I started doing yoga in 2010 (Bikram). For many years I went 5 times per week. Since 2020 I no longer go to a class, but do yoga in my house 3 times per week.

I can say the following: The newbie thinks about yoga as "stretching" (I'm not meaning that insulting to you, I thought that for 5 or 6 years). In reality, the best way to conceptualize yoga is "compression". You are not "stretching your hamstrings"....you are "compressing your stomach / intestines"

I had a good yoga teacher who was unconventional and taught me lots of things. One of the things he would frequently dwell on is that your body, muscles, and organs are sponges. By doing yoga you are wringing out the blood from those sponges and allowing them to fill with fresh blood.

Imagine I gave you a dirty dish rag and said: The rules are you must clean this rag, but can only use the rag itself to clean it....no external equipment. Well, the simplest way would be to fill the rag with water/soap and then "wring it out". That is what you are doing to your organs with yoga.

Fun fact: Bikram (who was unfortunately #metooed) was a carnivore. This used to shock and dismay much of his upscale vegan suburban wife clients. He used to say: "Eat like a cow, look like a cow. Eat like a Tiger, look like a Tiger"

Awesome that with increased awareness and practice you are bringing back your overall health! With health it is never too late, it's just a matter of getting back into it!

I don't regularly practice yoga in it's stretching form, but I have been practicing yoga nidra for a little over a month now and it has been one of if not the best recovery modality I have come across!

I like Taichi more than yoga. Not that Yoga is boring, it has complex stretches. It just seems to drag on. Taichi at least you are focused on moving, even if it is slow.

Tai Chi is much more fun than Yoga.

Read your previous post and decided to start going to Tai Chi classes. They are once a week on Mondays, tomorrow is my third one only. Interesting stuff. Been practicing Aikido for a few years when I was younger. Now learning the roots of it all...

From my point of view it s dificult to compare Tai Chi and Yoga.

Tai Chi is a mind-body exercise originating from ancient China, where it started as a famous martial art. These days, it’s practised around the world as an effective exercise for health. At the heart of it, Tai Chi is a moving meditation in the form of a series of gentle exercises that create harmony between the mind and body. The ultimate purpose is to cultivate our inner life energy (qi) to flow smoothly and powerfully through the body. This is a spiritual experience, as much as a physical one.

The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning “to yoke,” or “to unite”. The practice aims to create union between body, mind and spirit, as well as between the individual self and universal consciousness. Such a union tends to neutralize ego-driven thoughts and behaviours, creating a sense of spiritual awakening. Modern yoga is most commonly associated with the physical practice of asana, a series of postures.