic approach that addresses spiritual concerns.
Considered the ‘fifth force’ in the helping profession (Garzon, 2011; Standard, Sandhu, & Painter, 2000), spirituality can no longer be ignored in the therapeutic realm. It is re-defined as the heart and soul of therapy.

7. Relevance Strength & source of resilience
Empirical evidence of positive link between spirituality, health, & wellness (D’Souza, 2007; Koenig, 2004a, 2004b, 2007, 2012; Koenig & Cohen, 2002; Koenig & Larson, 2001; Williams & Sternthal, 2007)
Live longer, healthier lifestyles, better coping skills, stronger immune systems, & protection from serious cardiovascular illness

8. Definitions—Spirituality & Religion
Used interchangeably yet not the same
Religion—an institutionalized system of attitudes, beliefs, practices for closeness to God, divine, or a higher power (Koenig et al., 2001; Moreira- Almeida & Koenig, 2006)
Spirituality—a personal quest for understanding answers to questions about life (Hilbers et al, 2007)
“Spirit” or “spirituality” came from Middle English, Anglo-French, or Latin—spiritualis or spiritus—meaning breath (Merriam-Webster online dictionary)

9. ASERVIC Definition Life force … infusion of spirit in one’s life
An active & passive process
Capacity/tendency innate/unique to each one
Moves one toward knowledge, love, meaning, peace, hope, transcendence, connectedness, compassion, wellness, & wholeness
Includes capacity for creativity, growth, & development of a value system
Involves experiences, beliefs, & practices (Assoc. for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values—ASERVIC White Paper, n.d. p. 1)
ASERVIC - The Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC)

10. Other Definitions
A sense of connectedness with the sacred (Worthington, Hook, Davis, & McDaniel, 2010)
Spontaneous, universal, personal, & inward—“Universal human capacity to experience self-transcendence & awareness of sacred immanence, with resulting increases in greater self-other compassion & love” (Young & Cashwell, 2011, p. 7)
An intrinsic part of all human beings (Chirico, 2016)
While modern Western medicine continues to maintain a split in physical, mental, and spiritual health, traditional Chinese medicine, which dates back to more than 2,000 years, considers the body, mind, and spirit as interconnected and inseparable.

11. Ancient Chinese Wisdom
Mind, body, & spirit are inter-connected & ONE entity
Chinese word Shén
神 means Spirit & can be translated as “Spirit” or “Mind”
Chinese word for “mind”
Xīnshén 心神 Xīn means heart; shen means spirit
DEFINE THE PROBLEM THROUGH STORY-TELLING
EXTERNLISE FEELINGS & THOUGHTS
IDENTIFY PRESENT ISSUES – attachments
SUPPORTING CHANGE OF HEART
EXAMINE STRATEGIES

12. Ancient Chinese Way
To ease anxiety, stress, & depression, ancient Chinese approach is:
To calm the Shén, which is to calm the heart, mind, & spirit
Falun Gong—A ancient spiritual cultivation practice … soothes the Shén, balance body, mind, & spirit
Schopen and Freeman (1992) described meditative practice as “meta-therapy” (p. 5)—for relaxation, stress reduction, self-care in between sessions, and enhancing insights gleaned from talk therapy.

13. What is Falun Gong? 4 Standing Exercises 1 Sitting Meditation
Falun Dafa
Three moral principles
Truthfulness
Compassion
Forbearance
4 Standing Exercises
1 Sitting Meditation
2 Aspects:
Cultivation
Exercise Practice
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient Chinese meditative discipline for the overall improvement of body, mind, and spirit .
Some writers described Falun Gong as Chinese yoga (Parker, 2004, p. 40).
Falun Gong is a mind-body practice with ancient roots in traditional Chinese culture and with elements from Buddhist and Taoist teachings. It is based and grounded in the universal principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance or Zhen, Shan, and Ren in Chinese (H. Li, 2001b, pp. 13–17).
Genuinely practicing Falun Gong involves two aspects—cultivation and practice.

14. Introduction to Falun Gong Video

15. Ease anxiety, stress, & enhance energy
Benefits of Falun Gong
M: Everyone is welcome
People query us about LGBT population. Though practitioners do not practice same sex relations, the practice welcome all including people from all diverse background
Source:
Ease anxiety, stress, & enhance energy

16. A Spiritually Integrated Approach with Falun Gong
Address clients’ spirituality in a holistic & culturally sensitive manner
Help clients identify the divine or sacred
Knowing how, & what aspects of Falun Gong to integrate
Akin to searching, understanding, & addressing the sacred (Pargament, 2012)
For instance, Ruth was a practicing Catholic and an active youth leader in her church. Certain unresolved events led to her cynicism and disillusionment with her faith.

17. A Spiritually Integrated Approach…
Respects both religious & non-religious expressions of spirituality
Fluid, flowing, constantly aware, & assessing clients’ needs
Based on ancient Chinese concept of wuwei, meaning non-action or no mind intent
Embraces diversity, multicultural issues, & addresses the unusual in the ordinary
lives of our clients
Cynthia’s story—Falun Gong meditation
akin to a sacred experience
Ruth—practicing Catholic & active youth leader in her church.
Unresolved events led to her cynicism & disillusionment with her faith
R felt safe to talk about her religious/spiritual woes. We had ongoing discussions about the teachings of Christ & Falun Gong.
Take April’s case: she was not religious in the sense that she did not attend weekly church service or belong to any religious community. But April was spiritually attuned and open to Falun Gong—both the exercises and the cultivation aspect through reading Zhuan Falun, the main book on the teachings of Falun Gong. The impact of that was that Falun Gong gave her a sense of purpose in my life and sustained her all these years.
RRICC MODEL = Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Competence & Concern

18. Six-Step Spiritually Integrated Way
Defining problem – Storytelling
Externalizing feelings/ thoughts
Identifying issues
Supporting change
Examining strategies & making plans
Committing to change & setting goals
BENEFITS OF THE PRACTICE – FALUN DAFA IS GOOD.
Survey showed that those who practice Falun Gong tend to be healthier, happier, and emotionally balanced.
M: what about you draw from your empicial findings.
Although we know Falun Dafa is good and we want people to take this away. But putting that as a first point, it sounds self-serving.
2nd point is good
3rd FG practitioners healthier… compare to the non-FG group in the Australian study. You probably forgot about the contents of the manuscript. You can only refer to those participants from your study. At this point, we can’t generalize from a research point of view.
4th point is good

19. Falun Gong in Context No fees No dietary obligations
No restrictions on frequency, length of time, or place of practice
No religious rituals/worship
No age limit
Free to practice alone or together
Free to leave anytime
M: Everyone is welcome
People query us about LGBT population. Though practitioners do not practice same sex relations, the practice welcome all including people from all diverse background

20. Ethical Concerns Informed consent & disclosure Contraindications:
Counseling approaches
Fees for counseling service, not Falun Gong
Contraindications:
Serious physical illness
Severe mental illness
Truth, compassion, & tolerance
Confidentiality & use of pseudonyms
Paris: Doing 5th exercise

21. 5 Virtues for Best Practice
Respect
Responsibility
Integrity
Competency
Concern
(Plante, 2007)
RRICC MODEL = Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Competence & Concern

22. Considerations for Integration
Good knowledge & understanding of Falun Gong
Healing Benefits
Counselor/client
self-care
Truthfulness, Compassion
& Tolerance
Roger’s 3 principles: unconditional positive regard, accurate empathy, &
congruence
When you propose a spiritually integrated approach with Falun Gong, clients will ask you about Falun Gong. Hence, it is best to be truthful with them.

23. Points to Take Away
Spirituality—way of life & progressively prevalent theme in counseling & psychotherapy.
Falun Gong involves cultivation & practice.
Falun Gong offers mind-body, & spiritual wellness.
Integration is feasible.
What is your 5th one?

24. Discussion
Questions
&
Comments

25. How to contact me T:
March 17, 2017

26. References
ACA (American Counseling Association). (2014). ACA code of ethics. Alexandria, VA: Author. Alexandria, VA: Author. Retrieved from ethics.pdf
Ackerman, S. E. (2005). Falun Dafa and the new age movement in Malaysia: Signs of health, symbols of salvation. Social Compass, 52(4), 495–511.
APA (American Psychological Association). (2010). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. Washington, DC. Retrieved from
ASERVIC White Paper. (n.d.) The Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling. Retrieved Feb 7, 2017, from paper-2/
Atwood, J. D., & Maltin, L. (1991). Putting Eastern philosophies into Western psychotherapies. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 45(3),
Austin, J. A. (1998). Why patients use alternative medicine: Results of a national study. Journal of American Medical Association, 279(19), doi: /jama
Cashwell, C. S., & Young, J. S. (Eds.). (2011). Integrating spirituality and religion into counseling: A guide to competent practice (2nd ed. ed.). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.
Chirico F. (2016). Spiritual well-being in the 21st century: it’s time to review the current WHO’s health definition? Journal of Health and Social Science. 1(1): doi: /2016/sprt2
Garzon, F. L. (2011). Spirituality in Counseling [Electronic Version]. Faculty Publications and Presentations, Paper 62. Retrieved October 8, 2014 from

27. References Cont’d
Lau, M. M. (2010a). The effect of Falun Gong on health and wellness as perceived by Falun Gong practitioners. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The University South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
Li, Hongzhi. (2001). Zhuan Falun. Fairwinds, Gloucester. MA, US.
Meyers, L. (2017). Cultivating a practice of mindfulness. Counseling Today, 59(7), Retrieved from
Minghui.org. (2004). Answers to commonly asked questions about Falun Gong. Retrieved December 30, 2015, from
Minghui.org. (2016). Research finds Falun Gong practice improves cancer survival rate. Retrieved June 30, 2016, from
RRICC model. (n.d.). Retrieved from content/uploads/RRICC-Model.pdf
Shallcross, L. (2012). Where East meets West. Counseling Today, 55(4),
Trey, M. (2016a). The study of the health-wellness effects of Falun Gong: Applications to counseling. In Spirituality and counseling issues: VISTA Retrieved from
Trey, M. (2016b). The Mindful Practice of Falun Gong: Meditation for Health, Wellness, & Beyond. Turquoise Publishing, Inc. New York. USA.
Trey, M. (in press). Falun Gong and its Applications to Counseling: Case Examples. Vistas 2017.

28. Useful Websites on Falun Gong
For exercise music & video