Let’s first see what the term means. Chan means “coiled” or “coiled” in Chinese. Yeah is “silk”, or it can imply “a cocoon of silk”. jing (sometimes written jin in our alphabet) is a Chinese word that does not have an exact equivalent in English. It means something like a special strength, ability, or characteristic that is obtained through cultivation. If you want to understand what chan si jing/silk energy is, then all you need to do is study the actions and properties of a silkworm, its cocoon, and its silk.
Silkworm caterpillars have been cultivated in China for thousands of years. Silkworms prefer to settle and receive sustenance from mulberry trees. Inside their bodies they can transform mulberry leaves into a protein-based silk filament. When they are ready to transform into winged creatures, they wrap themselves in a mile-long filament of self-produced silk. This forms an insulating and protective cocoon. The silk is harvested by placing the cocoons in boiling water, which leads the engulfed caterpillar to its premature death and, at the same time, softens the cocoon. The cocoon is then brushed to find the thread to pull on to unroll the entire cocoon. While silk has a high tensile strength, pulling too hard on the filament will damage it, and careless pulling will entangle it. The shooter has to feel just the right amount of tension and force to use. Each silk filament is usually intertwined with other filaments to form a stronger thread. The entire process of cultivating and producing silk forms the perfect metaphor for how the energy of silk, or chan si jing, can be developed.
Silk reeling is an essential skill to develop in tai chi chuan. Without it, your tai chi is seriously lacking. Although you can still get some benefits from doing your tai chi sin chan si jing, you’re cheating yourself with at least 79% more physical and energetic benefits! Martially, the chan si jing allows you to change direction and the flow of energy quickly. It allows you to get into an opponent’s openings more effectively. It allows you to “stick” to your opponent and entwine them to redirect their movement and energy. It also gives you an “iron body” development so coveted by kung fu players. For health, chan si jing offers a wide variety of benefits. For one, it continuously massages and stretches connective tissue, helping you literally rebuild and recondition your body from the inside out. People who are serious about developing chan si jing have found that chronic pain and injuries disappear over time. Chan si jing builds an enormous amount of coordination and control in the nervous system. Your rolling and unrolling motions are great for toning your muscles. If done with the whole body/torso method, the squeezing action of the chan si jing “cleanses” the lymphatic system and unblocks qi blockages. It is a tremendous practice of youth preservation, physical enhancement, and energy cultivation.
To do this, imagine that your torso is like the silk cocoon. but instead of a single thread, imagine that the cocoon is formed by the coiling of four different threads: your extremities. Imagine that your body can rotate on a vertical axis. Keep your posture directly in line with gravity. Imagine that someone is unwinding your cocoon by pulling the silk threads through your limbs. But at the same time, unlike the silkworm, you are also pulling the strings. This maintains a kind of “give” feel to the threads. They don’t hang limply there, nor are they so taut that they’re rigid.
When you turn the torso away from the limbs or turn one side of the limbs away from the torso, imagine that the movement is made by the “puller” of the strings. Then do the opposite: you become the shooter when you turn your torso to the side of your limbs, or when you turn one side of your limbs in, relative to your torso. Imagine that you are winding the threads in your cocoon. In each case, you should feel your limbs stretch as you rotate them. Imagine that there is a small space between all the joints, even to the tips of the fingers. This stretches and squeezes the fascia and other body tissues. For tremendous amplification of qi, use dantian compressions and expansions like the piston of an engine that drives the inward and outward rotations of the torso and limbs. After two months of doing this correctly, you should notice significant improvements in your health or martial skills.
Because you are focusing on a bungee cord feeling, you become neither yin nor yang. You become both. What had previously become too soft or yin will become more energized and tight. What had previously become too hard, or yang, will soften and become softer, or yin. Then the Qi flows to where it is needed and tension is eradicated. Energetically and physically, the chan si jing works wonders to correct imbalances. It almost seems to reverse the aging process.
This practice has been almost lost in tai chi, although it is mentioned in the traditional Chen schools, the Yang schools, and the Wu/Hao schools. Tea Tai Chi Classics He mentions phrases like: “Move as if you were moving the silk of a cocoon.” There are many other similar allusions to chan si jing in the classics. Maybe that’s why the masters of old were famous for their amazing abilities. Learn how to put chan si jing on every move, and maybe you too will achieve some amazing abilities and buffs. The deeper your practice, the deeper your achievements. If you’re going to practice tai chi, you’d better get the most out of it, right?
May they realize their metamorphosis within the cocoon of wobbly silken energy.