It can be difficult to experience "flow" as you do form. One way of learning to pay attention is to use audiotapes to accompany your form practice. You can either purchase a suitable tape (e.g., readings of the Taoist classics) or record your own preferences and then play them when doing form.
The sound level should be loud enough to hear clearly, but not blaring. However, doing form in a noisy environment is, in itself, an exercise in being attentive.
It's relatively easy to enter a meditative state of mind when practicing alone in a park or in a room by yourself, but more of a challenge when in the "real" world. If your t'ai chi only works under ideal conditions, can it have real value?
You should have a fundamental grasp of the mechanics of your form so that you don't have to constantly divide your attention between remembering where your hands and feet go and what you're listening to.
This process is not simply to create a pseudo oriental atmosphere for your practice or provide appropriate background noise. It is a means of focusing your attention on the theoretical/philosophical roots of the art as you do its physical expression, form.
Not surprisingly, it is difficult to blend listening attention
with movement attention without detracting from either aspect. T'ai chi as a means of moving meditation should be an enhancement of your awareness of self and environment and not just some New Age trance state of blind introspection.
If you are using such tapes with friends or to teach, some consideration should be paid to the occasional student who feels that this kind of training aid-when it involves Taoist readings-may be a form of subliminal brainwashing. Not all students of t'ai chi want or are willing to accept the Taoist basis as being valid for them for either philosophical or religious reasons.