Reply #35: Kata - forms, the koreans call them poom-say.....

[Snow]

That's all of taichi you typically learn at a beginner level. It's a pattern of moves, done usually by yourself, with a series of offensive and defensive moves while stepping over a particular pattern. They can be very pretty to watch and very good exercise to do. I usually run through the whole palgye series, then about 4 or 5 more upper level forms and that gives me a good workout. Each form in my styles has 20-40 more or less distinct moves, and I must've learned 30 or 40 kata over the years. Don't remember all of them, unfortunately. Concentration, the whole moving meditation thing, all that. Plus, it habituates patterns that then come automatically in a fight.