This concept is a whole new “ball of wax” to add to the mix. A lot of martial arts coordinate the waist in movements to generate power, however I don’t run across many that coordinate dantien rotation into the mix. In the waist power generation method, one basically turns from the waist to execute an action. But using the dantien is a much harder thing to achieve.

As noted in the Beginner’s Guide to Dantien Rotation, the dantien is the region located within the lower abdomen area. In chen style, all of the moves should be guided by the dantien. Instead of having the whole body move as one unit, it’s almost as if the rotation of the dantien is initiating the movement with various spiraling rotations, which then get “spiraled” out and expressed in the extremities.

Chen style is known for it’s spiraling energy that can be seen in the forms. To help train in the dantien rotation, I’ve been working on some silk reeling exercises (aka chan su gong) in addition to standing meditation postures knowns as zhan zhuang or the universal post posture. Though the postures look easy, it’s actually quite hard to calm the monkey mind. I’m just hoping some day that I might be calm and controlled enough to move like Chen Xiao Wang … maybe someday if I stick to the training methods. The key is practice, practice, practice.