Taiji teaches the four basic skills required to become a passionate and compassionate human being:

1. The ability to instantly create a nourishing and peaceful space for the Other to enter. To be effective this space should be turning, or returning, like a mirror, so when the Other enters they are confronted by themselves. We call this yielding.
2. The ability to instantly penetrate and enter the Other's space (body/heart/mind). We call this attacking.
3. A route into the Earth: a sink for yielded energy, and a supply of attacking energy. We call this rooting.
4. The ability to stay connected, even when it appears that communication has ceased. We call this sticking.