Silk Reeling Power Chansijin

[GrahamB]

Inner, middle and outer is all new to me. I've heard of upper, middle and lower before though.

[Bao]

This is specific to some Xinyi Liuhe quan lineages, to avoid confusion of different definitions/conflicting views on the lower dantian specifically.

I like it. Solves a main problem in IMA discussions, when people speak about the dantian but everyone mean different things.

[D_Glenn]

There is the exterior Dantian, which is the one that I’m talking about here. The Transverse Abdominus Muscles are a major component of this, and are what you learn to control and use. From being used they can grow and become thicker and stronger. Which can make a person’s Dantian more solid. During practice or in a fight one has to activate the muscles to form a hollow space. Having a solid Dantian is not a passive thing. This can form a hollow space in your abdomen. (Not literally hollow, that’s just my translation of the Chinese word Kong). This space is the interior Dantian, or what is also considered the true Dantian. So then we can look at what is inside this area of our abdomen- the Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) and the Abdominal Aorta. Both of which are lined with Smooth Muscle Cells which allows them to dilate and constrict. A dilated IVC can store deoxygenated blood to prevent a rush of blood flowing up into the heart. In the Zhuang practices one of the things we focus on is getting a smooth flow of blood out to our fingertips. We want to unblock tiny arteries and capillaries, some of which are only the diameter of a single red blood cell. But we can’t force blood through them because that just compounds a blockage. Instead we need to think about how it’s the dilation of our veins that syphon blood back to the heart. So it’s through relaxation that we increase blood flow to our extremities. And having a hollow relaxed space inside our abdomen can allow the largest vein in our body to control this syphoning action. So even in the midst of a fight, as long as you have a solid exterior Dantian then you can ideally remain calmer and not lose your breath.
These are just some of the things attributed the Dantian(s). In my school we typically refer to the exterior Dantian as the Yao and the interior one is the Dantian. But those same conventions aren’t really in the classical IMA texts, so I just use Dantian to avoid confusion.


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[D_Glenn]

In the Chinese Martial arts building up a stong Dantian is compared to the way people weave baskets. Where all the pieces or strands of the material being used is carefully 盤繞 Pán​rào (intertwined, weaved, woven) together.

So a Dantian is like this woven basket



But Dong Haichuan figured out a way, through Circle Walking (a Xing (Moving) Zhuang exercise), that by wringing out/ twisting and untwisting the Yao, as you take each step, that he could create a solid Dantian that is also flexible. Like this type of basket:

[D_Glenn]

One thing that might be important to understanding how the Yao functions is that it has two methods- 1. shun (moving with) 2.ni (moving against).

In the Shun method the attacking arm is moving in the same direction as the Yao. (Actually it’s the shoulder of the back arm (supporting arm) that really needs to be turning in the same direction as the Yao.)

Then there is Ni, which is where the Dantian first twists in the direction where you want the attacking arm to end up, and then the Yao quickly springs back in the opposite direction and rotates the attacking arm around the Yao. Kind of like a Trebuchet, maybe.

So Shun is direct power. Ni is an elastic power.

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