Silk reeling (纏絲, chánsī) is specific feature of Taijiquan (especially Chen style). In the following video there is explanation of the term by Master Chen Zhonghua. What do you think about this explanation?
The coiling action of silk reeling creates a spiralling internal force, used for power in tai chi chaun. What sits at the heart of an effective coiling action is relaxation[fang song]of the upper and lower body: shoulders,elbows,chest,hips,sacrum,tailbone &knees, expansion of the joints,with the perineum moving in a backward figure 8 movement. The whole body moves as one continual spiralling unit-driven from the waist/dantian area. at any level of training,silk reeling drills are of great importance. How you move in silk reeling is how you move in your tai chi form, both are interdependent on each other. training in silk drills is a life long commitment to improveing your tai chi chaun form. but this is only the tip of the iceberg.
I see that Sifu Chen does the Hunyuan Taiji Chen--how much different is the Hunyuan Chen from the actual Chen method.
Feng Zhiqiang was student of Chen,Fak-kor. In later years Feng added other training methods into his transmission,a major addition being methods from Hsing I.
Chen Fake - Hong Junsheng - Chen Zhonghua Feng Zhiqiang and Hong were both students of Chen Fake. Also Doc, I think it was XYLH to be precise When you say "actual Chen" I guess you are refering to the Village style. They aren't that different to me but that depends on your point of view and measuring sticks as well. TCC politics can get pretty mental, for example it gets touted that "the village" had to re learn from the Beijing lines because at one point it was almost a lost art there.
Well, Fa-kor made changes in creating a somewhat more elaborate form-the old style is simpler on the outside. With the loss of older people over time along with the havoc and loss from the Cultural Revolution it's likely that more folks in the town are now practicing the new forms. As to being almost lost,how many very serious practitioners does one find in a small village of a couple or so hundred people anyvey? Especially when the good ones are leaving the place to teach in various locales.
The reason I asked because a friend has been training in the Huanyuan Chen and i was interested in it myself. Does anyone know or have trained specifically in huanyuan? Is it a good system to do since I have not done internal before.
