Silk Reeling Power Chansijin

[D_Glenn]

The term Silk-Pulling (抽絲 Chou Si) is a process that refers to the saying 抽絲剝繭 Chōu​Sī​BāoJin (a cocoon can only be unwound one layer at a time/ a painstaking step by step process) and only with meticulous study and attention to the finer details will a result come about.

In the Internal Martial Arts this 抽絲 Chou Si process is following the rule of 'One part moves, every part moves' and 'Using the Root to move the Tip'. The Root of the arms and legs is the Dantian (abdomen, waist, Lumbar Vertebrae and Sacrum). The Dantian should be the first thing to move in every attacking or defending movement.

The result of 抽絲 Chou Si (Pulling Silk) is a power or quality of movement called 纏絲勁 ChanSiJin (Silk Thread Power).

In order to obtain Chansijin one needs to learn to use their Dantian in both of it's Methods of Movement.
The first method is called 轉換 Zhuanhuàn (Turning Changing or Transforming). This is using the muscles of the abdomen and the Muscle-Tendon connections to the rest of the body. The Dantian can turn on a horizontal plane and also a smaller degree on a vertical plane but these combined are used to turn on the diagonal. In other words it's able to turn in every direction. To learn this method of the Dantian and developing the connections to the rest of your body requires years of 抽絲 Chou Si (Pulling Silk) and always using 'One part moves, every part moves' while also trying to make every move have a type of winding, drilling, spiraling up and spiraling down. The major joints of the body should move with fluidity and circularity so that the connection is never broken. This method is learned by moving in a various speeds of movement but it's obviously not going to be connected when moving fast because the connections haven't been established. So more time should be spent using slow movements in order to train it. And test the connections by moving at faster speeds.

The Second Method of the Dantian is called 胸腰折疊 XiōngYaoZhedie (Chest Waist Folding). Only by using speed can you learn this quick and very brief movement. But this can be done with fast spurts of movement while you are moving slow to learn the First Method. This method can be looked at as moving the whole Dantian up and down on it's vertical axis. Which is controlled by moving the Lumbar and Sacrum to roll the Tailbone under to move the Dantian upward. Then using the lumbar and sacrum to pull the Tailbone back, which will drop the Dantian Down. When the Dantian is moving upward the Chest and ribcage should concave in order to bring the Diaphragm down. When the Dantian moves down, the chest and Ribcage should expand and raise the diaphragm back up. This is likened to a Chinese Accordion which is a small octagonal shape that is squeezed and pulled from both ends towards it's center to make sound. This method is learned by using big obvious movement at first. But over time the movement is refined and reaches the point where it's not really noticeable to outside observers.

These Two methods should ideally be learned at the same time as they're two parts of the same whole. The First Method is using soft tissues to move the skeleton. While the Second Method is using the skeleton to move soft tissues. One's Chansijin cannot really be complete without having these two methods intertwined. You can't make thread out of a single strand of silk. You need two strands to wind together into a thread.

Always practice 'One part moves, every part moves' and the metaphorical Thread of Silk that runs through your body can be thickened and made stronger until you will reach a point where you no longer have to move in a spiraling winding fluid manner because the thread has become like a Steel Cable (鋼絲 Gāng​sī). This cable is made of steel threads/ wires. It has a flexible springy quality (彈簧 Tán​huáng) and it can bend a lot but always springs back to it's original shape. You no longer need to follow rules like 'Using the Root to move the Tip' because you can, for instance, have your arm swinging before the Dantian, but they will always sync up in harmony at the moment of contact with the opponent. The Dantian Methods will always be there because you have made your Chansijin like a steel spring. Like a guitar string.

Steel Cable Power (彈簧鋼絲勁 Tán​huángGāng​sījin) can bend without breaking and bounce back. It is flexible and strong in any position it's put in. Once you have this quality developed you can make strong bends in the sections of your body, or move them in any order (tip before root, middle before the tip etc.) and still manifest the strength and connections of the Six Harmonies (六合 Liù Hé), at any moment in a fight.

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[wayne hansen]

I have seen some strange interpretations of
One part moves every part moves
It is all to do with wave action
Both in power generation and yielding
Don’t forget there is also fast hold energy and folding

[Trick]

Yes, but this (in the op) actually do not really directly talk about “silk”reeling method in combat.

Yesterday night I read this little article about that topic -

https://budojapan.com/kenjutsu-iai/prin ... -itto-ryu/

Sasamori Soke: “Taguru refers to when something spins out thread, like a silkworm. This is the motion of spinning thread onto a wheel and paying it out. You don’t just pull a string; you pay it out while pulling it in. In Sanbonme, you just don’t pull back; it is important to go forward using the hauling force.”

[D_Glenn]

I have seen some strange interpretations of
One part moves every part moves
It is all to do with wave action
Both in power generation and yielding
Don’t forget there is also fast hold energy and folding

Could you elaborate a little bit on what you wrote. I’m not quite understanding you, but I don’t want to just ignore your post.
Thanks

[wayne hansen]

Like using a bull whip
One part moves every part moves
But not at the same time and speed
Same in yielding every part moves but the target moves first the rest follows
Huangs 7 point push(not how it is done these days) is a perfect example
I had a senior student of a well known teacher moving like a plank was glued to his back argue with me that he was moving every part as one
I hope that explains what I mean

[origami_itto]

I've been looking at it less concerned for the external movement and more with preserving the readiness of the internal energy.

We store the power, keep it ready as we move, and then release it in a single direction.

https://brennantranslation.wordpress.co ... g-yingjie/

邁步如貓行。運動如抽絲。
Step like a cat and move energy as if drawing silk.

【解】太極拳行走。大多足跟先著地。如貓行之輕靈。含有蓄神之意。練拳運勁如抽絲。均勻不斷。運內勁時。自下由腿順轉而上。從胳膊順擰而出。如將一把生絲順扭。反放之。卽倒轉由上將勁收回身內。此卽為纏絲勁。
The Taiji Boxing footwork usually touches down first with the heel. It has the lightness and nimbleness of a cat’s steps, having an intention of storing spirit. When practicing the solo set, move the energy like drawing out silk so that the thread does not break. When wielding internal power, it arcs upward from the legs and coils outward through the arms. It is like grabbing a strand of raw silk and spooling it around your fingers. Reversing the direction then sends the energy from above back into your body. This describes what is known as “silk reeling” energy.

[Appledog]

The term Silk-Pulling (抽絲 Chou Si) is a process that refers to the saying 抽絲剝繭 Chōu​Sī​BāoJin (a cocoon can only be unwound one layer at a time/ a painstaking step by step process) and only with meticulous study and attention to the finer details will a result come about.

In the Internal Martial Arts this 抽絲 Chou Si process is following the rule of 'One part moves, every part moves' and 'Using the Root to move the Tip'. The Root of the arms and legs is the Dantian (abdomen, waist, Lumbar Vertebrae and Sacrum). The Dantian should be the first thing to move in every attacking or defending movement.

The result of 抽絲 Chou Si (Pulling Silk) is a power or quality of movement called 纏絲勁 ChanSiJin (Silk Thread Power).

I like this one, good show and well played dg.

The rest of the post, I am not too sure of. What I have found is that the more sure and certain I am the less I remain open to developments. Maybe the dantian is useful and maybe it is a "near enemy". Oddly enough the same goes for any chi sensations I might have.

[D_Glenn]

I've been looking at it less concerned for the external movement and more with preserving the readiness of the internal energy.

We store the power, keep it ready as we move, and then release it in a single direction.

https://brennantranslation.wordpress.co ... g-yingjie/

邁步如貓行。運動如抽絲。
Step like a cat and move energy as if drawing silk.

【解】太極拳行走。大多足跟先著地。如貓行之輕靈。含有蓄神之意。練拳運勁如抽絲。均勻不斷。運內勁時。自下由腿順轉而上。從胳膊順擰而出。如將一把生絲順扭。反放之。卽倒轉由上將勁收回身內。此卽為纏絲勁。
The Taiji Boxing footwork usually touches down first with the heel. It has the lightness and nimbleness of a cat’s steps, having an intention of storing spirit. When practicing the solo set, move the energy like drawing out silk so that the thread does not break. When wielding internal power, it arcs upward from the legs and coils outward through the arms. It is like grabbing a strand of raw silk and spooling it around your fingers. Reversing the direction then sends the energy from above back into your body. This describes what is known as “silk reeling” energy.

勁 Jin, should not simply be translated as “Energy”. It’s a combination of using your Intent/ mind to will your body to move, and the resultant movement of your body. Both of which can become tangibly stronger. Your Intent gets stronger and your body gets stronger. This is something everyone, including Chinese children do for fun. They stand in a doorway and press the back of their hands against the jams as hard as they can, and then step out of the doorway and it feels like their arms are magically rising up. That’s Yi (Intent) or Neijin, tangibly accumulating, then suddenly being used.

[D_Glenn]

The rest of the post, I am not too sure of. What I have found is that the more sure and certain I am the less I remain open to developments. Maybe the dantian is useful and maybe it is a "near enemy". Oddly enough the same goes for any chi sensations I might have.

Well, you should at least develop a Dantian to protect yourself if you get punched in the stomach. And a Dantian is creating a hollow space for your Abdominal Aorta and Inferior Vena Cava to dilate. When dilated they can store more qi and blood.

[origami_itto]

I've been looking at it less concerned for the external movement and more with preserving the readiness of the internal energy.

We store the power, keep it ready as we move, and then release it in a single direction.

https://brennantranslation.wordpress.co ... g-yingjie/

邁步如貓行。運動如抽絲。
Step like a cat and move energy as if drawing silk.

【解】太極拳行走。大多足跟先著地。如貓行之輕靈。含有蓄神之意。練拳運勁如抽絲。均勻不斷。運內勁時。自下由腿順轉而上。從胳膊順擰而出。如將一把生絲順扭。反放之。卽倒轉由上將勁收回身內。此卽為纏絲勁。
The Taiji Boxing footwork usually touches down first with the heel. It has the lightness and nimbleness of a cat’s steps, having an intention of storing spirit. When practicing the solo set, move the energy like drawing out silk so that the thread does not break. When wielding internal power, it arcs upward from the legs and coils outward through the arms. It is like grabbing a strand of raw silk and spooling it around your fingers. Reversing the direction then sends the energy from above back into your body. This describes what is known as “silk reeling” energy.

勁 Jin, should not simply be translated as “Energy”. It’s a combination of using your Intent/ mind to will your body to move, and the resultant movement of your body. Both of which can become tangibly stronger. Your Intent gets stronger and your body gets stronger. This is something everyone, including Chinese children do for fun. They stand in a doorway and press the back of their hands against the jams as hard as they can, and then step out of the doorway and it feels like their arms are magically rising up. That’s Yi (Intent) or Neijin, tangibly accumulating, then suddenly being used.

You have to pick a word at some point, they all fall short no matter what language they're in.

You're talking about the Kohnstamm phenomenon, something I find very fun to play with.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... ting-arms/

[D_Glenn]

Yi (intent), one of our Five Shens, has so many parallels to the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine. ACH signals muscle movement. It’s in the Central nervous system, parasympathetic, and it’s the second most abundant, next to Hyaluronic acid, that’s found circulating inside the Primovascular System. It also signals cells to produce more Nitric Oxide which increases vasodilation and can move more blood (and qi).

Nicotine is an ACH reuptake inhibitor and that’s why so many CIMA people in the past smoked cigarettes, because it noticeably made all of their skills and training better.

[Appledog]

The rest of the post, I am not too sure of. What I have found is that the more sure and certain I am the less I remain open to developments. Maybe the dantian is useful and maybe it is a "near enemy". Oddly enough the same goes for any chi sensations I might have.

Well, you should at least develop a Dantian to protect yourself if you get punched in the stomach. And a Dantian is creating a hollow space for your Abdominal Aorta and Inferior Vena Cava to dilate. When dilated they can store more qi and blood.

I think it's a process. After a while the dantian, like the circle, gets smaller and smaller until perhaps, it doesn't exist in the sense of what we would normally consider a dantian -- ex. the mingmen to qihai to huiyin area, sometimes even including the kua and so forth. If it became smaller than a pea, or smaller than a sesame seed, perhaps by this point it should be called by something else, because the process has shifted from the operation of the dantian to the operation of some other kind of structure. So ultimately I think the dantian is a useful stepping stone, but should not be considered a be all and end all.

Then again, the accomplishment of a dantian is indeed a great accomplishment!

[Bao]

https://brennantranslation.wordpress.co ... g-yingjie/

邁步如貓行。運動如抽絲。
Step like a cat and move energy as if drawing silk.

【解】太極拳行走。大多足跟先著地。如貓行之輕靈。含有蓄神之意。練拳運勁如抽絲。均勻不斷。運內勁時。自下由腿順轉而上。從胳膊順擰而出。如將一把生絲順扭。反放之。卽倒轉由上將勁收回身內。此卽為纏絲勁。
The Taiji Boxing footwork usually touches down first with the heel. It has the lightness and nimbleness of a cat’s steps, having an intention of storing spirit. When practicing the solo set, move the energy like drawing out silk so that the thread does not break. When wielding internal power, it arcs upward from the legs and coils outward through the arms. It is like grabbing a strand of raw silk and spooling it around your fingers. Reversing the direction then sends the energy from above back into your body. This describes what is known as “silk reeling” energy.

Storing and releasing through whole body movement. Not a word about "dantian". Chen Xin also said “silk reeling energy" is in the whole body.

Nowadays Chen stylists focus on "dantian" in an isolated manner you can't even find in any older Tai Chi book. They claim what they do is more "authentic".

[GrahamB]

Nicotine is an ACH reuptake inhibitor and that’s why so many CIMA people in the past smoked cigarettes, because it noticeably made all of their skills and training better.

I've heard some things on this website, but RSF is so far down the rabbit hole now, that this is perhaps just taken as normal.

[Bao]

Nicotine is an ACH reuptake inhibitor and that’s why so many CIMA people in the past smoked cigarettes, because it noticeably made all of their skills and training better.

Just 20-30 years ago about all Chinese men smoked and many still do. They smoked because they didn't understand the consequences. The most of them who do IMA probably started smoking way before they started practicing IMA. Smoking does many bad things with the body as preventing full lung capacity, thus it's BAD for developing skills and training in general.