COILING POWER AND THE GRAPPLING ARTS

 by Phillip Starr

Some time ago, I was visiting with a martial arts instructor who taught a form of grappling. The subject of “coiling power” (aka. “chansi-jin”; see my book, “Developing Jin”) came up and he expressed some doubt that it could be applied to his particular discipline. I disagreed...the fact is that although coiling power can't be applied to all grappling techniques (just as it cannot necessarily be applied to all striking and kicking techniques), it can easily be applied through various throwing, and especially joint twisting, techniques; it would make them explosively powerful. Most neijia practitioners who are familiar with coiling power never consider it's application to grappling arts, so let's have a quick look...

Some time ago I was practicing with a senior student. I executed a quick joint-twisting technique with coiling power, but did not carry it all the way through to it's conclusion. I could feel exactly what would happen if I released the power (fa-jin) and completed the technique. The joint wouldn't just break; it would virtually explode! It was all really very simple to do. We practiced various other joint-twisting techniques and found that coiling power could be easily applied with almost all of them.

“Good Lord”, I remarked. “Imagine what an aikido or shuai-jiao practitioner could do with this power!” I quickly saw that coiling power could also be readily applied to quite a number of throwing techniques as well. The added impetus to the throw turned it into an absolutely devastating technique. You see, in most throwing techniques the receiver is simply thrown and falls to the ground (or hopefully, the mat). Gravity does the work for the thrower; if his foe is not familiar with correct methods of breakfalling, his sudden and traumatic bonding with the ground is usually very painful and can result in serious injury. However, I found that coiling power could actually cause the receiver to ACCELERATE as he falls. He is accelerating as he descends to the ground, making the throw much more combat effective!

If the throw involves a joint-twisting technique wherein the receiver has the choice (and he has to make up his mind VERY quickly) to allow his joint to be broken or go along with the throw, the throw becomes even more destructive. The joint explodes as the throw is executed and then again, the assailant accelerates as he (briefly) heads south to embrace “mother earth!”

The use of coiling power in the grappling arts is something that, in my opinion, requires more research. Very little, if anything, has ever been written or even spoken about this subject.