What are the shortcomings of yoga and Tai Chi

The boundaries of the suitable group of people are narrower, the risk of injury for self-study without guidance is higher, and there are more requirements for practice scenarios.

Last year, Aunt Wang in our health care group had a lumbar prolapse for three years. She heard people say that yoga and stretching is good, so she followed the short video to practice standing forward bends. In order to reach her feet, she pressed hard, and she lay down in pain for three days. Later, she practiced with the community Tai Chi team for three months. She paid attention to loosening her waist and sinking her hips every time she punched, so she seldom had pain. This is not to say that yoga itself is not good, but that many of its posture designs originated from the retreat needs of ancient Indian practitioners. The requirements for joint mobility and muscle strength are higher by default. If you have problems such as knee joint degeneration, rotator cuff injury, and lumbar protrusion, without a professional coach to adjust the posture one-on-one, it is easy to use incorrect force and aggravate the injury. Tai Chi is much friendlier in this regard. The movements are all in an arc. Even if the movements of novices are not standard, as long as they do not deliberately squat to consume their legs, there will be basically no problems.

To be honest, practicing yoga in daily life is really troublesome. You have to have a flat place to lay a mat. If you forget to bring a mat on a business trip, you can't just lie down on the hotel carpet and do cat-cow pose, right? You can't go out on a rainy day, and you can't even do the downward dog pose in a small space at home, so Tai Chi is much more casual. You can do it by standing in a one-meter square place in the open space downstairs, in the corridor of the company, or even on the balcony of your home. If it's not possible, standing for a while will also work. You don't need to bring any equipment. Of course, some friends disagree with this statement, saying that many improved chair yoga and wall yoga can also be adapted to small spaces and groups with chronic diseases, and yoga stimulates muscle strength more strongly. If you want to practice waistcoat lines and improve rounded shoulders and hunchback, it is much more efficient than Tai Chi. This is correct. After all, the positioning of the two types of exercise is different. What we are talking about is only for ordinary middle-aged and elderly people who want to maintain health with zero threshold.

There is also a very hidden problem. The advanced practice of yoga is deeply bound to the religious culture and practice system of ancient India. If the logic of many breathing methods and meditation is completely unknown to the background, it is easy to cause problems if you practice blindly. In the past two years, I saw some people practicing yoga and meditating blindly. The core of Tai Chi is inherently embedded with the Qi and blood logic of traditional Chinese medicine and the Taoist health concept. For example, the requirements of "Qi sinking in the Dantian" and "relaxing and unremitting" can be understood by us Chinese even if we have never practiced. The threshold for understanding is much lower. To use an inappropriate analogy, Tai Chi is like the warm water we often drink. There is no harm in drinking it no matter what your body type is. Yoga is more like fruit tea with some effects. If you choose the wrong type or drink it at the wrong time, you may get upset. There is no need to compete, just choose the one that suits you.