Which is better, yoga or tai chi?

Having practiced Chen-style Tai Chi for 12 years and taking systematic classes with professional yoga teachers for 5 years, I can directly say that there is no final conclusion on "who is better" between the two. It all depends on your needs and the current fitness of your body. A few years ago, I met a girl who worked on the Internet. She was so anxious that she had to take half a sleeping pill every day to fall asleep. At first, I dragged her to a Tai Chi experience class. Her feet were numb when she stood and she couldn't stand it for ten minutes. As a result, she was diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis last year, and the doctor warned her not to do too strenuous exercise. After practicing flow yoga, she still felt too tired to relax, so she came back to me to learn slow-paced Tai Chi. Now she does a set of 24 postures every morning, and the movements of loosening her hips and lowering her shoulders are smooth, and she can exhale the stuffy air that has been stuck in her chest for a long time. At this time, Tai Chi has become a more suitable option for her.

There are many people around us who are determined to stand on a certain side. The 68-year-old Aunt Zhang in the Tai Chi team in our community followed the trend and signed up for a yoga class at the University for the Elderly a few years ago. The teacher forced her to do the splits at the waist, stretching her waist on the spot. She lay down for more than half a month before she recovered. After practicing Tai Chi with us for half a year, she has not suffered from the old problem of lumbar protrusion. Now everyone she meets says that Tai Chi is much more reliable than yoga and is more friendly to the joints of middle-aged and elderly people. A 98-year-old girl I met in a yoga class didn’t think so. She originally took the class to practice her waistline and improve her rounded shoulders and hunchback. The core activation and shoulder and neck extension postures of yoga are highly targeted. She saw the effect after practicing for three months. She can also take beautiful pictures of the postures and post them on social media. She always said that Tai Chi is slow and “too old-fashioned” and not suitable for young people like her.

In fact, upon closer inspection, there are many similarities in the core of the two. They both pay attention to the adaptation of breathing and movements, and both require you to draw your attention back to your body. However, yoga originated in ancient India, and different schools have stronger biases. There are Flow Yoga that focuses on explosive power, and Yin Yoga that focuses on relaxation, which adjusts parts of the body more accurately.； Tai Chi, which was born out of traditional Chinese martial arts, pays more attention to the movement of qi and the connection of strength. The whole set of movements is smooth and smooth, and it has stronger coordination and internal conditioning of the whole body. If you really have to choose, don’t worry about it. Take the time to take two or three trial classes each. After practicing, you will feel comfortable and willing to stick to it for a long time. It is the best for you.