The chan si jin technique initiates at the foot, then uses the ankle, knee, hip, waist, back, shoulder, elbow, wrist, and finally the hand.
However, because our bodies are limited, it follows that our working distance is also limited. We can move our arm or leg only a certain distance. Even the largest person has limitations. Therefore, we try other ways to heighten our power. One, we try to increase our strength. Two, we try to increase our speed. Kung-fu and all martial art systems recognize the necessity of speed and strength in technique, and train to develop these qualities. Another part of kung-fu training, though, is to develop a different way of moving in order to increase the working distance.
This unique way of moving the body is called chan si jin (reeling silk energy). It is a spiraling rather than straight movement, and has been understood in China since ancient times. In the ancient farming culture family roles were clearly defined. The men worked the fields, and the women primarily stayed at home. Among the women’s chores was the reeling of silk, removing the silk from the silkworms’ cocoons. As they pulled the silk, the cocoon would spin. This act of reeling silk, called chan si in Chinese, was a part of everyday life; all were familiar with it. The spiraling effect of reeling silk was very much like the kung-fu way of using the body in order to issue power. Hence, chan si jin was taken as the name of this kung-fu technique.
Today, machinery has replaced what was once. done by hand, and the old way of reeling silk is no longer part of everyday life. Therefore, the term chan si jin is now difficult for many people to understand. Where once the instructors used the term to help people understand the kung-fu way of issuing power, now it seems rather obscure and mysterious.
The spiraling effect of reeling silk was very much like the kung-fu way of using the body in order to issue power.
The kung-fu way is to get the whole body involved in the chan si jin. This is not a natural style of movement or means of generating power. Based on our experience we have all acquired our own ways of utilizing our body to assist us in getting power. Consciously and unconsciously we have developed styles and habits through work, sports, and everyday life that we are reliant on. None of these are the kung-fu way.
To learn a difficult and sophisticated technique such as chan si jin takes great patience and a step-by-step approach. The first step is to shed old habits. That is why the instructor teaches the beginning student over and over again to relax when practicing. In order to learn a new way of moving, students must become aware of their old ways. The teacher first tells the student not to try and use power, because not yet knowing better the student would naturally revert to the old way of moving. Initially, the student must practice slowly and relax to create an opportunity for the chan si jin to develop.
Some students, although claiming to be studying kung-fu, do not adhere to the correct way of practicing. These people, for various reasons such as impatience, frustration, or lack of faith, choose not to practice “without” power. Some of them are young and strong and can already issue some power. Unfortunately, they are cheating themselves and can easily destroy their own potential to reach a high level of kung-fu. Chan si jin is a high-level technique that depends on hard work, correct practice, and the guidance of a qualified instructor.
You might ask in what way a martial artist can use this vague concept of chan si jin. Using chan si jin in punching, for example, involves the entire body, not just the shoulder and arm. The technique initiates at the foot, then uses the ankle, knee, hip, waist, back, shoulder, elbow, wrist, and finally the hand. All of the body’s joints are applied in a highly disciplined twisting action. In other words, each joint, beginning with the ankle and toes, is twisting, not only individually, but all working together as a single unit. The effect is a spiraling accumulation of power from the ground up. Using the fist as its vehicle, the accumulated power of the entire body is thus issued to a single, focused point.
Tomb of bagua founder Dong Hai Quan. In the 1980s his body was exhumed from an obscure grave and reburied with full honors in the specially-built Beijing monument.
The practitioner who can really use chan si jin can issue great power. The working distance covers the length of the body from heel to hand. However, this distance is not to be measured as a straight line. We would need to measure the distance via the curved line of the spiral. Using chan si jin the practitioner’s working distance becomes tremendously large.
It has often seemed an unexplainable phenomenon that certain instructors of unimposing physique are able to issue great power. People have wondered how it is done. Is it through supernatural power, illusion, mind over matter? The actual explanation is not so arcane. It is the result of years of difficult and serious training, of training the body to work in an extraordinarily effective way—a way that the ancients likened to women’s reeling of silk, chan si jin.
How Much Flexibility is Enough for Kung-fu?
Any type of exercise requires a certain amount of flexibility. For the multitude of martial arts, flexibility plays an especially critical role. The body is used as a weapon to attack and defend, and therefore must be both flexible and relaxed to initiate any type of movement necessary in an instant.
When we are young our bodies are soft and pliable. Although we get stronger and accustomed to more complicated movement as we age, we usually lose a great deal of our natural flexibility. This is one reason martial arts teachers so often strongly advocate beginning training at an early age; it makes it easier for students to reach their goals with regard to becoming sufficiently flexible.
The role of flexibility training in kung-fu is often greatly exaggerated and is largely misunderstood, however. Some instructors overemphasize stretching. This approach stems from their own misconceptions about the actual function and origin of stretching. Some unfortunate instructors may focus on stretching as a substitute for lacking enough real kung-fu techniques to teach students.
I believe that it is wrong for any teacher to demand that every student achieve the same level of flexibility. Many factors other than stretching itself have an influence on flexibility, including the person’s age, body type, and athletic background. Practitioners who cannot reach the maximum degree of body flexibility can develop into fine martial artists. Leg strength, overall conditioning, and diligent and intelligent practice all help compensate for a lack of flexibility.
By stretching too much, the muscle becomes too long and possibly too soft, making it difficult for a practitioner to issue power correctly.
In fact, stretching too much can actually destroy a student’s kung-fu foundation. By stretching too much, the muscle becomes too long and possibly too soft. This condition makes it difficult for a practitioner to issue power correctly. A certain amount of dynamic tension and a great deal of leg strength are needed to fully generate the power from the lower body. Flexibility should not be confused with leg strength, one is not a replacement for the other. The two should develop concurrently.
In addition, recovering from over-stretching is much more difficult than becoming more flexible when a practitioner is understretched. Flexibility training should be treated as simply another integral part of the overall kung-fu training and conditioning program, not as something special unto itself.
Today we see that many kung-fu forms contain and are judged by the many acrobatic and flexibility-inspired techniques and postures they contain. Granted, these are in fact often difficult to execute, yet some teachers mistakenly include and overuse these types of movements as evidence of having