Yoga and Tai Chi are connected

Yoga and Tai Chi are indeed connected. Both are essentially mindfulness practices that use the body as the carrier. It seems that one originated from ancient Indian civilization and the other is rooted in traditional Chinese philosophy. In the end, they both point to a state of life in which "body-breath-mind" is highly synergistic. This kind of similarity is not a far-fetched cross-cultural phenomenon. It is a consensus reached by countless people who have practiced both at the same time.

When I was doing Ashtanga morning exercises at a yoga studio, I met an aunt who had been practicing Tai Chi for 12 years. The first time she came to practice the standing postures, she was ridiculously stable. When the knees of Warrior II were over the toes, I said, "Move the center of gravity a little to the back feet and relax the waist." She adjusted it more smoothly than a young girl who had been practicing for half a year. She came down and said to me, "Hey, isn't this just a different stance in Tai Chi?"

Of course, if these words are put into the academic circle or the small circle of senior practitioners, they will be scolded if they are not accurate. Many scholars who do cultural studies will say that the origin of yoga is the practice method of ancient Indian Brahmanism, and Tai Chi is a branch of martial arts derived from Taoist thought. The cultural roots are thousands of miles apart, and it is simply a matter of trying to make them similar. There are also teachers who have been practicing pure traditional yoga for 20 or 30 years. They think that the movements of Tai Chi are all round and arcing, and that yoga has a large number of extreme poses with sharp edges, which are not the same thing at all.

But if you have really practiced hard for two months, you will know that most of these controversies confuse "cultural origins" and "practical experience".

Let’s talk about the most basic breathing requirements. The Ujjayi breathing in yoga requires the throat to be slightly contracted, the breath to be slow and even, close to the spine, and the chest and abdomen to be linked without raising the shoulders. It is basically the same thing as the saying in Tai Chi that “qi sinks into the Dantian, uses the mind to lead the breath, and uses the breath to promote the form.” They both tell you not to use your chest to breathe shallowly, and tie every movement to your breath. Don’t practice and let your mind drift away to think about what to eat in the evening or what meeting you will have in the afternoon. I have met my elder brother who has been practicing Tai Chi for five years. When I took the yoga pranayama class for the first time, I found the touch of Ujjayi's breath in ten minutes. I don't know how much faster than many novices I taught before.

There are also two requirements for "looseness", which are almost like those taught by a teacher. Many novices misunderstand yoga as stretching the legs to the head, and Tai Chi as slowing down like a snail. In fact, the pitfalls of both are the same: forced postures are all compensatory stiffness, and Tai Chi postures that are slumped are all loose energy. The "correct position" mentioned in yoga has always been to return the joints to the most appropriate force line position under the premise of relaxing the muscles. The "loose but unremitting" in Tai Chi is exactly the same. It is definitely not right for you to squat down and be as stiff as a board. What you are looking for is the subtle middle state of "tight but not stiff, loose but not collapsed".

What’s interesting is that last year I went to a traditional health camp in Wudang Mountain. There was a girl who had practiced Anusara Yoga for seven years and learned cloud hands from the Taoist priest. The Taoist priest patted her arm and said, “Don’t use your arms to exert force. The energy comes from the waist.” Girl, oh She made a sound and muttered "activate the core and close the root lock" while adjusting. The Taoist Master didn't understand what the root lock was (the Bandha bandha in yoga), so he tried her hand to test her strength, and she laughed on the spot: "Yes, that's it. ”You see, the terminology systems are thousands of miles apart, and the physical sensations cannot lie.

Relevant studies on exercise physiology have also supported this. For people who have practiced yoga and Tai Chi for a long time, there is almost no significant difference in the improvement of core stability, vestibular function, and cortisol levels. Both are low-impact, high-mindfulness exercises, and their improvement effect on chronic pain and anxiety is even better than many high-intensity interval training.

Of course, there is no need to forcefully say that the two are exactly the same. What many senior practitioners say is actually very true: what is similar is the underlying physical and mental logic, but there are differences in the upper-level practical path and ultimate direction. There are a lot of postures in yoga that actively explore the boundaries of the body, such as handstands and backbends. Tai Chi is more about moving in a circle according to the strength of the body, and there is less confrontational training. ； The ultimate philosophical direction of yoga is "the unity of Brahman and self", which dissolves the boundary between the individual and the universe. The ultimate pursuit of Tai Chi is "the unity of nature and man", which emphasizes the individual's compliance with the laws of nature. These are real differences, and there is no need to ignore them in order to make "connections".

In fact, in the final analysis, it is not that important to worry about whether the two are connected. People who have really practiced it will not worry about whether they are standing on a yoga mat or a Tai Chi stance mat, or whether they are adjusting Ujayi breathing or Dantian Qi. Whichever one can make your waist not feel sore when you stand, your shoulders not shrug when you sit, and your chest not feel tight when you breathe, and which one can make you take ten minutes to spend some time with yourself peacefully on days when you are out of breath, whichever one is the right thing for you. After all, whether it is yoga or Tai Chi, what they essentially teach you is not any advanced skills, but just how to get along well with your body.