Tai Chi - Qigong versus Tai Chi?

by Unknown 05:30 0 comments

The Exposure of Tai Chi

Hello internet users, I would like to share with you about the comparison between Qigong and Tai Chi.

Okay, (as usual) first of all, what is Qigong based on your understanding? Well, according to Qi Gong historian Xu Xiangcai, the practice of manipulating chi for health purposes began as early as the 8th century BC. By the 3rd century BC, this practice had been formalized into a series of exercises recognizable as Qi Gong. Over millennia, the practice refined and grew into different styles. Starting in the 1970s as Eastern medicine began to gain acceptance, Qi Gong practice began to spread all over the world. By contrast, Tai Chi was created by Chang San-Feng in the 14th century AD. Its history has more closely followed that of other Chinese martial arts with different families practicing their own variation until popularity in the West spawned the development of unified and commercial forms.

There are few points of comparison between Qigong and Tai Chi.

1. Motions

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  The martial nature of Tai Chi also shows itself in the complexity of the motions. A typical Qi Gong posture has relatively simple, but exacting, physical motions. A typical example involves raising the hands from hips to chest, then returning them. Tai Chi motions can be far more complex, resembling the flowery motions of some styles of Kung Fu. Although Tai Chi is valuable, the more complex motions can distract a practitioner's focus from the energy manipulation aspects of the art.

2. Tai Chi is a martial art, Qigong is purely for healing.

• The accurate part of this statement is that Qigong has specific techniques or styles that are particularly effective for specific diseases beyond the ken (knowledge or perception) of Tai Chi. For instance, there are specific qigong methods for helping those with cancer and mitigating the effects of radiation and chemotherapy. 

• The misleading part is that although all Tai Chi powerfully heals and maintains health, only a tiny fraction of participants do any of its practical martial arts techniques. On the other hand, Qigong also has within it practices for increasing the power you need to make self-defense techniques effective, even though Qigong per se does not include the fighting techniques themselves.

That's all for the information about the comparison between Qigong and Tai Chi.