The relationship between yoga and tai chi

Yoga and Tai Chi are two major physical and mental practice systems that were born in ancient Indian civilization and Chinese civilization respectively and developed independently. The underlying logic of the two is highly homologous, and their practice goals also have many overlaps. However, there are essential differences in cultural roots, movement logic, and practice paths. There is no connection in historical inheritance, and there is no distinction between superior and inferior. They are life practice paths of "seeking tranquility in movement" that were nurtured by Eastern and Western civilizations respectively.

As a dabbler who has been practicing Hatha Yoga for six years and followed the Chen-style Tai Chi master in my neighborhood for three years, I met someone in the gym a while ago who asked, "Why are you still offering Tai Chi classes? Isn't this Chinese yoga?" ”To be honest, I have heard this statement no less than ten times. Even many people in the industry think that there is no difference in essence between the two, and there is no problem in practicing together.

But when this statement is put into traditional practice circles, most of the old-school inheritors on both sides will shake their heads. My master is most annoyed when he sees people deliberately stretching their muscles and pressing their legs when doing Tai Chi. He says that they have twisted the "relaxation strength" of Tai Chi into the "stretching strength" of yoga. This is purely a waste of watermelon. ； I went to attend an Iyengar yoga workshop before, and the Indian teacher who taught the class was full of praise for Tai Chi, but he also made it clear that the logic of yoga postures is to "open the joint restrictions of the body layer by layer", which is completely different from Tai Chi's "leading the breath with the mind and running through it step by step" and cannot be forced. You see, even practitioners’ opinions are far different.

However, regardless of the scholastic views, the common points between the two are actually hidden in the lowest level of practice logic. I used to practice Yoga Mountain Stand, and the teacher repeatedly emphasized that the feet should be on the ground at three points, the knees should be aligned with the second toe, the tailbone should be slightly curled, and the top of the head would seem to be lifted up by a thread. Later, when I learned to stand in the Hunyuan Pose, the requirements the master said were exactly the same. When I stood for about 20 minutes, the numbness from the back heel to the back of my neck was almost exactly the same as the feeling of transparency when I reached the limit of the Hold Warrior Three Posture. Not to mention that both put breathing at the core: the "prana (life energy)" in yoga is guided by breathing, and the "qi sinking in the Dantian" in Tai Chi also requires movements to completely fit the rhythm of breathing. To put it bluntly, they are all using conscious movement control to bring people back to the present moment from messy thoughts, and ultimately achieve a state of physical and mental harmony.

But if we say that the two are the same thing because of these similarities, it would be a serious misunderstanding. A while ago, I took a friend who has practiced flow yoga for ten years to a Tai Chi experience class. She said she was tired after doing the cloud hands three times and said, "I usually can't even breathe for an hour of flow yoga. Why is this slow movement so laborious?" ”She was used to the logic of flow yoga that "breathing drives the muscles to stretch". As soon as she raised her hands, she subconsciously stretched her arms and shoulders. She completely failed to get the requirement of Tai Chi of "hands on with the belt and strength from the feet". All she used was useless and clumsy strength, and of course she was tired. Fundamentally speaking, yoga was originally a practice method developed by ancient Indian practitioners in order to achieve the "unity of Brahman and self". The core is to get rid of the constraints of the body through the combination of postures, breathing and meditation. ； Tai Chi was born out of the yin and yang thought of Chinese Taoism. It was originally a martial art that can be used for self-defense and health maintenance. The core is to find the balance of yin and yang in the opening and closing of movement and stillness. It is different from the origin.

There are a lot of arguments online about the two. Some people say that Tai Chi is the Chinese version of yoga, while others say that yoga is an "imported product" that is not as reliable as the Tai Chi of our ancestors. In fact, there is really no need to argue. I have previously checked related papers on sports and human body science. There is no significant difference in core stability, heart rate variability, and stress hormone level improvement among people who practice Tai Chi and Hatha Yoga regularly for a long time. However, because Tai Chi requires higher control of the lower limbs, it has a more obvious improvement in the balance ability of middle-aged and elderly people, while yoga postures are more targeted at the flexibility of the shoulder, neck and spine, and are more effective in improving the shoulder and neck problems of sedentary office workers. To put it bluntly, the suitable groups and needs are different, so there is no difference.

My daily practice now is to practice yoga flow to open my shoulders and hips three days a week. After practicing, I will do yoga for ten minutes to loosen the tight muscles. It is much more comfortable than lying on the mat directly after practicing before. In fact, in the final analysis, whether you are doing downward dog pose on a yoga mat or doing cloud hands under the shade of a tree in the park, isn’t the ultimate goal to make yourself comfortable physically and mentally open? The branch of entangled with which of the two is good and who is bad, and which one is which, ends up falling into the inferior category.