Silk reeling

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Silk reeling (pinyin chánsīgōng, Wade-Giles ch'an² ssu¹ kung¹ ) refers to a set of qigong exercises frequently used by the Chen style and some other styles of T'ai Chi Ch'uan. The name derives from the metaphorical principle of "reeling the silk from a silk worm". In order to draw out the silk successfully the action must be smooth and consistent without jerking or changing direction sharply. Hence, the silk reeling movements are continuous, cyclic patterns performed at constant speed with the "light touch" of drawing silk.

In common with all qigong exercises, the patterns are performed in a concentrated, meditative state with an emphasis on relaxation. However, rather than being a isolated exercises purely for health benefits, the focus is on strengthening and training the whole body connection and grounded body alignment that is used in the Chen Style Tai Chi form. Silk reeling is commonly used as a warmup before commencing Tai Chi form practice, but at a deeper level, silk reeling is the essence and very basis of Chen Style Tai Chi, as it's simplified movements are echoed and enhanced throughout the forms.

Chen style silk reeling movements originate from the dantian and trace a "figure eight" (infinity symbol) pattern while shifting the weight from leg to leg; this motion in turn drives the rest of the joints of the body in a fluid, spiraling motion.

Some of the most common silk reeling exercises are:

Single and double hand front silk reeling (Stationary Cloud Hands)
Single and double hand side silk reeling
Peng Lu Ji An
Dragon Lands like a sparrow left and right
Lean with the back left and right

External Links

http://www.egreenway.com/taichichuan/silkreel.htm

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