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Qi gong bored me to death. I did not feel the energy, but I didn't stick with it, so I think it was just not for me.
I do yoga, I'm not great at it, but I like feeling limber and that's how it makes me feel. Literally, like move it or lose it.
I also tried Tai Chi because of the old people balance thing and while I found it difficult, I could see it has merit. I envy those "grannies" who probably started doing it when they were young. I have heard that it's good for balance and if you do it, you'll find out how well you can balance. In my case, not very well, but I'd do it again if it was nearby and free. I'd love to feel that I had control over my balance and wouldn't lose it.
This is a super easy tai chi-ish sequence anyone who can stand and move their arms at the same time can do. I started doing this when I started having issues balancing in the dark 10 years ago and I saw improvement in just a couple weeks. I still do this when I'm too lazy to do any more
There are studies which claim that this kind of activity will help when we get or are getting old. Old people often fall down due to balance problems and when they do, they often die due to shock. It is also said to help with keeping Altzheimers/Parkinsons/etc away.
I started yoga when I was in my twenties and had an incredible teacher. In fact, she is credited with helping to introduce the practice of yoga to this country. She was an older lady then, yet was fit and flexible.
You need to start off with easy stretches and warm ups and you need to know that you are not competing with anyone. You are just doing this for you.
I took yoga off an on over the years and never got back to the intensity of those early years but at my age I am still flexible and can easily touch my toes and do lots of stretches. However, I wouldn't attempt some of the poses I did when I was younger with this older body, have been told that we are not supposed to.
Never had a chance to try Tai Chi but always wanted to. Most classes are too early in the morning for me. I did used to get a wonderful feeling at the end of yoga when my original teacher would have us lie down and relax each individual part of our body after having done the poses for about one hour. I would just call it a sense of well being.
I practice the Iyangar method of Yoga and I think, as someone else said, you can hurt yourself if you over stretch or do it wrong. I might have done that to my knee.
I recently started Tai Chi and it is very slow, and focused on relaxing the muscles, unlike Yoga where you keep the limbs straight and stretched. Tai Chi poses, the few that I know from my lessons, are always done with flexed knees. The movements can get very complex but they are smooth and gradual, your knees are relaxed, your arms, hand, fingers are all relaxed and softened. It engages your brain because you move in opposite directions and follow multiple movements. It is also teaches you how to increase your balance. The flexed and relaxed knees and limbs are key to that. A very different thing from yoga. Both have benefits.
Tai Chi is a martial art just like any other in the sense that for fighting, it is done fast. But you rarely hear about that because it has become known primarily for its health benefits and not for its use in self defense. In fact most people who do Tai Chi don't even know about that.
For an example of Tai Chi up to speed, watch 1:55 to 3:00 in this video
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