The Tai Chi Healthways Discussion Board

I have a simple question. Does Jesse teach the forms with Fajin right away or does he teach you to do the forms slowly and then once you have them down to add Fajin? When doing Yang style I have really benefited from doing the forms relaxed and slowly. So, I was wondering do students in Jesse's classes do the forms slowly sometimes without Fajin?

OGICHIDAA
"IT TAKES A REAL MAN TO BE A DAD"

Ogichidaa wrote:I have a simple question. Does Jesse teach the forms with Fajin right away or does he teach you to do the forms slowly and then once you have them down to add Fajin? When doing Yang style I have really benefited from doing the forms relaxed and slowly. So, I was wondering do students in Jesse's classes do the forms slowly sometimes without Fajin?

OGICHIDAA
"IT TAKES A REAL MAN TO BE A DAD"

You can generally speaking learn whatever you want in whatever order you want, but I think if you start practicing fajin before anything else perhaps you can obtain few jins but not actual fa-jin

Ogichidaa,

Jesse has an excellent approach in that he teaches the forms slowly at first until we understand the mechanics of the movements. Then he shows us possible applications and optional fajin. Sometimes he splits our Saturday Xinjia group into those who want to emphasize chi and those who want to emphasize fajin; thus Jesse graciously allows us to develop along the lines we choose.

Thank you Scott! That really helps. It gives me a little insight into the classes and it confirms my suspicion. Thanks again.

Scott wrote:Sometimes he splits our Saturday Xinjia group into those who want to emphasize chi and those who want to emphasize fajin; thus Jesse graciously allows us to develop along the lines we choose.

Ha! Very good subject Scott. Are qi development and fajin going in opposite direction? I think not.

In my opinion, real fa-jin is developed by starting from the soft, and repeating the move many many times. The Chen family advocates practicing a punch 50 to 100 times a day, initially *softly*. Fa-jin is reached when we are able to channel qi where we want, and channeling qi only works when we are relaxed.

What do you think?

Alain,

You bring up a good point. By saying "along the lines we choose", I did not mean opposite directions.

IMHO, some of us prefer to emphasize chi/qi development as a means to achieve relaxation, stress reduction, balance, being centered, etc. This is what is desired from Tai Chi and the benefits are abundant.

Others desire not only those aspects, but also fajin development for purposes of self-defense. These are certainly not mutually exclusive.

I completely agree that to achieve "real" fajin, one must be relaxed and allow the chi to flow in a directed manner. Although part of me wants to jump right into the "fajin" group when we split during Xinjia, I find myself in the "chi" group for the very reason you state: I need to repeat the movements many times in a soft, relaxed manner before I can channel the chi/qi for self-defense purposes. Thankfully Jesse is open, tuned in, and talented to be able to instruct the full spectrum of we desire.

Alain,

Thank you. I am happy to hear that the Chen family teaches in this way. This confirms my suspicion. I have noticed my "power" or "fajin" in my punches increasing not JUST through being relaxed but through a combination of being rooted, being relaxed, and directing chi to the punch. I don't TRY to do any of this. It has just happened as I have practiced the form correctly and slowly, I have found these points to be true. Thanks again.