Fajin exercise

There are many different kinds of fajing some are fairly simple and some are much more advanced.

The first thing you'll need for any kind of fajing is very correct internal alignment through the body. If there is a break anywhere in the physical or energetic structure while you practice your sets you'll find it almost impossible to issue fajing.

The importance of correct alignment cannot be over emphasized. I've found it is a very common error even in people who have been practicing tai chi for many years under decent instructors.

Here's a couple articles on fajing written by my instructor. They don't contain specific exercises but you may still find them useful.

http://www.clearstaichi.com/chi-power/tai-chi-fa-jing-704
http://www.clearstaichi.com/chi-power/fajin-711

We also have a combat tai chi workshop coming up in late January that will cover several different kinds of fajing among other things.
http://www.clearstaichi.com/tai-chi-events/combat-tai-chi-workshop-874
 
A god exercise I have found consists of lighting a candle and trying to puch out the flame from a few inches away. Start small and the gradually increase. This is done through correct fa jin transfer of energy through the body, as well as only tensing the muscles at the very end of the strike.
 
slap a curtain or hanging towel or preferably softer cloth like a shirt or something. reversed, like a backfist but more just lashing out making a snaping sound but not going too deep into the cloth. To strike with back of fingers or properly with good fists, best both.






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Good fajin?

 
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You are right on about Fa jing being in the form. The tai chi staff form is also excellent for fa jing training. The more one can "whip" the free end of the staff, the greater the power generated. Wing Chun practioners also use a long pole to develop this power as well. Also try relaxing the mind and body through standing post and meditation. When the mind is relax, the body is relax. The more relaxation one achieves, the more power one can generate. It takes practice, much practice in fact. Just my two cents.
 
Root with the feet. Faijin comes from the legs. The waist controls the the body and energies, like the steering wheel of a car that controls its directions. Fingers lead the energies like the wheels of a car determine its course.This is the basis of Fajin. All of your body must connect and end at the same time, and your front knee should not go beyond your toe.
 
The Shaolin said:
A god exercise I have found consists of lighting a candle and trying to puch out the flame from a few inches away. Start small and the gradually increase. This is done through correct fa jin transfer of energy through the body, as well as only tensing the muscles at the very end of the strike.
Click to expand...

it's really a good way to fa jin. many schools of CMA have this training.
it needs accurate and speed.
I feel that after this training, it's easy to throw the power of punch into the body.
 
There's an exercise we do in YiQuan that can help FaJin, unfortunately it both looks stupid and has a dodgy name which may explain why it isn't well known or widely practised.

It's called shaking the snake (sometimes changed to 'waking the dragon' probably because the predominantly male, english speaking teachers get a bit embarassed - that's my theory anyway).

Sorry i couldn't find any videos.

Essentially it is based on the widely practised 'warm up' exercise where you shift your weight from leg to leg while sitting into the Kua of the weighted leg and just let your arms get whipped up by the motion so that you resemble a spinning drum a little like this
.
The difference is that you make the movement very small and very fast with the aim to make it relaxed and natural.

It's best to start from large slow movements and then dial the speed up and the effort down, the problem with this is that the arms flop about like fish until you get fast enough and then they just quiver and shake.
The trick is to get the movement coming from the feet and as one foot pulls back the other is pushing forward against the ground. With the spine relaxed this has the effect of making you look like a hula hoop enthusiast with parkinson's.
Enjoy :)
 
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As long as our yiquan movements look dodgy, our art will never be very popular, at least in the West. So be it!

A friend of mine does xingyiquan, and there's something springy about his punches. After a bit of research and discussion, I now believe that he's loose until the hit, then at the end he aligns and tightens just enough to put his body behind the hit. Loose, then aligned. With a tiny bit of a drop maybe. This probably doesn't surprise you guys.

Focusing on the feet's contact with the ground, starting a push there, then using the waist to direct seems to work for me. Yep, it feels like a wave. It also prevents telegraphing the punch with the shoulders, because the shoulders move much later, by following rather than leading the action. If I focus low (feet-then-waist) the shoulders aren't much of an issue. So far. Still working on it.

I also watch the Chen clip in this thread and practice loose-to-aligned punches in a similar fashion, but not with the idiosyncratic hand thing (nothing wrong with it, i just don't do it). Instead, I use loose fists and tighten them at the end, of course turning palm-up to palm-down. I'm still working with it, and it's far from a short, explosive fajing. But as I practice, I expect to focus smaller and make smaller movements. I think it's a process, going from where we are now to where we want to be. At first, it doesn't look like fajing, but in time, as long as I'm soft, aligned and completely aware of the body, I think I'll get there eventually.

I think it works for me so far, as an exercise, anyway. :D
 
Fa Jin exercises are certainly capable of creating incredible power, but they require a large amount of dedication and time commitment to develop. That is why most people don't practice them enough to really gain much. You need to do long periods of posting every day to develop anything worthwhile. It may not even be a matter of dedication being an issue, but most people simply don't have the time to add an hour of posting to their current routine.

For a short description I like what Xue Sheng had to say..."actually the energy for fajin comes form the root and is directed by the waist and it is a lot like a wave."

There is a lot of truth and understanding contained in that brief sentence, but there is also more to it. To develop internal energy for martial power you need to understand about the six directions - up, down, front, back, left, and right. For instance, even though rooting is a huge part of any posting, if you don't also hang from the ceiling you are missing half the lesson. If you can find someone to teach you posting that develops your understanding of how the six directions create power than you will have truly found something.


http://www.discoverthefire.com
 
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