When I began taking tai chi lessons I was apprehensive that tai chi would conflict with my yoga practice – a practice that I have nurtured for over 30 years and a practice that I continue to polish and hone for my physical, spiritual and mental health. I wondered if tai chi would dilute my yoga or perhaps even take it over. That hasn’t really happened but I did have to learn to allow each its own time and due. Now I am finding that the two arts are not mutually exclusive but there are not the same either. They enhance each other and create flows that are a blend of each. Master William Ting devotes a whole chapter in his book “Essential Concepts of Tai chi” to the concept of ‘It is – It is Not – IT IS.’ His definition of this concept is: “a method of dialectic reckoning where opposing aspects are blended to produce a greater effect than either individual aspect alone, thus creating a synergism in both form and motion.” This seems very close to how my yoga practice and tai chi practice work together but yet apart.

Here are some ways they are the same and yet not the same.

• They are both ancient art forms. They both originated thousands of years ago; tai chi originated in China and yoga’s roots are in India. Tai chi is basically an internal martial art form and yoga is anything but a martial art form. But they share many commonalities which over the years have helped me realize some of the finer points of one art form; at other times the benefits have moved in the other direction.

• Chi (Qi) and Prana are the life force energy intrinsic to both tai chi and yoga and both are circulated via the moving forms of tai chi or the asanas of yoga.

The word chi (qi) literally means ‘gas’ or ‘ether’ and was meant to denote the vital breath or energy animating the universe. In the human body, the pathways of chi are the basis for Traditional Chinese Medicine and the aim of practices such as acupuncture or the flowing movements of tai chi is to stimulate the flow of chi through these pathways or channels.
Prana is the Indian word for life force. It too flows through channels known as nadis that feed into the main nadis. I see the asanas as the means by which we coax prana through the channels or nadis of the body.

• Tai chi and Yoga both rely on precise movements to receive their benefits
Tai chi is all about forms that follow one another. Each form follows from the one before and leads into the next. So all the forms really morph into one form with no demarcations between the forms. Unless you practice ashtanga yoga the yoga poses can and do vary from class to class depending on the teacher’s intention for the class. Ashtanga and Bikram yoga are a little different in that they follow a specific sequence much like tai chi. This has its positive sides since once you learn the sequence you can do it on your own. The down side is just that. Once you learn the forms or poses you can do it on your own but repetition creates neural pathways that are hard to change if you are not doing it exactly as it is meant to be done.

• Being ‘in structure’ is key to both tai chi and yoga. What I mean by this is that every tai chi form and every yoga pose has a specific body arrangement that is key to moving the energy throughout the body. We often refer to this as body alignment. When the body is not in proper alignment the practitioner struggles and resists and energy flow becomes blocked in certain areas. This alignment is important both to tai chi and to yoga.

• Proper Weight Transfer and body alignment is central. This principle is directly related to the concept just described of being ‘in structure.’ To be in a correct and comfortable structure the transfer of weight must be in balance with the movement. In yoga we often speak of carving our way into a pose. The movement is purposeful as the body shifts weight to allow movement to be smooth, soft and continuous. This is very pronounced in tai chi, less so in yoga. However, yoga practitioners would benefit greatly by becoming more aware of this weight transfer and the subsequent correct body alignment.

• Yoga and tai chi are founded on systems that are based on ethical or moral standards. Tai chi is based on Taoism and yoga is based on the principles of Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism.

• Both yoga and tai chi are based on change or transformation inherent in all of life. In my yoga classes I try to advise my students to listen to their bodies as they move through the poses. Awareness is necessary for change and transformation. Tai chi also teaches that a slow, continuous, smooth movement allows the Qi to flow and the body to become more balanced leading to change and transformation.

These are only some of the similarities that I see between yoga and tai chi. I am sure there are myriad ways that they are similar, yet different. Each of these similarities that I have discussed can be the topic of a greater discussion and discourse. My intention is to start the process of thinking about how these two art forms express a need for the body, mind and spirit to be balanced and whole and then to offer a method by which we can accomplish this.

In future posts I will continue to elaborate on how tai chi and yoga have similar objectives and how you might be able to incorporate a little tai chi into your yoga classes without compromising the integrity of either art form.