What is Chansijing?

When the word movement is used in the literature of Taijiquan, it almost invariably refers to chansijing. Chansijing is the winding movements of the arms and legs around their transverse axes. In the old saying that Taijiquan is “whole body movement,” it references the extension of this method from the arms to the legs, to the “whole body.”  It is sometimes called the “silk-reeling” exercise, the winding movements of the arms and legs being comparable to the way in which silk is pulled from its cocoon, slow and steady without any stops and breaks. In common lore, the rotation of the palms is indicative, but far from proof, of chansijing in the upper body, and the turning of the wast the sign of chansijing in the legs.