D_Glenn wrote:One time when we were talking about Taijiquan my Bagua teacher showed me the Chansi Gong and how it links to the Dantian. I put my palm on his abdomen and it feels like a finger pokes into your palm and then as the arm is moving in circles the ‘fingertip’ moves in a circle that perfectly matches the movement of the arm. When the arm stops it stops. When the arm reverses direction, it reverses direction. Years later when I met CXW he let me put my hand on his abdomen and feel the same thing. Even though I felt it before it’s still a creepy feeling and you want to flinch away. He was lecturing that doing the form is more important than Chansi Gong. And that it’s really the form and all the martial training that develops this. Chansi gong is just to refine that connection to the Dantian.
I was wondering if anyone has felt this or practices this?
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I don't really know what I'm doing. When I am doing certain movements, my dantian appears to move in order to support the motion of the body. This seems to be a natural result of trying to co-ordinate the movements and breathing. The most powerful movements are when I do movements similar to sun style open and close, or 'draw the bow on both sides', which feels like it is closing in on the front, like what would happen if you poked a soft ball, the front of the ball would form two ridges which would get closer to each other as it folded in. Another powerful kind of feeling is a forward and backward (up and down) kind of force which causes or co-relates with the water channel to lengthen and contract. It's also useful in bow stance where I can 'lock in' the stance by 'tucking in the tailbone'. There are other kinds of movements, which feel like the dantian area is both moving, or rather, not moving, because it appears to be co-ordinated with the movement. It's a different kind of feeling. Almost like it is not moving, but because the body is moving it is clearly moving. If it wasn't moving it would be sluggish. So, it is like it's not moving, but I think, somehow, this is a development. The main appearance of this third kind of force is when twisting the body, where the 'internal motion', or, not motion (???) stabilizes the body and keeps the stance connected. I have most recently experienced this with standard silk reeling (left and right) where the stance seems "locked in" during the motion. It can sometimes take great effort to move the dantian in this way. I am as of yet still experimenting if this is really moving FROM the dantian or using it as a driver, or merely a CO-ORDINATION. Frankly, I consider the training method an INDUCTION. So there are various modes. It's all really quite interesting.
When I play with this kind of motion, it helps me do certain kinds of fajing in my chen style. Most notably, step up to seven stars, and the fajing at the end of the form. It is both, moving the body around a central point, and also, the dantian is a sphere-like object which can move in various ways, and also, a sort of whipping motion, depending on how you want to try and use it. But the main point is that you have some amount of control over the central area, which allows you to move more efficiently and with more control and balance.
The more qigong and tai chi I do the more I discover about this kind of movement.
As for dantians poking out, never felt it, but I did feel a finger poke
my dantian. But it wasn't a physical finger. That is the skill I find most interesting.