Yeah it's the same thing. Tai Chi and the Microcosmic Orbit are both Taoist practices. In fact they go together like a hand and a glove - you only see the glove and that's all a lot of Westerners learn, but it's all about the hand.
You might be interested in "Awaken Healing Energy Through the Tao" by Mantak Chia [1] (there's also "Healing Light of the Tao" but it goes on a bit and TBH it isn't very easy to learn from a book).
Tai Chi - like yoga asanas actually - can be done as purely physical movements, or you can be more mindful and trace your awareness through your body along these pathways to tap into the energetic/qi level. It goes for any exercise really - I do it in the gym on the cross-trainers. I just relax more and more and feel my hip bones pumping tingles up from my feet to my head and back down. I get off feeling very different compared to just doing it as a purely physical exercise.
It'd probably only take you a couple of days practice to feel something moving in the Microcosmic Orbit - definitely not years of practice.
You might be interested in "Awaken Healing Energy Through the Tao" by Mantak Chia [1] (there's also "Healing Light of the Tao" but it goes on a bit and TBH it isn't very easy to learn from a book).
Tai Chi - like yoga asanas actually - can be done as purely physical movements, or you can be more mindful and trace your awareness through your body along these pathways to tap into the energetic/qi level. It goes for any exercise really - I do it in the gym on the cross-trainers. I just relax more and more and feel my hip bones pumping tingles up from my feet to my head and back down. I get off feeling very different compared to just doing it as a purely physical exercise.
It'd probably only take you a couple of days practice to feel something moving in the Microcosmic Orbit - definitely not years of practice.
[1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Awaken-Healing-Through-Tao-Circulat...