Shùn and Nì Chán Sī Jìng 順與逆纏絲勁 Part 1

When we practise Chén Style Tàijíquán we have two kinds of Chán Sī Jìng 纏絲勁. “Chán 纏” means “Spiral” or “Reeling”, “Sī 絲” means “Silk” and “Jing 勁” means “Power”, so all together “Silk Reeling Energy Power”. It is like a screw that spirals into wood. Spiral energy can go very deep, and so it us powerful. But spiral energy can also easily pull out. For Tàijíquán, it means one is going out to the opponent and one is coming out of being trapped. Since we have two hands and two legs, we cannot describe our spirals or circles simply as Clockwise and Anticlockwise, so instead we use inwards and outwards. When we use outwards, we spiral from the Dāntián out to our fingertips and our toes. This spiral we call “Shùn 順”. “Shùn” means “Smooth”. We also have the opposite, where the spiral comes from the outside to the inside, this spiral we call “Nì 逆” and “Nì” means “The Opposite of Smooth”, it goes against the flow, goes against the smooth way. So Chán Sī Jìng has Shùn, outwards, and Nì, inwards.

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