Dear CMI:

From my experience of Tai Chi in California- it is Tai Chi, definitely. My experience of Tai Chi in another state was nothing like the first, not even close. Regarding yoga, one teacher played a meditation type during the long corpse pose at the end of every class. Otherwise, holding a certain posture for a while make you focus on your different body parts that are involved in the posture, so the attention goes down from the thinking brain to the stretch or feel of here and there.

Regarding mindfulness: you can practice that everywhere: walking, washing dishes, just sitting, you simply get out of the thinking, wandering brain and focus on any one or more of the five senses: the sight, sound, feel… of the warm water and the dishes, the soap, the towel… no detail is too small to notice with one of the senses, and you switch from sight to sound to feel. Anything you do is an opportunity to practice mindfulness.

anita