Comparative Study of Tai Chi and Yoga
Chinese Tai Chi and Indian Yoga are two popular oriental sports and fitness programs in the world today. Although they originated from the East and have an impact on the world, they have similarities in their origin background, cultural philosophy, posture, practice essentials, fitness mechanism, scientific research, promotion and development, but the differences are also very obvious. This article compares and analyzes Tai Chi and Yoga from the above aspects, and provides useful ideas for the development of the two, especially Tai Chi.
Tai Chi and Yoga, as one of the cultural representatives of the two major oriental civilizations, are showing their vigorous vitality and infinite charm to the world, and have become a unique cultural phenomenon in people’s life and communication activities.
3000 years of Tai Chi VS 5000 years of Yoga
The word “Tai Chi” comes from the “Book of Changes”, which says “Yi has Tai Chi, which gives birth to two yin and yang”. “Tai Chi” implies the meaning of infinity and infinite smallness, the balance of yin and yang, and the mutual root and decline.
Tai Chi is based on this theory, combining the ancient Chinese Daoyin, breathing techniques, Yin-Yang theory, and Chinese medicine meridian theory. It uses consciousness to guide the circulation of Qi and blood throughout the body, like a ring with no end, repeating over and over again, hence the name “Tai Chi”.
With the development of history, Tai Chi has gradually changed from a martial arts skill to a sports fitness project. More than 100 years ago, Tai Chi masters mentioned in the “Thirteen Postures Exercise Song” that “the purpose of detailed analysis is to prolong life and stay young forever”.
Yoga originated in ancient India more than 5,000 years ago. It is the transliteration of the Sanskrit word Yuga. The original meaning of yoga is “harmony”, “correspondence” and “unity”.
Yoga originally refers to a school of philosophy and religion. There is a school called yoga in the great Indian philosophical school. This philosophical school advocates breathing, meditation and other practice methods. In a broad sense, yoga is philosophy; in a narrow sense, yoga is a combination of spirit and body. Now when we talk about yoga, we generally refer to the practice method to improve the health of the body, mind and spirit.
The ultimate goal of practicing Tai Chi and yoga is the same.
The traditional cultural philosophy is the root of Tai Chi theory and boxing. The first is the Book of Changes, and the second is the two pillars of Chinese cultural thought: Confucianism and Taoism. Traditional Tai Chi is centered on the doctrine of the mean of Confucius and Mencius, and uses the thoughts of Laozi and Zhuangzi (inaction, emptiness and tranquility, non-contention, soft victory, not daring to use force, and accumulating energy). It is combined with Buddhism, Zen (such as emptiness, self-sacrifice, and no appearance), medical theory (such as the relationship between qi and blood and the middle harmony), and military tactics.
Mr. Wang Zongyue, a famous Tai Chi master, said: “Tai Chi is born from Wuji, and it is the mother of yin and yang in the mechanism of Gongjing.” Tai Chi culture emphasizes yin and yang, and emphasizes treating the enemy and ourselves as a whole of yin and yang opposition. According to the laws of yin and yang changes such as attack and defense, advancement, front and back, left and right, up and down, movement and stillness, hardness and softness, smooth and reverse, opening and closing, and according to the characteristics of the opponent’s movements, take corresponding countermeasures to make oneself invincible. The most fundamental difference between Tai Chi and other sports is that most sports consume energy, while Tai Chi replenishes energy. In other words, Tai Chi replenishes the maximum energy with the minimum consumption. It does not pursue higher, faster, or stronger, but requires comfort and naturalness, without using clumsy force, and not forcibly exceeding the physiological limit. It should go with the flow.
Wang Zongyue wrote in the “Tai Chi Boxing Classic”: “If you want the heroes of the world to prolong their lives, you should not just do the skills of the world.” Yang Luchan, the founder of Yang Style Tai Chi, was once called “Yang Invincible”, but what made him unforgettable to later generations was not that he defeated certain people, but that he made Tai Chi, a culture of prolonging life, known to the world, and then formed a magnificent and far-reaching Tai Chi culture fever. Tai Chi culture is not only used for martial arts, but more to guide our lives. When dealing with daily affairs, people can solve problems in life and work according to the principles of Tai Chi.
The method of yoga practice is to concentrate and calm the scattered mind. Yoga practice first focuses on physical fitness, and then requires the integration of body and mind. On this basis, it guides practitioners into the realm of supreme perfection. In the process of yoga practice, practitioners gradually deepen their inner spirit, from the outside to the inside, some for health, some for inner peace, some for weight loss and fitness, some for increasing sexual attractiveness, some from the exploration of philosophical concepts, and some for other reasons. There is no difference between various motivations and purposes, from feeling to spirit, from sensibility to rationality, and finally to integrate the self with the inner spirit to achieve the unity of man and nature.
There are many schools of Tai Chi and Yoga
In the process of Tai Chi’s spread, six major schools of Chen, Yang, Wu, Wu, Sun, and Zhao were derived. The six traditional schools all have single sets and sparring of boxing gloves, pushing hands, free-hand fighting, and equipment.
There have been many schools of yoga, and there are 72 categories that have been passed down to this day. The main sources today are: Raja Yoga (Raje Yoga), Practical Yoga (Karma Yoga), Jnana Yoga (Jinana Yoga), Faith Yoga (Bhakti Yoga), Hatha Yoga, Mantra Yoga (Sanskrit Yoga), Sexual Energy Yoga (Thuttra), etc. Based on the above schools, modern society has derived double yoga, pregnancy yoga, postpartum recovery yoga, parent-child yoga, beauty yoga, weight loss yoga, hot yoga, etc.
The names of Tai Chi and Yoga movements are all related to “animals”
Tai Chi uses Peng, Lu, Ji, An, Cai, Lie, Elbow, Kao, Jin, Tui, Gu, Pan, Ding as basic methods, and the boxing frame uses the ten essentials of empty spirit top strength, sinking shoulders and dropping elbows, and holding the chest and pulling the back as the movement form standards. The characteristics of the movement are: guiding the movement with consciousness, being upright, comfortable, light, flexible, slow and even, combining hardness and softness, and using the waist as the axis to drive the limbs, following each other up and down, and forming a whole body. In Push Hands, it is required to use stillness to control movement, use softness to overcome hardness, avoid the real and attack the empty, use force to exert force, and achieve “respond quickly to quick movements and follow slowly to slow movements”.
Except for some martial arts terms, a considerable part of Tai Chi movements are named after rare birds, exotic animals, space phantoms, myths and legends, which can easily inspire scholars’ figurative thinking, further visualize the movements, and enable scholars to enter a state of being just and contented, which is beneficial to physical and mental health.
Yoga believes that there is energy flow in the entire spine of the human body, also known as the energy center, which extends from the coccyx to the head. The entire center controls different sensations, and to achieve a good state of health, this center must be able to flow freely like water. All yoga movements are based on a series of movements such as stretching, relaxation and deep breathing to accelerate circulation and strengthen attention.
Yoga is a bionic system of strengthening the body and improving intelligence that has been compiled by observing the forms of various animals and still lifes in nature and their close contact with the human body over the centuries. It is a carrier of information about the magical creation of nature. Yoga uses a variety of postures and positions, most of which are named after animals, because they found that various animals can recover naturally without any treatment when they are sick. Therefore, they learned to imitate the postures of various animals, and when this method of tension and relaxation was applied to the human body, it had unexpected effects.
There were originally 840,000 yoga postures, which were later reduced to a few hundred, and then 84 of them were widely known to people. Each posture is very distinctive. Japanese scholars have conducted physiological research on various postures, continuously recorded breathing, blood pressure, and pulse, and selected the postures of dozens of animals such as cobras, fish, turtles, camels, spiders, locusts, etc. They found that yoga can achieve a state of harmony and unity of body and mind through a variety of different postures, rest and speech.
Three secrets to practicing yoga postures: 1. Unified mind (unified spirit): Concentrate consciousness on a specific point. 2. Unify the body (adjust the posture): The center of gravity of the whole body is in Dantian. 3. Regulate the breath (regulate the breathing): Breathe with abdominal breathing, naturally and deeply.
“Breathing” of Tai Chi and Yoga
Some Tai Chi breathing emphasizes “sinking the qi into Dantian”, while others advocate “abdominal breathing”, but in general, there are basically two breathing methods: one is natural breathing, and the other is fist breathing. Natural breathing means not to pay too much attention to the coordination of breathing and fist posture movements, and breathing should be natural and comfortable. Fist breathing means consciously combining breathing and movement, the length of breathing is related to the process of movement, and the breathing is also related to the opening, closing, bending and stretching of movement. Generally, the movement is outward for exhalation, inward for inhalation, sinking for exhalation, lifting for inhalation, exhalation when exerting strength, and inhalation when storing strength. Regardless of the type of breathing, the basic principles should be fine, even, deep and long.
The purpose of yoga breathing is to effectively massage the internal organs through various breathing methods, stimulate the benign secretion of various physiological glands, activate the potential power of pulses and wheels (which may also be equivalent to the meridians and acupoints in traditional Chinese medicine), better cleanse the body, and allow the vital energy to provide the human body with sufficient healthy nutrients.
In general, breathing is divided into abdominal breathing, chest breathing, and abdominal-chest complete breathing. Abdominal breathing – breathing with the bottom of the lungs, it feels that only the abdomen is bulging, and the chest is relatively motionless; chest breathing – breathing with the middle and upper parts of the lungs, it feels that the chest is expanding and contracting, and the abdomen is relatively motionless. Complete breathing – the upper, middle and lower parts of the lungs are all involved in breathing, and the abdomen, chest and even the whole body are rising and falling. Only the third type of breathing is the breathing requirement of yoga.
The health benefits of Tai Chi and Yoga
The ten major health benefits of Tai Chi are: 1. Strengthen the heart; 2. Nourish the liver; 3. Strengthen the spleen; 4. Nourish the lungs; 5. Strengthen the kidneys; 6. Benefit the brain; 7. Regulate the qi; 8. Harmonize the blood; 9. Refine the nature; 10. Just love.
Practicing yoga also has ten major fitness effects: 1. Maintain and promote the normal functions of various body systems; 2. Strengthen and regulate the functions of the endocrine system to prevent endocrine disorders; 3. Massage and strengthen internal organs; 4. Promote blood circulation and metabolism; 5. Yoga breathing method adjusts the mind and prolongs vitality; 6. Adjust the spine and enhance body flexibility; 7. Lose weight and maintain skin; 8. Slow down and eliminate chronic diseases; 9. Eliminate toxins in the body; 10 Enhance psychological and spiritual energy, make the mind peaceful and tranquil.
The most people practice Tai Chi, but yoga is the most popular.
As one of the representatives of traditional oriental culture, Tai Chi has once again received attention after 2000 due to China’s peaceful development and the Chinese Kung Fu fever caused by “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”. Chinese Tai Chi health culture has also begun to be pursued and explored by mainstream American society, forming the only Chinese martial arts sport that can penetrate into major mainstream health centers in the United States after yoga.
In France, there are now hundreds of thousands of people who regularly practice Tai Chi, which is the most popular traditional Chinese cultural and sports project loved by the French public. Most of the people who practice are middle-aged and elderly people, and most of them have a high level of knowledge and culture. They can easily understand and master the scientific fitness principles of Tai Chi.
A survey by the Chinese Sports Department shows that Tai Chi is the fitness project with the largest number of participants in the world. According to people from the International Wushu Federation, there are Tai Chi enthusiasts in more than 150 countries and regions on five continents. Tai Chi has taken root in every corner of the world, with at least 300 million people practicing it, becoming the “world’s number one sport” with the largest number of participants.
As a “new” star in the fitness industry, yoga is attracting more and more young people in the world with an irresistible trend, especially white-collar workers, entertainment circles, and sports stars who have participated in body shaping exercises, becoming an indispensable part of people’s lives.
Yoga was introduced to the United States in the 19th century. According to the American Yoga Journal, there are currently more than 6 million people learning yoga in the United States, and 17 million people are interested in yoga.Various yoga classrooms are lined up on street corners. There are even yoga academies in the community that study yoga as a science. In the contemporary community with rapid economic development, the leisure and fitness industry has developed rapidly. Yoga has gradually become one of the most popular fitness sports with its magical power.
There are misunderstandings in the promotion of Tai Chi.
Misunderstanding 1: “Tai Chi is practiced by the elderly, that is, old people’s boxing.”
The elderly have become the image spokespersons of Tai Chi. Most of the people who practice Tai Chi in society are middle-aged and elderly. The publicity and scientific research papers on Tai Chi focus on the elderly in terms of research objects, which has also caused illusions to people to a certain extent, making people misunderstand that Tai Chi is a sport for the elderly.
Guan Qi, the third runner-up of Miss World in 2003, said: Young people need to practice Tai Chi more than older people. It not only keeps the body healthy, but also exercises the mind, strengthens the perception of culture and life, and enhances vitality. Tai Chi’s movements are also very beautiful and comfortable to practice. It is quite fashionable for young girls and boys to practice it, and it is also a return to nature.
Misconception 2: “Practicing Tai Chi takes too long and is a waste of time.”
This is actually a misunderstanding. It only takes 5 minutes to practice a set of simplified Tai Chi. Even traditional Tai Chi routines do not take long. For example, Yang-style Tai Chi takes more than 30 minutes and consumes 280 calories. It is known as a way to lose weight without sweating. Young people can practice it during work hours to relieve fatigue and improve work efficiency.
Misconception 3: “Tai Chi is profound and does not need to be packaged.”
In the eyes of some young students and parents, Taekwondo’s uniforms, belt-granting ceremonies, etiquette, etc. are very distinctive and fresh, and the basic movements of Taekwondo are simple and easy to learn. Long-term learning can also experience the fun of upgrading and upgrading, which has attracted a large number of young people.
In the process of spreading Tai Chi, we should also pay attention to the sense of ceremony, which is more conducive to attracting novices to practice and encouraging them to persist.
By from Li Xiu