The Taoist masters of China have practiced Fajin for hundreds of years if not thousands. Bruce Lee with his famous one-inch punch popularized it. Fajin was made famous by The Magus of Java John Chang who could release Qi in the form of electricity powerful enough to start fires. John Chang, the Indonesian Chinese from Indonesia first began to use Fajin in his early years as a form of self-defense. Later he used Fajin to heal people in his healing practices. You can watch John Chang release Fajin here
What is Fajin?
Fajin is an explosive release of Qi that circles or spirals from the Dan Tian (lower abdomen) to the limbs or body parts such as the head, shoulders and elbows.
Fajin in Qigong
Fajin is used in Qigong as an invigorating method of bringing powerful circulation to the extremities. It is also used to release emotions including anger and frustration. It can be used to express happiness even. If someone is too Yang, too much energy, they need Fajin to release pent up energy. If someone’s energy is lacking, they use a Yin, water method of Qigong to build up the energy and then release it with the Yang, fiery Fajin method. I go into more details of training Fajin for Qigong in my book Meridian Qigong.
Fajin For Martial Arts
It is used in the internal martial arts a method of striking an opponent to cause internal damage. Bruce Lee’s one in punch popularized the method of Fajin in martial arts proving significant internal power could be generated with micro movements of the body. Some say his power came from Wing Chun, but if you look at Bruce Lee’s movements there was waist action indicating it was an internal art. In the 2010 television show, Stan Lee’s Superhumans, a Shaolin monk demonstrated his one-inch punch on a crash test dummy. The testing showed it was 1.7 times more injurious than a 30mph car crash with modern safety features.
There are a variety of methods to generate Fajin otherwise known as Fali. Fajin is used in Baguazhang, Tai Chi, Xing Yi and other martial arts. In Baguazhang we have the 8 Mother Palms, which teach us how to generate Fajin in 8 different directions. These palms are trained for 4 years in total (6 months each) in order to generate maximum Fajin and from each palm and full integrate it into your body.
The Secrets of Fajin
The secret of Fajin lies in the motion of the Dan Tian. It requires a loose, supple body that is flexible, yet strong. The legs are like the handles of a whip and the hands and fingertips are the ends of the whip. If any part of a whip is stiff it won’t work. I have trained Fajin methods with a variety of martial art and Qigong schools around the world. Each method varies slightly. Some focus on a specific rotation of the hips, while others combine a shaking of the body like a dog when it shakes off water from its body when it is wet. From my own experience, the secret of powerful Fajin Qi releases requires a variety of external and internal body movements to combine and harmonize at the same time. It takes specific motions of the pelvis, hips and Dan Tian, combined with a forceful exhalation, which pumps the Qi from the Dan Tian to the extremities. It combines shaking the body with specific rotation of the hips. Releasing Fajin in different directions requires different rotations of the hips. It takes many repetitions and a lot of correct practice under a qualified instructor to have a good Fajin release. This all requires a lot of body conditioning and training.
The mysterious and beautiful methods of Fajin are a life long study. It is all worth the effort, as I would not have wanted to live a life without feeling Fajin, as you can see by my poem from below. It is extremely addictive as you discover a new found sense of inner power of what this amazing human body is capable of.
The magical Feeling of Releasing Qi Through Fajin
“I wouldn’t want to have lived without feeling this incredible feeling.
Like lightening surging through your body.
Feeling the power from heaven and earth merge into your body, pull into your Dan Tian and then surge out in a whip, rippling effortlessly out to your hands and feet.
Loosening my body with every move. As I finish my organs feel deeply relaxed, my emotions are as calm as still as a lake in the early morning. Feeling soft, yet strong. Supple and flexible my body feels so good!”
-Tevia Feng
If you want to experience the beauty and power of Fajin and are in Bali, I highly suggest you come to our Qigong and or Baguazhang classes here in Bali.
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You are probably being somewhat optimistic for crediting Bruce Lee (and James DeMile who worked together to produce ‘short power’) with having used, or developed their ‘Fa Jin’, or Fajin, or Fajing.
I spoke to James DeMile in a long email, and (to -my- surprise), he had never heard of Fa jin or Chinese neijia internal power. He was interested in it, but he said according to my description of it (Ground-path internal power) Mr DeMile said what he was doing was not Ground Path.
I am familiar with Chen Style, Chen X. Wong, and have talked extensively with Mike Sigman. I believe my ability to grasp and convey to some small degree, this information to James.
All the best in your endeavors. Just a small edification for your enlightenment and further information.
Thank you for the valuable information and I value these comments. I want to clarify, in this article we do not credit Bruce Lee with creating Fajin, we credit him with popularizing it. The “short power” that he produced looks identical to some Fajin methods. Maybe it has a different name or no relationship at all, but the body mechanics appear almost identical also with the use of breath and visualization. We would love to have more information as the study of “short power” and or Fajin is a great interest of ours. Thank you for your energy.