The relationship between yoga and tai chi

The essence of yoga and Tai Chi is Two physical, mental and spiritual cultivation systems with the same core and different paths of cultivation ——The core points all point to the "coordinated unity of body, breath and heart", but from the origin logic, action path to the final cultivation direction, the differences are far greater than the superficial similarities. There is no need to forcefully bind them into "Eastern and Western slow movements", nor do they need to deliberately oppose each other to differentiate themselves.

When I was leading yin yoga classes at a yoga studio, I met an Aunt Zhang who had been practicing Chen-style Tai Chi for 12 years. She could stand more stable in downward dog pose than many veteran members who had been practicing for three or four years, and her core was not swaying at all. However, she always clenched her fists when doing baby pose, and her shoulders and neck were as hard as stone slabs, and she could not loosen them no matter how much she guided her. Later, when we were chatting after class, she laughed to herself and said that the whole life of Tai Chi requires "loose but not unremitting, tight but not stiff". Her strength has long been accustomed to being hidden in the bones. She has to completely dump the weight to the ground like yoga requires. She always feels "rootless" and very panicked.

But it would be wrong to say that the two have nothing to do with each other. If you ask any practitioner who has been involved in the two sports for more than 10 years, they will tell you that the core things are the same - yoga talks about "Prana" (life energy) flowing along the chakras, and Tai Chi talks about "Qi" running along the meridians. The essence is to use movement adjustments to rub open the blocked areas in the body and let the energy flow smoothly. There is also breathing. Yoga's Ujjayi breathing requires movements and breathing to be completely synchronized, inhaling and exhaling. Tai Chi talks about "qi urging the body to move", which also means inhaling when rising and exhaling when falling. Even the details of "breathing without the mouth, relying solely on the nose to sink to the Dantian" are exactly the same. I attended an industry conference on physical and mental healing last year. There was an Ashtanga master from Rishikesh who followed the 24-position simplified Tai Chi for the first time. After half a set, I stopped and sighed, saying, "This is moving meditation." I immediately grasped the common root: the two are not ordinary fitness in nature. They use body movements to bring your wandering attention back to the present, and finally achieve a state of "mind concentration."

Nowadays, there are many "Tai Chi yoga" fusion courses on the market. I have friends who offer this type of class and say that the feedback is very good - yoga's alignment training can help Tai Chi practitioners adjust the problems of high and low shoulders and hip tension accumulated from years of boxing. The spiral and heavy training of Tai Chi can also help yoga practitioners improve the problem of "stretching muscles" and leaving the core empty. In particular, many people who practice flow yoga and Ashtanga are prone to waist and knee strain. Standing in Wuji Zhuang for two months can alleviate most of the problems. But most traditional practitioners don’t buy it. A fifth-generation inheritor of Yang Style Tai Chi I know complained to me, saying that many people’s fusion nowadays is “fur grafting”: the core of Tai Chi is “to guide the air with the mind and move without intention.” When practicing, you can’t think about “I want to open my shoulders” or “I want to loosen my hips.” If you have any obsession, you will be wrong. ； But the logic of most yoga practices now is "goal-oriented", which requires hip opening, back bending, and high posture. When integrating with this kind of utilitarianism, the essence of both sides is lost in the end.

I practice both myself, and to be honest, I don’t deliberately integrate them. I practiced Ashtanga too hard before, and the intervertebral disc in my waist was a bit herniated. I followed the doctor's advice and stopped jumping strings for three months. I stood for 20 minutes in the Wuji Zhuang every morning. Instead, I no longer had pain in more than three months. Later, when I practiced yoga, I would not deliberately add Tai Chi movements. Even when standing in the mountain pose, I would unconsciously use the Tai Chi feeling of "stepping on the spring and the head of the head to find the center of gravity." On the contrary, it was much more comfortable than the previous standard of "aligning knees and toes, and neutral pelvis".

In fact, ordinary practitioners have no need to worry about the relationship between the two and who is better. If you are new to this type of exercise and like to have clear movement standards and be able to quickly see improvements in your posture, you are right to start with yoga. ； If you are slow-tempered, don't pursue quick results, and just want to find something to calm down, Tai Chi would be more suitable. It doesn’t matter if you both like it. When practicing yoga, concentrate on feeling the stretching of the muscles and the flow of breathing. When practicing Tai Chi, concentrate on feeling the roots under your feet and the flow of energy in the body. You can feel comfortable however you want. Anyway, in the end, it’s all for the sake of “peace of mind and body.”