Are yoga and Tai Chi similar?

As a fan who has practiced Chen-style Tai Chi for 8 years and practiced Hatha yoga on and off for 5 years, I can say with certainty that the two certainly have similarities, but because they originate from completely different cultural cores, they cannot be roughly equated. There have always been objections in this circle that "the two have nothing to do with each other", and both sides have solid evidence.

If you go to the park near your home in the morning and stand next to an old man doing Tai Chi for ten minutes, you will find that he inhales slowly when he rises and exhales slowly when he presses the posture. The speed of his movements all follow his breathing without any rush. This is almost the same logic as the teacher in the yoga studio repeatedly reminds him, "Always follow your breathing and don't hold your breath to get in position." Also, the most important thing about Tai Chi is "intention and not force". When punching, you should not stiffen your shoulders and back. You should focus on the movement of your waist and hips. Don't look at the people next to you to compare who is in a lower position. Isn't this what is often said in yoga: "Look inside, don't compare, look for the stretching of muscles instead of tightness"? I always got stuck when practicing Cloud Hands before, and couldn't find the linkage feeling of "waist and hand movements". Then I practiced the Cat-Cow pose of yoga for half a month to find the feeling of spinal movement step by step. Then I went back to practice Cloud Hands and it suddenly became smoother. At that time, I felt that the core requirements for body perception of these two things were really similar.

But I have often been criticized for this point of view. When an old boxer who practiced boxing with me heard me talking about this, he lost his temper at the time and said that Tai Chi is essentially a martial art, and every move has a logic of offense and defense. A teacher I know who has been teaching Ashtanga for ten years also disagrees. He said that the training direction of yoga for body ligaments and strength is to stretch and open. You can see that people who have practiced yoga for a long time can easily open their hips and shoulders.

In fact, I don’t think it’s necessary to fight so hard. Last year, the old boxer’s knee meniscus was worn out, and the doctor wouldn’t let him stand on a too low stance. I gave him a few static yoga exercises to strengthen the quadriceps and protect the knee joint. He followed it for two months, and later on, he never had pain in his knees from standing stance. He even said, “This is a different way to loosen the knees in Tai Chi.” In action, he practiced those movements for ten minutes every day. To put it bluntly, whether it is Tai Chi or yoga, in the final analysis, they are all methods developed by people to talk to their own bodies. Just like some people like to drink soy milk and others like to drink milk. They are all nutritious. There is no need to say who is better, and there is no need to force them together. You can practice comfortably and slowly touch the boundaries of your body, which is better than anything else.