An issue with the form (Tai Chi Ch'uan)

The form is an ancient tai chi ch'uan ritual, that is used like a holy Text in religion. The form is a series of movements, just like in the Bible there are a series of words. The depth of the movements studied (or words studied) are endless. It is an exhausting practice of perfecting each movement with nitty-gritty detail, so that each movement is utterly smooth and precise. Practitioners of the form find that even though they know all of the nitty-gritty details of the form and of tai chi principles in general, they are unable to apply them to the form in "Real time". For instance, the practitioner should be relaxing their hip and sinking the weight into the right leg, but the person's hip is frozen and locked, and the thinking mind is trying to figure out how to relax the hip. Meanwhile there are dozens of different things that the person has to pay attention to simultaneously: the movement of a hand, the breathing into a specific lung, the placement of the foot, the alignment of his body, the relaxation of the neck muscles, etc. It seems impossible to keep everything that's important in mind. Some of the principles of the form suffer while others are condensed around by the thinking mind. 

Similarly, the true studying of a Biblical text, a book of Zen koans, or other mythological texts requires tremendous knowledge of the content of the text, and further, requires the application of all of the "principles" learned from the text in one's daily life. One realizes that there is a gap between one's knowledge and one's ability to apply their knowledge. A practice like this, I believe, is essential to distinguishing between what one "knows" intellectually and what is going on around oneself.