by 64Palms on Tue May 20, 2008 9:45 pm
TaiJi, BaGua, XingYi - or just IMA for short all share the same theoretical concepts, from a "Chinese"perspective. The reason we say "internal" is because it comes from use of the body (that is techniques) and knowledge of the internal mechanisms of the body - self cultivation (NeiGong in particular, with elements of WaiGong). Whether you do the IMA or QiGong or practice Chinese Medicine paying close attention and application to all of its components, then the longevity and health benefits should be some-what the same. The difference may lie in that martial arts, for instance, may lead to injury, hence possibly affecting ones longevity. Obvioulsy the could also be acheived through other methods - the Chinese were not the only ones who wished to be healthy and live a happy long life.
So all in all they should acheive the same result - the reason that statistics would not be readily available is most likely due to the fact that everyone is different. They start martial arts at different ages, have different dispositions, and hereditary / genetic components.
The other reason that Bagua and Xingyi may seem to have better "longevity" than Taiji is that the majority of those that practice Bagua and Xingyi do so because they are martial artists and possibly look to apply all elements of the art. This may be true of some Taiji players however, the majority of people who do practice, in my opinion, do so without proper knowledge of the internal mechanisms of the body and hence their practice is lacking - such people that start because they heard it was good for arthritis, already aged or just want an alternative to Yoga etc. I am yet to come across a BaGua or XingYi practitioner that did it just for health.
Bit of a ramble, but i hope it helps.