Place the tip of the tongue on the top of the mouth: The tip of the tongue must curve up onto the upper palate of the mouth and lightly touch a point directly behind your upper front teeth.

Sink the chi:  Allow the energy to sink without bending the knees.  Surrender the energy into your legs.  Imagine the flesh sinking while the skeleton remains in position.  Begin each move by allowing the release of energy, surrendering the energy through the body.

Relax the chest: A relaxed chest is slightly sunken. Avoid pushing your chest out for this position will cause your upper body to be heavy and your lower body to be light.

Open the kua: Relax the hip-crease.  Allow the hips to open, keeping the knees aligned with the direction of the foot placement.  The hips should always move as a natural consequence of actions initiated in the legs.

Round the shoulders: The shoulders should be relaxed and slightly rounded. Since all your joints are part of one another, having a relaxed shoulder means to have a relaxed elbow. Shoulders, arms, and hands should all move in unison. If you push your hands too far forward your arms will be stretched. This makes it impossible for your shoulders and elbows to hang down, therefore going against the least resistance to the pull of gravity. The shoulders should never be forced backwards during any technique.

Allow the pelvis to turn slightly upward: This adjusts the angle of the pelvic girdle and creates a vertical posture allowing for an equal distribution of weight on the lower back. The spine is coaxed into an optimum vertical position. Tension and stiffness are then relieved in individual vertebrae.

Quiet the mind:  Allow your mind to be free from distractions. Chi follows the mind so that wherever you put your attention, chi accumulates. This is the reason that mental self-discipline is so important. Ultimately, everything depends on your will or mind, and not on the external appearance of the movements.

Fair maiden hands:  The hands must follow a natural curve and should neither be fully limp (relaxed) nor fully stretched (tensed). This requires a slight straightening of the fingers thus creating a modest stretching of the palm. Move the hands as if pulling a silken thread; any sudden jerks will break the silk. Feel the chi in your hands, particularly the palms.

Hip-tracking: The hip-track is the simple path that relaxed hips naturally travel through when weight is shifted from one leg to another in Tai Chi practice. Moving through the hip-track ensures rootedness as it ensures alignment between the thighs and the base in the feet and effortlessly prevents the torqueing and twisting in the knees and ankles.

Be mindful of the knees:  The knees should never extend over the center of the shoe.  The knees should always point towards the toes and remain slightly flexed -never locked straight.  Bent knees provide springiness to your legs. Strength and flexibility of the sinews of the knees determine to a great extent the strength and effectiveness of the whole body.

Develop your root:  This requires proper foot, knee, and hip alignments. Search for the feeling of having your leg planted six inches below the floor.

Tai Chi movement:  Each movement must be light, nimble and continuous. In all movements the inner strength is rooted in the feet, developed in the legs, controlled by the waist, and expressed through the limbs. The two complementary factors, emptiness and solidness, must be distinctly differentiated throughout every movement.

Stay inside your box:  Don’t overextend your limbs.  Be moderate and avoid all extremes. Do not overreach or overstretch.

Try to maintain a consistent flow:  Always maintain an even flowing motion from start to finish.  Don’t rush the transitions.  Continually shift your body weight and position. Avoid double movements. Chi is blocked when the flow is impeded or a pause occurs within the sequences.

Move with intent:  Feel the contact with your opponents as you move through the form. Martial intent leads the chi and opens the meridians.

Tai Chi stepping: When moving forward touch the heel down first, when moving backward touch the toe down first. Gradually shift your body weight into the foot, letting the rest of the sole proceed into place. Your body weight should be shifted from one foot to the other as if pouring chi from one leg to the other.  Always maintain some stickiness to the floor with each foot.

Loosen waist:  The waist must be flexible as it controls your energy in both offence and defense. The waist acts like a steering wheel, giving direction to all movements, i.e. intrinsic energy is the rim of a wheel; the waist is the hub of the wheel. The order for movement is issued from the waist.