Working out alone

I'm at the college in the middle of the day. I have about 30 minutes before I need to be somewhere and I'm going to use them to work on forms. I grab some workout clothes and go across the street to the college's racquet center where Brian and I work out on Wednesday mornings.

"Could you turn the lights on in one of the back racquetball courts?" I ask the girl at the desk.

The court has one glass wall, and I can see my reflection in it, like the mirror at ballet. I face that way and go through my new form, Palgwe 6, a few times. Then I stop and go over some of the middle moves that give me trouble. I do this about 5 or 6 times.

It reminds me of practicing flute or piano, how my teachers told me to isolate the measures that gave me trouble and play them slowly, then faster until I could get through them without trouble.

Then it's on to Chun Gun. That one also needs some work. I figure out the troublesome moves, run them a few times, then the whole form.

It's just those two forms today, but it's enough. By the end of the 30 minutes, I'm too tired to do them with any power at all. But it's been helpful.

When you do a form with someone else, it's easy to watch out of the corner of your eye, so you don't have to rely completely on your memory. But alone--that really makes you realize what you do and don't know. I guess that's what today's practice was all about.