7 Amazing Benefits Of Tai Chi Yoga For Your Body, Mind, And Spirit
Keep your body fit and worries at bay with this powerful, modern, and integrated exercise.
Sri Yogi Anand has 24 years of experience in the practical and philosophical aspects of yoga and spirituality. He has been teaching yoga and spirituality through his institution, Adwait Yoga School. He integrates scientific and medical approaches with yoga therapy to help in cases of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and disorders and orthopedic and lifestyle disorders.
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Experience: 3 yearsShirin is a health and wellness writer with three years of experience and specializes in writing articles on yoga and has extensive knowledge about the postures of the asanas. Prior to joining Stylecraze, she interned with an advertising firm as a copywriter and as an editorial intern for a luxury fashion magazine.
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The benefits of Tai Chi Yoga, propagated by John Neubauer, are immense and are worth discussing. This meditative art is a blend of traditional Hatha Yoga and Tai Chi Chu’an. This blended form, to put in Neubauer’s words, “creates more powerful benefits for the spirit, mind, and the body.” Before we go ahead, let us find out what Tai Chi Chu’an and Hatha Yoga are and how they benefit our body and health.
Tai Chi Chu’an, a martial art native to China, involves performing circular movements balancing on a single leg with the knee bent. It is usually practiced for its health benefits and as part of self-defense training. Considered Taoism’s physical manifestation, Tai Chi revolves around a philosophy of “yield and overcome.” Meditation, martial arts, and health form the three basic elements of Tai Chi. This form also has various schools such as Sun, Wu, Cheng, and Yang.
Hatha yoga is a popular form of age-old Indian yoga. It stresses on the all-round healing of the being with mudras, meditation, pranayama, and postures. It majorly consists of various stretches, bends (backward and forward), postures (standing and seated), twists, and inversions to ensure our physical health.
Yoga and Tai Chi broadly have many similarities, and the same goes for their benefits. Both forms highlight the body’s internal and external well-being and help you achieve the same. They also have healing properties and aid in nurturing your spirit and calming the mind.
Yoga and Tai Chi focus extensively on breathing and involve precise and slow body movements. They both also offer spiritual benefits. However, Tai Chi is a bit of a relaxed form and does not demand the body to be pushed beyond its comfort level. On the flip side, yoga is more demanding and is all about stretching the muscles past their capacity. Curious to know more? This article brings you the seven amazing benefits of Tai Chi Yoga and the structures involved. Take a look!
In This Article
Benefits Of Tai Chi Yoga
Tai Chi Yoga has a number of benefits, some of which are:
- The most important of all the uncountable benefits of Tai Chi yoga is its anti-aging properties. Tai Chi increases longevity. It is beneficial for older people.
- It is a low-impact, low-risk exercise.
- It reduces stress levels, depression, and tension. People who practice Tai Chi experience less anxiety and stress.
- It improves breath control and meditation power. It also enhances the cognitive functions of the brain.
- Studies have shown that Tai Chi yoga improves strength, balance, coordination, and flexibility to a great extent.
- Regular practice of Tai Chi yoga proves beneficial for diseases like osteopenia, arthritis, constipation, indigestion, migraine and headaches, diabetes, chronic back problems, musculoskeletal pain, and high blood pressure.
- It also enhances the body’s immunity and helps regulate sleeping patterns and disorders.
Structure Of Tai Chi Yoga
On his website about Tai Chi Yoga, John Neubauer states the following structure for a Tai Chi yoga session:
- Seated Breathing Exercises
- Standing Yoga Poses
- Tai Chi Sequence
- Reclining Relaxation
- Seated Yoga Sequence
- Kneeling Meditation
This is the basic structure of a Tai Chi Yoga session. But the sequences and sessions could be mixed and experimented with in many ways with various Tai Chi movements and yoga poses.
Further Understanding
For further understanding Tai Chi Yoga, the following books and videos would be helpful :
- Tai Chi Yoga – A Unique Video Package (1999) by John Neubauer
- Power of Tai Chi Yoga – A 12-week Audio lesson Plan for Weight Loss and Anti-aging.
- JohnCNeubauer – YouTube
Tai Chi Yoga is a powerful blend of Hatha Yoga and Tai Chi Chu’an. It has beneficial effects on the mind, body, and spirit. This yogic art helps increase longevity, promote immunity, slow down premature aging, reduce mental disorders like depression, and improve cognitive function. Tai Chi Yoga also improves strength, flexibility, and balance and benefits those with osteopenia, arthritis, diabetes, hypertension, constipation, indigestion, etc. It is advised to practice this yoga form under the supervision of an expert, as it needs proper breath regulation and body alignment.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many times a week should you do tai chi?
You can do tai chi 2-3 times a week. But try to do it every day for 20-30 minutes for better results.
Can I do both yoga and tai chi?
Yes, you can. Although yoga and tai chi differ in their techniques, combining them can yield excellent results in no time since their philosophies and effects are similar.
Can you lose weight doing tai chi?
Yes. You can cut down your weight by doing tai chi regularly. You may find visible improvement in about 12 weeks.
Which is better – yoga, pilates, or tai chi?
Yoga, pilates, and tai chi are low-impact activities and can provide outstanding results if done correctly. They can be highly beneficial if you have heart diseases, high blood pressure, pains and aches, arthritis and depression, stress and anxiety.
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