The similarities between yoga and Tai Chi

Essentially, they are all mindfulness sports with the "trinity calibration of body, breath and mind" as the core. They are completely different from competitive sports that pursue faster, higher and stronger sports.

I have been practicing Ashtanga yoga for six years. I was taught by a Chen-style Tai Chi master from the park near my home for the past three years. I have touched a little bit of the doors on both sides. At first, I felt that one of them was wearing tight clothing on a yoga mat, and the other was wearing loose cloth shoes and stepping on the floor tiles. They were incapable of reaching each other. , it wasn’t until Master Wang came to the gym that time to look for me and saw me practicing the Three Warrior Postures that he came over and said, “Aren’t you the golden rooster of Tai Chi who changed positions independently? The center of gravity is on the Yongquan point, and the waist and back are straight enough.” I suddenly realized why I hadn’t discovered this connection before.

Let’s talk about breathing. The first thing many novices are corrected when practicing yoga is not to hold their breath. No matter how difficult the posture is, they must keep Ujjayi’s breathing at a constant speed. Use light pressure on the throat, and breathe as steadily as stretching a rubber band. It cannot be fast or slow. Not to mention Tai Chi. On the first day when Master Wang taught me how to get up, he said, "The breath moves first, and then the body moves. If you raise your hands before the breath is up, it is a blind gesture." He required abdominal breathing to follow the movements. Exhale when the cloud hand goes out, and inhale when it is brought back. It is almost exactly the same logic as yoga's forward bend and backward exhale. Of course, there are also different schools that don’t recognize this. For example, juniors who practice competitive Tai Chi think that what is important in competitions is good-looking movements and who cares how you breathe. Many girls who practice flow yoga also think that it is enough to keep up with the music and sweat, and it doesn’t matter whether the breathing is smooth or not. Naturally, these people think that the two have nothing in common, and it is normal.

What’s interesting is that our library held a cross-school exchange meeting last year. An aunt came who had practiced Wu-style Tai Chi for 22 years. She had never done yoga before. She came up to try a headstand. We were worried that she would fall, but she stabilized her feet as soon as she raised her feet. She stood still for almost a minute and came down laughing. Hehe said, "Just use the virtual collar strength mentioned in Tai Chi. It seems like there is a thread pulling on the top of the head, the feet sink, and the core is loose. Isn't this stable?" It is much easier to use than when we usually teach new people to stretch their core. That day, a group of yoga teachers gathered around my aunt to ask for advice. The scene was particularly fun.

In addition to the body and breath, the core communication point is actually the "heart". Every time I practice Ashtanga, I reach the end of Savasana (also known as the Corpse Pose), which requires me to focus on my breathing. When distracting thoughts come, let them go and don’t hold on to them. After practicing, my whole body will feel so light that I feel like floating. After each set of Tai Chi exercises, Master Wang asked him to stand for three minutes without thinking about anything. He just felt his feet rooted in the ground, his breathing and body slowly relaxed, and the feeling of relaxation when distracting thoughts faded away was really the same as the feeling of the corpse posture. Oh, by the way, there is another controversy here. Many Taoist Tai Chi disciples believe that Tai Chi is a practice of "quietness in motion". It is derived from the local Daoyin technique and is completely different from the core of yoga passed down from India. Some scholars who study the history of Eastern sports say that yoga and Tai Chi originally had the same origin. They were both fitness training methods passed down along the ancient Silk Road. Both sides have developed different forms. There is no conclusion yet on these opinions, and we ordinary practitioners do not need to get entangled in right or wrong.

I had a lumbar protrusion last year, and the doctor told me not to do strenuous exercise, so I did half a set of Tai Chi with Master Wang every morning, practiced a few waist exercises with silk wrapping, and did a few sets of cat-cow pose and baby pose to relax at home in the evening. Both of them require "no stiffness" and the movements should follow the body's feelings and not be forced. After two months, I was almost healed. When I went for a review, the doctor asked me what kind of rehabilitation exercises I did to achieve such good results.

In fact, in the final analysis, whether it is yoga or Tai Chi, if you really practice it with concentration, you will find that all the moves and postures are carriers, which ultimately allow you to understand your body better and stabilize your emotions. Regardless of the similarities, the practitioner's own comfort is more important than anything else.