qigong forms feel like densely encoded somatic libraries, deep with layers of meaning too subtle to communicate by means other than physical experience.

when I am learning a new movement, initially I am just trying to make sure I am translating what I am seeing to my own movement.

once I can go through the motion of the form, I am feeling for what it has to say. I approach it assuming that the form is demonstrating something important to me about being in a body, in the world, and I try to feel for what it is.

I am not assuming that there is only one thing, or that my initial experience is all there is to learn.

forms seem to continue to unpack with repetition.

I imagine that eventually I will be less unpacking the form itself, but more investigating the underlying reality through the directed medium of the form.