Can anyone tell me about Tai Chi?

[Gretalyn]

I did yoga very seriously a number of years ago, and though I realize my opinion is not very popular, I have come to believe that yoga is more dangerous than it looks, and that all of that deep stretching did me far more harm than good. Now I walk and I do weights, and I'm repairing the damage that I did, and I'm in decent shape. Not fantastic shape, but not too bad!

But . . . I do miss the graceful movements/poses of yoga, and the relaxed and peaceful feelings that it would give me.

I'm wondering if Tai Chi might be a way to get those positives without the negatives of the chronic stretching? Does Tai Chi include a lot of deep and/or static stretching? Assuming I can't attend a class, can I learn it at home with videos? And if so, which ones would you recommend?

(I'm planning to continue with my daily walks, occasional hikes, and 4-5 times per week weight training. I want this as a supplement, not a replacement, to what I'm already doing, in case that matters.)

[svenskamae]

I've done Tai Chi. You are never supposed to push yourself doing it, just go as far is comfortable, and there's more emphasis on flow and form than on pushing yourself into uncomfortable positions. (Yes, I've done yoga, too, and I felt I was pushing myself into uncomfortable positions there, especially when I did it when I was heavy.) BUT I found it much easier to learn and do Tai Chi in a class than to do it from following along with DVDs; I've tried it both ways.

If you want to do something very gentle that you can do by following along with DVDs, I strongly suggest you try Qi Gong instead. The Qi Gong movements don't all have to smoothly flow together, you just do one bit and then the next bit, and so on, so it was way easier to do it following the DVD than Tai Chi was. Doing Qi Gong made me feel good and very relaxed, and I somewhat regret not keeping it up. I guess I should dust off my Qi Gong DVDs and do it again this winter, when it's too cold and icy to go for long walks. You can do Qi Gong as often or as rarely as you like, so that's not something you need to worry about. Doing it in the morning helped me face the workday calmly, and doing it at night helped me de-stress and fall asleep.

Let me know if you want further details about the DVDs that I used, since I seem to be the only person responding to your question so far. I'd have to check at home which DVDs I used for Qi Gong, since I've forgotten the instructor's name; I'm writing this message at work.

[Kerry]

Beach body has a new tai chi series