When you first start Tai-Chi you'll often go through the form stopping at each move while the teacher goes around the class adjusting your posture or moving your arms and legs. Each new move has an often strange name, fist under elbow, step back to repulse Monkey or snake creeps down and as you progress you can spend ages adjusting your posture so the arm feels just right or the leg has just enough weight before you move onto the next move.

This is fine right at the beginning when you are suddenly finding your arms and legs are not as co-ordinated as you thought they where and you're struggling to mimic the shape your teacher is making. However as the form unfolds it is important not to get too attached to end shape of each movement because in reality it is the transition between the moves that is important. Each move is an expression of that transition, not a culmination, as soon as one move becomes manifest it flows away into the next move and the next and the next like a wave forming and breaking in an ocean.

The names are anchors, points of reference, to give form to The Form, however we are ultimately aiming to use that form as a stepping stone towards formlessness, where we the structure of movement becomes so integrated and natural it appears seamless.

This concept is also applicable to Tai-Chi as a whole. It is good to have a goal, something to motivate us and give structure (form) to our practice, however if we concentrate totally on that end result, say learning The Form or becoming a master, and keep looking forward at this thing on the horizon then we are completely missing the process of getting there, the process where we are actually doing all the learning and having all the experience.