After learning about the Seven Chakra Gates, Kahn began his formal training. Besides learning the practical techniques of Spiritbending, he also worked on tempering his mind.
However, although learning the practical techniques went very smoothly, his mental training could only be described as quite torturous.
The process of opening the Seven Chakras would have a considerable impact on his mind, and once started, it could not easily be stopped. Therefore, he had to make thorough preparations before attempting it.
Preparing, in other words, meant constantly confronting the knots in his heart, a rather painful process.
The very reason those knots had formed was that people found them difficult to face and difficult to let go of. The difficulty of making peace with them was easy to imagine.
Fortunately, Kahn was the sort who took things in stride. He also dared to confront problems and admit his mistakes, and was willing to accept his own flaws. Those qualities alone already put him far ahead of the vast majority of people.
During this process, Kahn recalled many things from his past.
For instance, his anger upon learning that Zuko had been injured and banished; his guilt over exploiting Kori's trust in him and unknowingly drawing her into danger; his fear that his identity as someone from another world would be exposed...
Some of these he could already laugh off, and others he could face normally, but some still left him uneasy whenever he recalled them.
Moreover, he felt that many of these things could not be resolved through self-reflection alone. To truly resolve them, he would ultimately have to return to reality.
Still, although Kahn himself found the training process quite torturous, Guru Pathik praised his aptitude for understanding.
"Generally speaking, the Air Nomads were originally the best suited to practicing Spiritbending,