Working on your own self knowledge in class or by yourself is dependent on two main factors. The first is your own safety and knowledge of your training partners since you cannot logically put yourself in a compromising situation with people or environment you cannot trust. Be mindful of your feeling and senses and avoid working with partners you cannot trust or in locations and environments you are not sure of. Keeping an eye out for yourself is more energy efficient than leaving an eye on the “playground”
The second and more affecting factor in the long run is your state of mind. Going to class or to your own private practice with a competitive or aggressive attitude or worse trying to win a drill will leave you winded and without any self knowledge other than you win sometimes and you lose sometimes and your perspective of what is survival and what is learning will also be marred and affect your movement and comprehension of true survival situations and avoiding them altogether.
I suggest trying out an attitude of let us see what happens once condition one is met and with this you leave behind problems of competition when not in a race and fear of where is this going when the exploration is what matters. Learning to find a way demands you feel comfortable even if right now you only have a bit of the way. That is what keeping on moving is all about.
The Martial Art of Walking 