Are yoga and Tai Chi similar?

The answer is yes. The two have a lot in common in terms of core exercise logic and practical operations. However, after all, they were born in completely different cultural soils, and their cores are also fundamentally different, so they cannot be roughly equated.

I have been practicing Ashtanga yoga for five years, and I have studied with a master Chen-style Tai Chi master in the park for three years. I often use the two techniques in conjunction with each other in class, and the experience is particularly obvious. Just last month, I took several veteran students from the yoga studio to experience a Tai Chi charity class. When the teacher came out with the requirements for standing on the Wuji pole, several girls laughed on the spot - stressing the three points of the foot, slightly bending the knees but not locking them, curling the tailbone inward, and leading up to the hundred points. Isn't this the standard requirement for standing in the yoga mountain pose? When I stood for five minutes, someone whispered that the core was tight but not stiff, and the feeling of breathing sinking down to the lower abdomen was exactly the same as when maintaining the third warrior pose.

Speaking of breathing, Ujjayi breathing, which is commonly used in yoga flow yoga, requires the throat chakra to be slightly closed, breathing slowly and deeply, and following the flow of the postures throughout the process. Tai Chi pays more attention to "leading the shape with the breath". It is an old routine all the way, and when the cloud hand rises and falls, The breathing node was all stuck. I used to practice yoga and couldn't help but hold my breath in order to break the posture. Later, I brought back the habit of "breathing first, then movement, then" in Tai Chi. Instead of relying on the teacher to push the lower wheel pose, I just pushed it up by myself, and it never got stuck on my waist.

However, not everyone agrees that the two are connected. My Tai Chi master always tells me that Tai Chi is ultimately derived from traditional martial arts, and its ultimate pursuit is to "use form to guide Qi and use Qi to control spirit." At the most superficial level, it has a complete logic of offense and defense, and at the most advanced level, it is in line with Taoism. The family's practice path of "unity of man and nature", the root of yoga is the practice culture of ancient India. The demands of different schools are very different. Some pursue muscle strength, and some focus on rehabilitation and physical therapy. The core is not the same thing, and the forced "interconnection" will lose the roots of both sides.

In fact, for ordinary enthusiasts like us, there is no need to worry about whether it is "interconnected" or not, as long as it is easy to use, that's it. I now stand for 10 minutes every time before doing yoga to open up my core. The old knee injury I suffered from doing yoga before has become much better after standing for half a year. ； Every time I feel tightness in my shoulders and back after doing Tai Chi, I can do a few sets of cat-cow poses and seated spinal twists in yoga, and the stiffness in my body will immediately dissipate. To put it bluntly, both Tai Chi and yoga ultimately help us understand our bodies better.