1. WHAT

Fajing Exercise No. 5 covers how to transition from the open palm to the hollow fist.

2. METHOD

Before you go into the exercise please take a moment to revisit the post Forming the Hollow Fist – Getting Started.

a) From Open Palm to Hollow Fist

Step 1 – Begin with your right hand in open palm position holding imaginary ball.

Step 2 – Visualize the ball shrinking in diameter as if the ball is deflating at a constant rate.

As this is happening your right fingers adapt to the changing size and end up as if curling around the smaller ball. At the end of the ball deflation its shape is irregularly round.

b) From Hollow Fist to Open Palm

Step 3 – To change from fist to open palm imagine the ball inflating back to its original size at a constant rate.

Step 4 – As the ball is inflating your right fingers open up. The ball will inflate until your right fingers are holding it with your finger tips.

Note – when you do the exercise keep the back of your right hand lined up to the wrist in a straight line. Avoid bending your hand at the wrist whether by flexion or extension.

3. LEARNING OBJECTIVE

The purpose of Fajing Exercise No. 5 is how the imaginary ball changes size and shape as we form a hollow fist from an open palm.

Learn to keep the structure of the open palm and hollow fist energized as the ball changes shape. Use the feeling of imagined fullness to maintain the hand structure.

4. COMMENTARY

This is a good exercise to learn how to use your intent. To get the most out of this exercise be sure to separate the intent from the movement clearly.

What this means is that you must first visualize it, then do it. Then you can distinguish properly what is mind and what is body.

When you have grasped the exercise properly the boundary between mind movement and body movement will be so close it is as if they are both moving together. But this is not so, the intent is always ahead of the body in the learning and practice phases.

5. CONCLUSION

Fajing Exercise No. 5 trains your mind to always be mindful of the imaginary ball and how it changes to affect the movement of your fingers and hand.