Which is better, yoga or tai chi?

If you really want to say which one is better, there is actually no standard answer - the one that suits your physical condition and practice needs is the best.

Not long ago, my best friend gave birth to a baby for half a year, and her rectus abdominis separated two fingers. At first, she followed her mother to the community Tai Chi team to do 24 poses. After two months of doing it, her belly was still flabby and unchanged. Later, she went to a special postpartum yoga class and followed the teacher to do the core activation sequence. Within a month, it shrunk to half a finger. She now tells everyone she meets that yoga is more effective than Tai Chi. But her mother didn’t agree with it at all. The old lady had followed the trend of practicing flow yoga for a period of time. In order to compete with others in the split range, she stretched her hamstring muscles hard for less than half a month. Later, she switched to Tai Chi and persisted for three years. Her previous cold legs and stubborn insomnia were all cured. She said that Tai Chi is a good thing to nourish people from the root.

There is actually nothing wrong with both of these statements, but the underlying logic of the two movements is different. Tai Chi evolved from our traditional martial arts. It emphasizes relaxation and guiding the Qi with the mind. The movements may seem slow, but in fact, the muscles and fascia of the whole body are working together. The exercises for the heart, lungs, and core endurance are gentle and silent, and will not cause too much impact on the joints. I used to have a knee When I have synovitis and I can't stand on a low post, I just slowly do cloud hands for 20 minutes. My whole body is warm and my knees don't hurt. The 72-year-old Uncle Zhang downstairs in my house had grade 3 hypertension. He persisted in taking the old-fashioned medicine for three years. Now he has reduced the amount of antihypertensive drugs by half, and he usually climbs the sixth floor without gasping for breath. Yoga originated in ancient India and has evolved into numerous subdivisions. There are Ashtanga that pursues strength and difficulty, restorative yoga that can be practiced while lying down with a pillow, and meditation courses that specialize in breath control, which will be more adaptable to specific problems. Strong, for example, if you have been sitting for a long time and have rounded shoulders and hunched back, and want to adjust your posture, you can see obvious changes in the shoulder opening and core strengthening movements in yoga after practicing for half a month. If you practice Tai Chi to the point where you can accurately "sink your shoulders, drop your elbows" and "bring your chest and pull your back", it may take you half a year to get the hang of it.

This is not to say that one person will win the other. There are many friends around me who practice both at the same time. They say that the abdominal breathing method of Tai Chi combined with the deep stretching of yoga can relieve the compensatory muscle tension that is easy to occur when practicing yoga. The core stability training of yoga can also help to stand more stable when doing Tai Chi. They are completely complementary.

If you are really confused about what to choose, why not take two weekends and go to the community Tai Chi team for two morning exercises, and then go to the yoga studio to experience two introductory classes. Whichever one makes you feel comfortable and you are willing to continue will be the best for you. After all, when it comes to exercise, those who can persist are the most profitable.