The Lesson of Scary Things

Happy Halloween! It's a scary day, so we worked on all of the things that scare me. How appropriate!

Power Circles - These are usually so difficult to practice during crowded sessions but there were only a few of us on the ice today so there was no reason not to do them. Forward counter-clockwise (my good side) had decent enough power but I tend to get to a certain part of the pattern and stay there without expanding it out. He gave me landmarks to shoot for and that helped. My problem seems to stem from the fact that once I reach my top speed (somewhere around the 8th-9th crossover), I stagnate because my feet don't know how to make bigger circles with more speed. Oddly, the other direction (clockwise - my bad side) was better in terms of size of pattern but slightly weaker in terms of speed and technique. That's frustrating. We moved on to the backward power circles. These always carry a risk of a sudden "click of death" moment. We started with my good side, backward counter-clockwise. He said he was pleased with the amount of power in my crossovers but he would like me to again focus on expanding the circles as I get faster. Finally, my bad side. Again, the pattern was better but the crossovers were weaker. I feel like I can't win. He did say they looked better than the last time he saw them so I know progress is being made even if it's slight. 

Brackets - FI and FO brackets are getting better but I've been avoiding backward brackets like the plague. He keeps saying he thinks these are easier than the forward brackets but I still don't believe him. We only worked on BO brackets but he noticed that I get very much on my heel during the turn and that may be the thing that is making these feel so scary. He gave me an exercise where I am at a standstill and try to turn from backward to forward on one foot to get a sense of where on the blade I need to turn. I was able to do it from a standstill just fine so something is happening in my head while I'm moving that makes me think that I need to work way harder than I need to in order to force the turn. I need more calm in my brackets, essentially. 

Ten Fox - We rounded out the lesson of scary things with my least favorite dance, the Ten Fox. This whole dance gives me anxiety. It's fast, the holds constantly change, and that damn mohawk on the end pattern gives me heart palpitations. We partnered it without the music and my heart rate was elevated the whole time. Out of all of the dances I've done with Christopher so far, this one in particular makes me feel like I'm going to trip him and take us both down. He told me to get used to it because I'm essentially going to encounter this again when I get to the next level and meet the Fourteenstep. Cool. Continued dread. 

It was a great lesson despite all the scary things. Sometimes I need him to push me to work on the things that make me uncomfortable. As much as I hate it while it's happening, I always feel good afterward that I confronted my fears :)