A taiji life is one devoted to relaxation rather than tension, energy rather than force. It operates from the fundamental belief that everything possible and imaginable can be achieved by going with things rather than against them, by releasing and allowing one's deepest energies out rather than tightening into a ball and battering the world with it. Our specific struggle in taiji, given that most of us aren't that concerned with becoming great martial artists, is to move energetically, so that each action, each movement, is the result of a release of tension rather than a tightening into tension. Very soon, given good teaching, we realise that the main problem area is the hips, and that once these begin to relax (which can take many years) the shoulders and chest (heart), and jaw and eyes, will also begin to release. The key to relaxing is to find an alternative support to replace that tension. In taiji this is the ground or Earth to begin with, but then also the Other, otherwise we wouldn't move and would starve for lack of nourishment. The heart reaches out, ultimately, because I know on the deepest level that without the Other I am nothing, without God I am lost. This is the sense in which, once relaxation has saturated my being, everything becomes an act of prayer.