It was an early morning, the sun had risen barely a quarter of an hour ago, as Amilthi walked through the corridors of the temple, away from her chamber and towards one of the training halls, which at this time of the day, she would usually find empty. Amilthi had been back on Tython for some time and her circadian rhythm was again perfectly adjusted, so that she felt very awake as her light steps lead her into the hall. It was indeed empty and the pale light of the beginning day flooded in through the large windows. The scene would have been magnificent to someone who, unlike Amilthi, hadn't seen it virtually every day for several years by now.
But to Amilthi, it was nothing new; it was familiar and vaguely pleasant, but not moving. She was already clearing her mind to focus on her purpose for being here, pushing away thoughts about what else she would be doing today, and ridding herself of all other distractions. For her, this procedure was much easier than it might have sounded - she had a well-defined schedule for her morning practice-session, she knew what she had to do and she knew it would take about an hour. Being used to it, it was easy for her to concentrate on this and postpone everything else until breakfast, during which she could let her thoughs wander.
The young woman sat down on the floor, put her hands on her knees and closed her eyes. She focused entirely on her awarness of her own body, feeling the positions of all of her limbs and mapping them out in her mind. She held onto this and imagined what it felt like to stand up from her position, to reach for her lightsaber with her right hand, and to ignite it; she also included in her imagination where its blade would be, it was almost as if it was part of her own body-image. Then she carefully went through all the movements that constituted one of the more complicated Form III kata in her repertoire. When it was finished, she let lose go of the mental representation and started anew in her sitting position.
She repeated the same process two more times, all the while sitting on the floor motionless, but relaxed. Such was the rule: to do it mentally three times, and then execute it once for real. She didn't train her muscles in the process, but the effectiveness of this method for making movements precise, swift and automatic was immense, and that was much more important to her. She was still somewhat puzzled by the fact that there seemed to be only a small circle of Jedi who practiced like this, and counted herself fortunate to have been taught the procedure by a Master even when she was still an initiate.
Eventually, she stood up in a fluid movement, caught her lightsaber and moved the unusual pure white blade around her body in the way she had imagined, but this time without thinking about what she was doing; it came fully automatically, and faster than she could ever consciously keep track of, even though she had by now developed an ability to imagine surprisingly fast movements in a way that she would never have thought possible when she had still been new to the method.
Not quite satisfied with the result, she sat down again and repeated the whole cycle. And so she did with a list of kata she new, from the harder ones to the simpler, only proceeding to the next one when the previous one had been executed in a way that she judged sufficiently precise. By now, she could afford to do some only every second day, and even then often only once, just to keep them from deteriorating. Otherwise, one hour every morning wouldn't have been enough to go through all that she had fully acquired so far. Those kata that she was currently working at weren't included anyway.
Amilthi had a feeling that she had finished her routine unusually fast today, and was quite pleased about it. She clipped her lightsaber to her belt for one last time and briefly looked out through the window, noting that she felt a little peckish, as was to be expected.
But to Amilthi, it was nothing new; it was familiar and vaguely pleasant, but not moving. She was already clearing her mind to focus on her purpose for being here, pushing away thoughts about what else she would be doing today, and ridding herself of all other distractions. For her, this procedure was much easier than it might have sounded - she had a well-defined schedule for her morning practice-session, she knew what she had to do and she knew it would take about an hour. Being used to it, it was easy for her to concentrate on this and postpone everything else until breakfast, during which she could let her thoughs wander.
The young woman sat down on the floor, put her hands on her knees and closed her eyes. She focused entirely on her awarness of her own body, feeling the positions of all of her limbs and mapping them out in her mind. She held onto this and imagined what it felt like to stand up from her position, to reach for her lightsaber with her right hand, and to ignite it; she also included in her imagination where its blade would be, it was almost as if it was part of her own body-image. Then she carefully went through all the movements that constituted one of the more complicated Form III kata in her repertoire. When it was finished, she let lose go of the mental representation and started anew in her sitting position.
She repeated the same process two more times, all the while sitting on the floor motionless, but relaxed. Such was the rule: to do it mentally three times, and then execute it once for real. She didn't train her muscles in the process, but the effectiveness of this method for making movements precise, swift and automatic was immense, and that was much more important to her. She was still somewhat puzzled by the fact that there seemed to be only a small circle of Jedi who practiced like this, and counted herself fortunate to have been taught the procedure by a Master even when she was still an initiate.
Eventually, she stood up in a fluid movement, caught her lightsaber and moved the unusual pure white blade around her body in the way she had imagined, but this time without thinking about what she was doing; it came fully automatically, and faster than she could ever consciously keep track of, even though she had by now developed an ability to imagine surprisingly fast movements in a way that she would never have thought possible when she had still been new to the method.
Not quite satisfied with the result, she sat down again and repeated the whole cycle. And so she did with a list of kata she new, from the harder ones to the simpler, only proceeding to the next one when the previous one had been executed in a way that she judged sufficiently precise. By now, she could afford to do some only every second day, and even then often only once, just to keep them from deteriorating. Otherwise, one hour every morning wouldn't have been enough to go through all that she had fully acquired so far. Those kata that she was currently working at weren't included anyway.
Amilthi had a feeling that she had finished her routine unusually fast today, and was quite pleased about it. She clipped her lightsaber to her belt for one last time and briefly looked out through the window, noting that she felt a little peckish, as was to be expected.