D_Glenn wrote:Trick wrote:Taiji fajin is effortless not at all the way we often see in for example Chen family boxing forms performance,such hard fajin is focused on clashing, Taiji fajin comes from blending so to redirect an incoming clashing force into it self, obviously easier said than done, that’s why most Taiji players who want show off combat power rather choose the external hard way to practice KAPOW
Chen Xiao Wang told me that there’s a huge misunderstanding of what Fajin is. Actual Fajin comes from what I described in my post. It uses ‘Xiong Yao Zhedie’ Chest and waist spring’ (the movement of lumbar and thoracic spine like I mentioned. And ‘Zhuanhuan’ Turning Torquing (using one half of your Transverse Abdominal Muscle to turn your waist, and direct the explosive wave towards your right or left side.
He thinks that sometime in the late 1800s early 1900s that outside observers witnessed people being seemingly and almost magically lifted up and tossed out during pushhands. This is called ‘Ti Fang’ Lift Throw. In a northern Chinese dialect Fang can sound similar to Fajin. And he thinks that might be where the misunderstanding of what Fajin is.
I am pretty sure that Chen Man Ching at least knows the difference between ti fang and fa jin
For me, there is a difference between the Chen idea of fa jin and the Yang idea of fa jin.
A lot of modern Yang folks get the same ideas, really, which doesn't help. A lot of cross-pollination of modern Chen ideas into common Yang understanding, gets very confusing.
In whatever case, there is this insistence that fa jin be an explosive and obvious expression of power. In Yang style it is just a release of held energy. When the two bodies meet and apply force against each other that builds a tension of energy. The Yang stylist moves within that tension, finds a degree of freedom to release it, and releases it. It's not about generating a great deal of hard fast force within the body and expressing it externally.
To that end, yes, the specific anatomy you mentioned is involved in some expressions, but there are so many other ways to build, move, and release the energy.
Where the confusion about ti fang might come in is that they are closely related there. I know I was confused at first.
Cheng Man Ching writes that when the incoming force can't be deflected to the side, it can be neutralized by being absorbed into the dantien. When their power has expended itself and you are fully loaded, you break their root and release the loaded energy (fa jin), the whole process is ti fang (lift and release).
When we fa jin there are different qualities we can express it through, long, short/cold, shaking, etc.