What is the difference between Tai Chi and Qigong?

Answer 1

No, they are very different, though there is a distant historical relationship.

Yoga is a series of positions that stretch and exercise the body.

Tai Chi is a series of motions that stretch and exercise the body. Tai Chi is also a marital art and can be used for self-defense.

Answer 2

[This entire response is sourced from Tai Chi Master Bruce Frantzis's book Opening The Energy Gates of Your Body]

Taoist Meditation masters created a wide variety of disciplines which incorporated the energies they discovered and or aided the process of meditation.

One of their most fundamental discoveries revolved around Chi or "Energy" being a directly interwoven into the human existence, and relevant to many things especially health. While on a more advanced level this process was directly tied to the higher realms of spirituality, initially proper "Chi" management yielded equally important benefits such as health.

The Taoists essentially put together a wide variety of progressing energy arts to begin shaping and tuning one's chi. One of the core features of their system was a focus on each more advanced level building upon prerequisites mastered in the previous one. Depending on how far someone took the discipline, it could result in something as simple as better physical health to a far more advanced spiritual benefit.

Qigong simply means "energy work" and encompasses a wide range of exercises from simple breathing to advanced movements taking years to learn (although the most advanced QiGongs are normally called Nei [inner] Gong).

Tai Chi as a practice was classically considered extremely advanced and designed to be done by someone who had high proficiency in various Qigong practices (and thus certain energetic skills).

Due to Tai Chi's phenomenal ability to heal most health conditions, even without a high degree of skill (it forms the pillar of China's Medical System) it is often practiced without the qigong fundamentals learned by the practitioner, and thus Qigong can at times be a far more complex art.

Overall though, Qigong can generally be thought of as a building block contained within Tai Chi.

Answer 3

There are many, but the primary one is that Tai Chi is a brutal and effective martial art. Yoga is not.

Answer 4

Chi is not a martial art. It is a power of the body. Tai chi is a martial art however which uses chi.

Answer 5

You can find classes at all price levels in both disciplines. Tai chi requires loose clothing and until you are very advanced, no specific uniform or equipment. Yoga has a mat.