Building Your Own Lajin Bench

In 2011, a good friend of mine introduced me to paida and lajin, self-healing methods created by Master Xiao Hongchi. I did not take any action then.

This May, I watched Master Xiao's UPS video and his interview at Beyond 2012 conference by chance. Intrigued by his demonstration and explanation, I started to practice lajin on a piano bench by the door. I did lajin three times a day: early morning, noon, and late evening. Each time lasted 20 minutes; I spent 10 minutes per leg. In three short weeks, I was pleasantly surprised by its effect on my right foot.

For the past ten years, I had an extremely dry area on my right foot. No lotion, gel, or medicine seemed to cure my dry skin, and it itched and cracked often. However, a few weeks of lajin significantly improved my skin ailment (see the four pictures here).

I have also experienced a second, unanticipated benefit. The quality of my sleep has improved too; I have fewer dreams and wake up less.

With these two notably positive results, I found it hard to not become seriously interested in paida and lajin, since these methods simply work!

As I planned to own a lajin bench for myself in order to continue reaping its wonderful health benefits, I searched "where to buy lajin bench" on Google, but the results were not so encouraging:

The official store at http://lajinpaida.taobao.com/ offers the authentic lajin bench for RMB 890 (or US $143). The shipping cost from China to US is unknown, my estimate would be no less than US$100.
Two listings on eBay. The "Buy It Now" prices range from US $280 to US $649. One vendor charges US $120 for shipping from Canada.
Zero listings on Amazon.
One listing on Alibaba from Malaysia: price and delivery information unavailable.

Unsatisfied by those offerings, I decided to build my own.

Having analyzed many images on the web, I discovered that a lajin bench really consists of two simple parts: the vertical plate and the horizontal bench. The bench part can be substituted by regular furniture such as a study desk, a coffee table, a comfort bench, or even a storage organizer. The vertical part, unfortunately, is not readily available. It needs to be strong, stable, and attachable to the bench part. A new design is to separate these two parts, which would have the advantages of being more portable, accessible, and affordable.

I focused my attention on designing the lajin stand. I visited many furniture stores, talked to a few carpenters, and researched many hours online. After five iterations of designing, prototyping, and testing, I am happy to introduce my very own, Lajin Bench Stand, or Lajin Stand (in short).

You can attach the Lajin Stand to a study desk, creating your own personalized Lajin Bench in the office:

You can attach the Lajin Stand to a coffee table, creating your personalized Lajin Bench at home:

You can attach the Lajin Stand to a comfort bench, creating a Lajin Bench in a lobby:

One now can carry the Lajin Stand, and practice paida & lajin anywhere. With this simple design, hopefully, more people will practice paida & lajin so they will explore and experience the health benefits first-hand.

Here is another design of Lajin Bench using the off-the-shelf folding table. This one is easy to setup. It is light-weight and completely portable (Instructions found here).