Two Hundred and Forty-two

"Seeing me before him,
The enemy attacks.
But by that time
I am already standing
Safely behind him".

- Morihei Ueshiba, The Art of Peace

"The success of a movement, defensive or offensive, depends on whether we perform it at the right time or not. We must surprise our opponent and catch the moment of his helplessness.

That little fragment of time (one beat in a cadence) which is the most suitable to accomplish effective action is called 'tempo'". 

- Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do

Well, I'm not precisely behind Charlie here, but offline enough so that his punch moves harmlessly past me.  The picture is a visual metaphor exemplifying the idea described in the above quotes. The point isn't where I'm standing, but when I got there. The interval between Charlie's intent to punch and his actually executing the punch afforded me the time needed to move myself into a position of safety. I call this moving on uke's intent.

To successfully move on uke's intent I must be able to sense his intent to attack. The ability to sense intent is not the same as perceiving an attack that has already begun and using excellent timing to evade or otherwise neutralize it before its completion. In order to successfully sense uke's intent and act on it, I must allow uke's intent in and not shut myself off from it.

"One should be prepared to receive ninety-nine percent of an enemy's attack and stare death right in the face in order to illuminate the Path".

- Morihei Ueshiba, The Art of Peace