1/ RAISE YOUR HEAD TO ELEVATE YOUR SPIRIT: This is Essence number one, both in sequence and importance. If your posture is stooped or you are looking down all the time, you cannot lift your spirits. We all know the phrase “walk high”. It is true in Tai Chi and in life in general. If your head is high, then your spirit rises and you become stronger inside. If you ever see a Tai Chi master, it will seem like he can look at every person in the room. This is because the first essence is in place and they have a strong spirit.

2/ LOWER THE SHOULDERS TO SINK THE ELBOWS: Everything in Tai Chi is connected with Yin and Yang. If you raise your head, it must be complemented by a downward energy. This is sinking your shoulders. Tension will cause your shoulders to rise, so if you can relax your shoulders, you will begin to reduce the amount of tension trapped in your body. When your shoulders relax, your breathing pattern will alter due to the decreased pressure on your lungs.

3/ CURVING THE BACK AND SOFTENING THE CHEST: As your shoulders relax, your back should become slightly rounded to smooth out your chest. This is the opposite of standing at attention, military style. The lung meridian will be able to do its job more easily and your breath will sink.

4/ LOOSEN THE WAIST: As your breath sinks, so will your center of gravity. Less energy is wasted by being encased in your upper body. When this change occurs, you will be able to start feeling the movements from your Tan Tien point (in your abdomen). The Tan Tien will begin to spin and accumulate energy.

5/ SEPARATE THE SUBSTANTIAL FROM THE INSUTANCIAL: When you begin to feel the movement of the Tan Tien, it will seem obvious that your legs should not be double weighted. Even for the Tai Chi movement, your weight is continuously transferred from one leg to the other (substantial to insubstantial).

6/ COORDINATE THE UPPER AND LOWER BODY: When you have understood the idea of ​​double weight, you will begin to examine other coordinations. The next thing to look at is whether your upper body is working at the same time as your lower body. If your legs finish pushing before your arms, there is a lack of coordination between your upper and lower body.

7/ CONTINUITY IN THE MOVEMENT: When your upper and lower body are coordinated, your movement will naturally become continuous. If your arms or legs stop at any point, check your coordinations. The Tai Chi movement must be a continuous flow.

8/ UNITE MIND WITH BODY: If your Tai Chi movement has become continuous, then you need to coordinate what you understand about the applications with the movements. If your mind’s intent is coordinated with your Tai Chi framework, you will understand this.

9/ USE THE MIND NOT THE FORCE: At this stage, you will have learned to coordinate your intention with movement. The energy moves by intention with movement. Energy is moved by intention, so when you can unify your intention with your body, you can unify your Energy with your intention. This is how you use your mind instead of force.

10/ LOOK FOR THE STILLNESS IN THE MOVEMENT AND THE MOVEMENT WITHIN THE STILLNESS: This is an extremely high level of Tai Chi. It means that you can do all the coordinations in the Ten Essences and not have to overload your systems trying to remember everything. It is the same as watching a master craftsman working alongside his apprentice. They may be doing the same work, but the Master will appear to be slack in their efforts.