It is easy to rely on the support of the bottom in the shallow water but once you are deep you must learn to swim. We rely on deflecting, guiding and manipulation in conversation physical fights and in our own heads and hearts. That works great as long as everything is under control and logical but the second the universe stops playing along with your perceptions and inner constructs your martial art and inner world will not work anymore.
By offering no resistance to the world from other people’s opinion of you and your loved ones and by not trying to control others movement you will release the freedom that is locked behind fear and it’s doppelganger aggression.
A drill to make things relevant.
Someone comes to attack you with a fist holding the butts of a few screws in the nooks of the fist (between fingers and in the palm) or both fists as awareness is released. You move only toward him or her allowing your body and limbs to make contact but only traveling with the contact and not stuck on a point of contact. Continue to move very slowly at first and faster as you gain the difference between moving someone else and moving yourself.
Ideas to make the work more rewarding:
walk through a thorny growth without pulling or pushing on the thorns (avoid poisonous growth 🙂
Close your eyes and allow the contact to come to your body and just move your body to avoid discomfort without relying on barriers made of your limbs or tools to understand the beginning of movement.
Allow the partner to approach you from different directions so you learn to start moving from where you are.
Avoid insisting on keeping the contact within your eyesight. It is simply another leverage.
The Martial Art of Walking 