Each class begins with a few minutes of gentle warm-up followed by several repetitions of flowing through the form. Everyone begins the same way. You simply copy what you see to whatever degree is possible for you. The importance of the proper stance, alignment, coordination and correct timing are explained.
Physical awareness is gained by precisely learning the movements and by focusing on the principles.
This leads inexorably to energy awareness. The mind leads the energy and the energy leads the body. This chain of command, for learning purposes, is introduced with the emphasis initially on the body which then helps to awaken the energy and then eventually the emphasis is mainly mental. The T'ai Chi postures are always done in the same order with each posture building upon the lessons of the earlier ones. In addition, each posture is learned from the ground up, that is, feet, knees, waist, etc.