Hi there,
Back in February I finished my first 10-Day Vipassana retreat in Kaufman, TX under the guidance of Goenka (videos/recordings). Several times throughout the course, Goenkaji warns (somewhat strongly I think) against combining Vipassana with other certain practices.
Does anyone have anything to say about their experiences of combining Vipassana with other practices - or just have any useful information/opinions to share about doing that? I ask because I am committed to Vipassana, and really want to continue doing it regularly, but I find that I also really want to explore martial arts -- specifically Tai Chi (at least for the internal side of martial arts).
So does anyone have anything to say about their experience with combining Vipassana with Tai Chi or some other more of a "physically active" spiritual practice?
(Note: My motivation for trying out Tai Chi is because I want to work on grounding myself and getting to know my body. I tend to really be stuck up in the "top chakras" and totally not grounded. Always have been that way and it has caused some no longer needed struggles, I think. The reason I prefer a martial art as a way to try being grounded (as opposed to say, working with chakra meditations), is that I used to practice Taekwondo and I loved it. Just found it to be really fun! And it's a great way to stay physically active.)
EDIT/ADD: My thoughts on this question:
One sort of "issue" I could see with combining Tai Chi and Vipassana, is that from what I understand, each employs a sort of "scanning" method of the body, but coming from different intentional points. With Vipassana, you scan part by part, objectively--not trying to relax anything or to manipulative anything. With Tai Chi, however, I *believe* that from the very beginning with standing, your intention is to stand and move with the greatest ease--with the greatest "efficiency." The idea is to release all tension by discovering all present tensions in the body, and to eventually let the Earth move sort of "for you". I think that these two motivations could be distracting when trying to practice one or the other. For example, if I am sitting I may find myself relaxing every muscle which could distract from observing the "impermanence", "unsatisfactoriness", etc.
Actually, I wonder if that if you were to practice Vipassana long enough, your body wouldn't eventually release itself of muscle tension anyway, however. So maybe they are ultimately working in through the same vein anyway. Please tell me what you think!
Thanks and I look forward to your replies!

Isabel