Expert: Dale Napier - 9/2/2008

Question
What is the difference between all these terms and Yoga.
Tai chi chuan,  chi kung , nei gong.

Answer
I will not try to give you a textbook explanation, but more of a real-world explanation.  Yoga is relatively static:  you hold a posture, and try to relax, while performing deep breathing.  It has internal benefits and will also improve muscle tone and cardio vascular fitness, if you do the breathing.  Yoga is of Indian culture with strong roots in Buddhism and (I think) Hinduism.

Tai chi chuan (taijiquan), chi kung (qigong), and nei gong are all Chinese/Taoist in origin.  All are internal arts.  Tai Chi Chuan is an internal martial art; it has all of the benefits of a martial art, and is externally quite dynamic, but the power comes from within, not from brute strength.  There are five major Tai Chi systems (Yang, Chen, Sun, Wu, Wu-Hao) and many minor ones.  All the major systems are related by lineage.

Chi Kung is purely a health-oriented practice that ties our internal energy with our limbs, internal organs, and emotions in order to cleanse, purify, and strengthen our chi.  Since it is based on external exercises, it is correct to say that Tai Chi is also a form of of Chi Kung, but not vice-versa; that is, Tai Chi can be done for health only, but Chi Kung is never a martial art.  There are thousands of possible chi kung exercises:  some are quite specific to fixing a health problem, others are more general for maintenance.

Finally, nei gong is like chi kung only without the external movements:  it is entirely internal.  You could call it meditation, but it is much more active than, say, Zen meditation.  It involves using our mind to move the our breath energy (chi, or qi) through the major meridians of the body.  The goal is to make the qi movement strong and continuous.  In later stages, you learn much more esoteric practices that give you surprising abilities, but if you want to know what they are, you'll have to train with someone for a few years, possibly more, before they will share that information; not so much because it is secret, but because you will not believe it until you can do it yourself.

I hope this helps.  All the arts you asked about can and are practiced for health and retaining youthful vitality, as the goal of Taoism is immortality.  If you have further questions, feel free to ask.

Yours in the Tao,
Dale Napier
www.ElementalTaiChi.com