What is the best way to maintenance prune? Do you cut just above a set of leaves, just below a set of leaves, or in the middle?
Thanks!

As Clicio likes to say.. It depends.

What species? Time of year? Maturity of the tree? Placement of the leaves along the branch? Directional changes desired..
In bonsai terms your question comes down to the same things as "how do I prepare dinner"

To be honest, I do not even know what you mean with maintenance prune.

Why don't you start with showing the tree you want to prune, and we take it from there?

Thanks. Here is the tree. it is a gmelina philippensis.
By maintenance pruning I mean pruning done during the growing season to keep the tree's shape. I'd be doing the pruning now and then in the late fall. The tree is about 8 years old.
I am new to bonsai, as you probably can tell.
Thanks again!

Nice chunky trunk!
I do not do "maintenance pruning" in most of my trees in training, I let them grow wild and then prune back to the second pair of leaves to avoid long internodes, usually in the Fall.
If is a Ficus, I defoliate by the end of Spring.
But if it is a finished tree, yes, do check (and prune) the growth from time to time, I do that to my Calliandras.

Not sure if this will help, but it will at least increase knowledge about tree pruning. I was literally just searching for some info on this a few minutes ago when I saw this post: good timing.

extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/...ngpubhandout2012.pdf