The most common imperative in a Taiji class is Relax! and the most common response from students is How do I relax?

The instruction is: Put your mind in the tension and it will dissolve. This doesn't really help much because most people nowadays have an undisciplined mind that cannot be still or empty. Most minds are permanently and neurotically full of words and worry. So the first stage to any internal work is learning to quieten the mind, and this requires meditation. Indeed this is the definition of meditation: quietening the mind, or training the mind to be aware rather than think.