[off topic] I've tried a few classes and found it too slow and regulated. For me, it was like trying to learn to tap dance at half speed. That's my personal opinion and obviously other people will have differing opinions. Here's a link to an exercise system that worked for me. 100% free and the only thing you need is a timer.

Royal Canadian Air Force Exercise Plan. 15 minutes a day, starts very slowly, and I got great results very quickly.

http://www.fit450.com/HTML/5BX_chart1.html

You'll probably like it. I took a summer class once. It's a halfway decent exercise if you have fun doing it and it's self motivating. It's relaxing but with just a little more athleticism than you'd expect looking in from the outside. I used to do it in my salad days when my friends and I got way too high to even myself out. But for pure results, you'll probably get more out of walking and yoga if you were looking for an option B.

I took it in a class of mostly people in their 40s and 50s for about 12 weeks, twice a week. it was zero impact and we spent about 90% of the time doing very conscious posture awareness and simple movements. something I like about it is that the practicioner can make it as intense or light as they want, even doing something as simple as standing. it became something I could "practice" whenever I wanted without drawing attention... washing dishes, waiting for a light at a crosswalk, etc.

I had done aahtanga yoga for several years before I took the tai chi class, so I wasn't a complete stranger to my body, but tai chi definitely cultivated a new type of body mechanic, muscle and balance awareness in the motions and movements of everyday life.

I can definitely see it as an effective path to reacquainting oneself with their body in an intentional and chill way that is unlikely to injure you and set you back.

I've done it before for a semester at uni. It was worthwhile. Our instructor used to compete in martial arts at the provincial level, and treated Tai Chi as a martial art too.

We spent the first ten on warmup e.g. run around the gym a few times, or sprints, then do standing and ground stretches. We'd then learn the routine for the day (40 mins) then finish off going through full routines we'd learnt for the final ten minutes.

I guess given his background he taught it as such. I didn't really break a sweat, but it was a light workout all the same, probably similar to going for an easy to moderate bushwalk for an hour.

I found it useful to be aware of my posture and how your centre of gravity shifts between poses, the stretches also helped me limber up and I finally learnt how to squat properly. I didn't really get to the stage where I felt the movement of qi, but I at least understood it better as a concept.

I've done Qigong which is kinda similar but more woo and less exercise.

You do a bunch of gentle postures/stretches and its very relaxing. Over a long enough period of time, you'll build up some muscle coordination but probably not a large amount of strength. It's a good starting point if you want to ease into working out but outside of relaxation and gentle exercise its kinda meh.

I do it mostly for spiritual stuff though so ymmv.

Idk much about Tai Chi

I can also recommend Wing Chun, it's good exercise and it provides some very important foundational concepts that can be mixed with other martial arts if you're interested in taking it further in the future.

People critisise it but I think it can come quite in handy in a self defence scenario if you train with that in mind and do some sparring now and then.

From a fitness perspective it's great for the whole body, it's mostly punches but kicks of all heights are not unusual and there's always lots of legwork. Some exercises of it can also pretty meditative.

More medical reasons, sure, but it's not even a real martial art by traditional art standards and you shouldn't aim for what your fitness is suitable for now (because then why do it?). Have a mindset of growth.

If you like sparring, pick an art that has sparring.

If it is Tai Chi or nothing, choose Tai Chi.

It's good if you've got mobility issues, an older guy in my class told me he was in a really bad car accident and it helped him regain his full mobility, but if you can do more intensive stuff I'd maybe recommend doing that. It makes a great pair with yoga, we did some light yoga for our warmups and it was the most limber I've ever felt in my life. I also really enjoyed the meditation aspect, it helped me understand the whole "being aware of your body" concept.

I did it for half a year cause it was offered as a course by my university's sports department. It definitely was very fun and relaxing (and that vibe of unity that a lot of eastern martial arts have when everyone is doing the exact same routine at once is so cool), but just a bit too low impact for me.

It might be perfect for you tho! Group settings are great for accountability which is the hardest part of starting a new exercise routine ^^