The Secret Meaning of Kata
Most Arts I know of have some form kata. For those that dont know what a kata is, its a series of movments designed for you to practice different techniques. You can tell a living kata in the way its performed, as you can tell what the intent is with the movements. A dead kata is practiced with no real relavance to application.
The goal in your kata practice is for you to be able to develop that muscle memory in performing your kata. This way your body can perform the movement with little thought. A good sensei will then teach you the practical application of those movements in the form of bunkai which means "analysis" or "dissasembly". A lot of kata usually have some fancy double wrist spin or combination of wide circular body movements. These usually have a practical application of breaking a hold or controlling an opponent. These techniques should be practiced as well as the kata. Togoether they will form the yin and yang of your training, the soft and the hard, the kata and the technique.
This is what you should be looking for in both your sensei and your kata. Make sure you see your kata as a living kata and that your teacher can show you the bunkai. These are the most fundamental and important aspects of learning kata. Make sure it has purpose and feeling.
The sport scene has placed to much emphasis on competition and through that process has removed the essence of kata practice. Just becuase you won a gold medal for performing pinan godan doesnt mean you can stop there. Train those movements and train the techniques that they perform only then will you understand the secret meaning of kata.