The difference and connection between yoga and Tai Chi

They are native physical and mental cultivation systems that were born in ancient India and ancient China respectively. The core difference is rooted in the underlying philosophical logic of the two places, extending to the differences in movement patterns and practice paths. The core connection is that they ultimately point to the ultimate goal of "unity of body and mind, in sync with nature", and a large number of fusion practices have appeared in contemporary application scenarios.

I have practiced Chen-style Tai Chi for 6 years and Ashtanga yoga for 3 years. I also have many friends who practice both practices. I have heard more prejudices and arguments than formal teaching content - some people say that Tai Chi is "slow-motion yoga", while others say that yoga is the "Indian version of Tai Chi". In fact, this is not the case.

Last week, I took some students from the yoga studio to my master's Tai Chi studio to experience it. The feedback after one class was particularly interesting: a girl who had practiced Tai Chi for two years said, "I can't find the point of exertion even when turning around in Tai Chi. Her whole body is soft, unlike yoga where you can tell where the tightness is when you stretch it out."; After her retirement, an aunt who had studied Tai Chi for three years tried the downward dog pose and said, "You guys are just stretching your tendons. When I stand, my energy sinks to the soles of my feet. I always feel like you are floating." This is actually the most intuitive difference in movement patterns between the two: most yoga posture exercises focus on "stretching, stabilizing, and fighting gravity." Whether it is dynamic flow yoga, Ashtanga, or static Yin yoga, Iyengar, the core is to adjust the alignment of muscles and joints in specific postures. , cooperate with breathing to open restricted parts of the body; and the core of Tai Chi is "loosening, spiraling, and borrowing gravity." Whether it is the Chen-style silk-winding technique or the Yang-style slow frame, what is required is not to use brute force, but to let the force penetrate along the muscles and joints, the movements follow a spiral arc, and the weight sinks all to the feet.

To put it more deeply, the philosophical background of the two is completely different. The underlying logic of yoga comes from the ancient Indian Samkhya philosophy, which talks about "the unity of Brahman and self." Among the eight branches of traditional yoga, postures are only the third level. There are breath control, restraint, concentration, meditation, and samadhi above. The ultimate goal is to break away from the shackles of the body and achieve absolute freedom of the spirit; while the underlying logic of Tai Chi is the middle level. The Taoist philosophy of yin and yang talks about the "unity of man and nature". Movements require movement without movement, and silence without movement. The transformation of yin and yang follows the trend. Traditional Tai Chi is originally a type of martial arts. While practicing physical fitness, you also practice martial arts. Ultimately, you need to understand the laws of nature through physical practice, which is what we call "entering the Tao through martial arts."

Of course, there are many debates about this point among different schools. Several friends I know who practice traditional yoga feel that Tai Chi focuses too much on the use of physical strength and is still centered on the "ego" level, which is too far away from true spiritual awakening. Many old Tai Chi practitioners of my master's generation feel that the yoga on the market today is too focused on difficult poses, causing joint damage and lumbar protrusion. It is completely putting the cart before the horse. Both statements have their own truths. The essence is that the traditional practice paths of the two are inherently different. No one is right or wrong.

But what’s interesting is that, putting aside the obsession of these traditional genres, you will find that the two actually have much more in common than you think. The most direct one is the importance of breathing. Whether it is yoga’s Ujjayi breathing and abdominal breathing, or Tai Chi’s reverse abdominal breathing and Qi sinking into the Dantian, the core requirement is that breathing and movements must be at the same frequency, and the body must be driven by breathing rather than by brute force. I used to practice the Ashtanga Sun Salutation, and I always liked to hold my breath while doing the movements, and my shoulders and neck were as tight as rocks. Later, I brought the "relaxation and sinking" logic of Tai Chi into it. When I rise, I inhale to sink my shoulders, and when I fall down, I exhale to relax my waist. After practicing, I no longer have neck pain.

Last year I went to Hangzhou to attend a mind-body healing summit. There was a teacher who came back from the United States who taught a class that was particularly popular. She integrated the silk-winding power of Tai Chi into yoga flow sequences, and added the core stability training of yoga into Tai Chi stances. Many students said that in the past, they always felt unstable in their lower body when practicing yoga, and they always felt tight in their backs when practicing Tai Chi. But taking her class solved all of this. Nowadays, many rehabilitation institutions will also combine the two. When doing balance training for middle-aged and elderly people, they use Tai Chi's single-leg stance to practice stability, and yoga's seated angle pose and cat-cow pose to practice waist and back flexibility. The effect is much better than practicing either alone.

Someone asked me before if many of the current "zen yoga" and "tai chi yoga" are IQ taxes? In fact, it cannot be generalized. Reliable integration is based on a sufficient understanding of both systems. If you just insert the cloud hand of Tai Chi into a yoga class and call it Tai Chi yoga, it will definitely be deceiving. But it would be a good thing if we could really combine the advantages of the two, for example, use the sequence logic of yoga to solve the common problems of waist slumping and shrugging in Tai Chi practice, and use the relaxation logic of Tai Chi to solve the problem of muscle compensation in yoga practice.

In fact, in the final analysis, whether it is yoga or Tai Chi, they are just tools in essence. If your body feels tight when you usually sit in the office and you want to find some exercise to stretch out, you can choose whichever one you want; if you are too impatient and want to practice calming down, Tai Chi might be the faster way to get started; if you always feel that your body is stiff and panicked, it is okay to start with the basic stretching of yoga. There is no need to score a high or low score. The one that makes you feel physically and mentally comfortable after practicing is the most suitable for you.