At the request of Meditation and Health Magazine, Jin-hyon Bak, a Korean practitioner of Puti Meditation, shares her story of recovery.

Jin-hyon lives in the US, about 45 minutes from San Francisco by car. During our interview, she showed me some pictures of herself taken 6 years ago—she looked pale and sick… not at all like the healthy, outgoing woman I was talking to. I was surprised and curious.

In 1999, Jin-hyon had been diagnosed with lupus… and the symptoms were horrible.

Easily tired and suffering from hallucinations, she became depressed and anxious… finally she refused to leave the house. It was very hard for her to sleep, which left her exhausted each morning. When she did manage to get to drift off, the slightest noise would wake her… she’d be up for the rest of the night. As a result, her disposition also worsened—she was extremely short-tempered and sensitive. She started taking sleeping pills.

The pills didn’t always work, and sometimes even added to the problem—they made her feel groggy and confused in the morning. She was completely wiped out 24-7.

Later, after further examinations, she was also diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Under great duress, Jin-hyon underwent a critical and dangerous operation. It nearly cost the poor woman her life.

At first, Jin-hyon had put all her hope in conventional medicine. She’d believed that modern breakthroughs would turn everything around. Still, after all she’d tried, her health continued to decline.  A deep feeling of hopelessness grew in her—she wondered what the good of trying was, when nothing worked.

After five years of depression and illness, things suddenly took a brighter turn—her brother in Korea told her about the Canada Bodhi Dharma Society and encouraged her to attend. Jin-hyon hesitated, but decided to go to Canada in the end… to try one last time.

Jin-hyon started her meditation retreat with many others also desperate for help. At the beginning, she found it hard to practice what she was taught–she was new to meditation and didn’t understand what she was doing. Sometimes, she thought of giving up, but her family’s encouragement—and lack of other options—kept her in Canada. She signed up for a second retreat.

On the third day of Jin-hyon’s second retreat, her back started to hurt. The pain continued for four days. On the seventh, when the meditation master played the music “Celestial Sound,” she felt something in her body begin to move… There was a quick, sharp sensation—almost as though two pieces of ice had slid down the right side of her back. From that moment on, she didn’t suffer from any more physical discomfort.

Jin-hyon claimed that after two full time retreats, her sleep improved significantly. The severe insomnia she’d endured was gone. Now, not only could she sleep well at night, but she was also able to nap during the day when she wanted. Once during the retreat, she’d even fallen asleep in a break… she’d snored so loudly, that her classmates’ started laughing and woke her up.

Along with her renewed ability to sleep, Jin-hyon started to feel better in general—the symptoms of her condition diminished.