What’s Fa Jin?
Master Wu LianZhi in the typical stance of Baji Quan style, MrHeiHu
I was in a class today where a fellow student asked ‘What’s Fa Jin?’.
I somehow heard the question as ‘What’s Baji?’, and was ready to trot out a response based on my limited knowledge and experience. Something made me pause and challenge what I thought I had heard, ‘Oh, you mean Fa Jin? That means the delivery of power. You see that more in Chen style’. I also had a notion that it was involved with Push Hands.
I know less about Fa Jin than I do about Baji (see this link if you are interested), so I had to turn to the internet.
Apologies in advance as this short piece is going to be wikipedia heavy.
Fa jin, fajin or fa chin (fājìn, 發勁), is a term used in some Chinese martial arts, particularly the neijia (internal) martial arts, such as tai chi, xingyiquan, baguazhang, liuhebafa, ziranmen, bak mei, and bajiquan.
Note the connection with baji (bajiquan)!
It means to issue or discharge power explosively or refining the explosive power, and is not specific to any particular striking method. With this definition in mind, a boxer is also capable of fa jin. However, in the context of internal martial arts, the term usually refers to a set of methods to generate and focus force, resulting in physical feats with far less visual physical expression such as the one-inch punch.
So one takeaway for me here, is that power is generated subtilely rather than overtly, but it can be quick.
Jin (勁; jìn; 'power') is often confused by Westerners with the related concept of jing (精; jīng; 'essence'), possibly because when jin is an adjective it is also spelled jing (jìng, 'strong') but with a different pinyin tone mark. Jin describes the ability to generate force. Jin and qi are intrinsically linked concepts in internal martial arts. To generate the fa jin, according to the traditional explanation, it is necessary to transfer qi from dantian towards the limb or body part (e.g. shoulder, head, hip) that will perform the technique with explosive force (bàofālì, 爆發力). If a person is off balance and stiff, they have no jin, as qi cannot penetrate the muscle to produce force.
Sounds like it is important to be properly rooted, with a good stance, so that your strike (or push) comes from the ground.
In terms of biomechanics, fa jin is a matter of utilizing body alignment and coordination to form an extremely efficient kinematic chain. The body begins in a relaxed physical state, which is then quickly accelerated in a coordinated whole-body movement.
Don’t you just love biomechanics?! This fa jin is not magical or mystical, it’s the application of well known scientific and engineering principles.
We often hear it is important not to be stiff, but to be relaxed and loose so we can move quickly.
In the practice of tai chi it is a description of a technique, generally indicating a sudden release of energy obtained by the coordinated movement of the entire body. Every technique can express fa jin, not just kicks, punches, elbows and knees, but also holds, levers and projections. The mastery of the techniques of silk reeling is essential. The fa jin released during exhalation is almost unconscious. This technique is referred to in the forms of training school as the Lao Jia Chen Paochui (old frame, cannon fist, one of the two original forms Chen-style tai chi), while in Yang school, especially for those who have a direct lineage to Yang Shaohou the fa jin is added to techniques to release the stored energy.
Oh oh! What’s silk reeling? Kind of kidding / not kidding. I know silk reeling is big in Chen style. Hope to learn more about it some day, which will inevitably lead to another short blog post!
The fact that fa jin is tied to exhaling matches what I learned in Karate and Taekwondo back in the day and what I practice in my Taiji today - breathe in on contraction, breathe out on expansion (e.g. striking).
See, see - I was right! Chen does make use of fa jin, but so does Yang.
A main principle in creating fa jin is using dantian (lower abdomen). The dantian is thought to be the storehouse of energy and can be used in striking. One technique described by Wang Jianqiao for developing fa jin is by breathing into the dantian and creating a pressure. When striking and squeezing the lower abdomen tight so that the core becomes compact, unifying the torso, this actively engages more of the muscle fibers to generate more force.
We are all about keeping the centre of gravity low and using our core to generate power.
This article is a stub which I expect to add to as I learn more.
A quick look around surfaced this one video which is supposed to typify and show the use of explosive power. I have heard about and seen the shaking movements in some Chen style Taiji and baji.
If I find more videos, I will add them here.
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Credits
Cover Photo by Quinn Buffing on Unsplash
