We had a really small class Thursday evening: instructor plus three students. For the end of the class, the instructor decided that, instead of simply doing randori (with three attackers, for obvious reasons...), it would be more interesting to do jiyuwaza. He asked the attackers to be slow enough at each person's skill level for the person to find and develop an actual technique instead of going with the turning throw we usually do with randori.
I knew better than to think about looking for any particular technique ahead of time. What I focused on from the moment he clapped was cultivating a feeling: starting in a good natural posture with my center slightly dropped, selecting one person and moving directly to him, smiling, a host graciously welcoming a guest to her home, my arms gently extending up as distances closed. Since I never made a transition from regarding them as "guests" to "attackers," it was easy to keep my breathing, center, and shoulders very low and see the opening that revealed a technique. Of course it helped that we weren't going very fast. But when the goal is to develop the body and brain for a certain response, you don't want to go faster than it's possible to succeed most of the time.
Big fun.
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