Silk reeling

In order to draw out the silk successfully, the action must be smooth and consistent without jerking or changing direction sharply.

Winding silk energy is applied in pushing hands when opponents probe, use locking maneuvers, neutralize, vie for control, and practice tactical movements around each other's space.

They are applied from anywhere on the body: the arms, legs, hips and waist, with the body moving continuously, with endless circularity, wrapped together like intertwined filaments of silk....One who is skilled at winding silk energy is keenly sensitive and can accurately probe and stay with the opponent as he extends and contracts.

[1]The method for silk reeling in the human body was described and illustrated in Chen Xin's classic, Chen Style Taijiquan Illustrated and Explained (陳氏太極拳圖說; Chén shì tàijí quán túshuō) published posthumously in 1933.

Chán sī jìn (纏絲勁) is not easily translated but refers to the development of a spiral (helical) refined force—rather than brute strength—and the ability to direct that to a point of application.