The world, today, is running towards the aim of achieving a healthier lifestyle.
Joining the gym and doing intense physical exercises have become a trend among youngsters.
Some people, though, tend to stick towards simpler methods of staying fit. Mind-body practices like Tai Chi and Yoga help in gaining fitness without involving much physical strength.
Tai Chi and Yoga majorly involve slow movements, meditation, and controlled breathwork.
The two mind-body practices help us in maintaining our physical health while also enhancing our mental health.
The methods are associated with similar benefits like providing peace, balance, and stability.
As we move forward in this blog, we’ll know about the Benefits of tai chi vs yoga and their differences in detail. We’d also know which one is more favorable among people.
Difference Between Tai Chi and Yoga
People around the world often confuse the two because they both involve meditation practices. However, there are some significant differences between the two methods.
Originating in China as a form of ancient martial art, Tai Chi helps in balancing the energy of the body.
It involves practices with slow movements and physical postures while maintaining a meditative state of mind.
Yoga, on the other hand, is an ancient spiritual exercise that originated in India. Deep-rooted in Indian philosophy, it refers to the union (or harmonizing) of the body with the mind.
It involves a series of ‘asanas’ – physical postures, ‘pranayamas’ – breathing techniques and ‘dhyanas’ – meditation along with other elements.
Typically, Tai Chi involves movements that need to be performed standing up while maintaining body balance.
Yoga, on the other hand, involves several movements that actively include sitting down, laying down as well as standing up. The techniques used by the two practices are also different.
The former involves more dynamic movements while the latter focuses on fixed postures.
Now that we’ve discussed the difference between the two practices, we can now compare the benefits of the two as well.
Benefits of Tai Chi vs Yoga
While Tai Chi and Yoga are different disciplines, they both are practices of immense advantages. They both work to benefit different parts and functions of the human body.
In comparison, we can see differences between the two disciplines. Yoga helps with flexibility and general mobility of the body while Tai Chi is all about slow measured movements.
Yoga leads to better muscle toning, higher calorific burn, and a higher level of aerobic activity in a shorter time frame when compared to Tai Chi.
Yoga is designed to give you discomfort to train your body with the help of various seated and standing postures.
Tai Chi, often referred to as “meditation in motion”, seems more convenient in comparison.
Tai Chi is often used as warm-up and cool-down exercises for Yoga as it involves a much more straightforward meditative framework.
Let us, now, know the physical and mental health benefits of the two in detail.
Benefits of Tai Chi
This practice has been used for more than 100 years and that’s why many youngsters avoid it because they think it is an old practice for old people. but the benefits of tai chi for young adults and older adults are the same.
Let’s know about some of the common benefits of tai chi.
1. Helps in Reducing Chronic Pain
Tai Chi helps in managing chronic pain and age-related conditions such as Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), dementia, low back pain, Osteoarthritis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Osteoporosis, and Parkinson’s disease.
2. Helps in Preventing Falls
Tai Chi is also recommended for patients who are at high risk of heart failure and strokes. It prevents falls in older adults and is beneficial in improving balance.
3. Helps During Pregnancy
This ancient practice can also be helpful during pregnancy because it can improve blood circulation and promotes mental health by relaxing the mind.
However, there has been no legit research about this therefore, if you’re pregnant, refer to your doctor first.
Along with the mentioned benefits, Tai Chi also helps in maintaining the overall health and fitness of the body. Let us now understand the benefits of Yoga.
Benefits of Yoga
Yoga can be extremely beneficial for those who hate lifting heavy weights or even going to the gym. They can perform this ancient practice at their home and get amazing health benefits without lifting any weight.
Let’s look at some of the yoga health benefits:
1. Helps in Curing Chronic Diseases
Yoga has been proven useful in helping with several chronic diseases like Asthma, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Hypertension, and Arthritis.
Since it majorly involves relaxed movements and breathwork, yoga improves the vital process of respiration in the human body.
2. Helps in Dealing With Stress, Anxiety, and Depression
Yoga proves helpful in dealing with the general wellness of the body. As it allows an individual to have a union of body and mind, it helps in relieving stress and achieving inner peace.
As a result, it maintains a balance between emotional health, sleep, and good habits.
3. Helps With Menopause Symptoms
Doing Yoga helps women in relieving their menopause symptoms. It helps with physical symptoms, such as hot flashes, as well as psychological symptoms, like anxiety or depression.
This ancient practice can do wonders for those who are suffering from any health problem related to hormonal imbalance like thyroid.
This health condition happens when the thyroid glass doesn’t make enough hormone.
Related – Can Yoga Cure Thyroid Permanently
Along with these, doing Yoga regularly also helps in relieving low-back pain and neck pain, as also the pain from tension-type headaches and knee osteoarthritis.
Which is Better to Choose – Tai Chi Or Yoga?
As we have discussed above, both Yoga and Tai Chi are very beneficial for our health. We also learned how Tai Chi is indeed different from Yoga in one way or the other.
If you’re looking to start a mentally transformative journey that suits your body the best, you need to choose accordingly.
Your choice must depend on your health goals and preferences. Yoga is, however, more popular in today’s world than Tai Chi.
Yoga is more physically demanding than Tai Chi which is why this practice is more popular than tai chi nowadays among the youth.
Tai Chi is more popular among the elderly because it involves slow measured flow from one position to another.
For example, if you’re comparing tai chi vs yoga for weight loss then you might as well go for Yoga.
Yoga is more physically demanding than Tai chi and therefore, can become a start of your weight loss journey along with providing for your mental peace.
Some people do Tai chi and Yoga together as the two complement each other very nicely.
You only have to make sure that the routines don’t intermingle with each other because that may negate the benefits of both.
Conclusion
As we’ve reached the conclusion of the blog, we now know the various benefits of the two mind-body disciplines. Both Yoga and Tai Chi involve a series of movements that have positive effects.
Physicians and therapists all around the world recommend either of these two to maintain a balance in the body.
Additionally, we got to understand that for choosing one of the practices, you need to have an idea about your body goals and preferences first.
We can also perform both practices, but we need to do them separately. Overall, both Yoga and Tai Chi are beneficial, and we should make time for them in everyday life.
We hope this blog helped you compare the benefits of tai chi vs yoga. If you liked it, do share it with your friends and gym buddies.
