Be prepared - pay attention!

It is said that the great swordsman Miyamoto Musashi was never without his swords, even taking them into the bath house and toilet. He believed in never being surprised and always being prepared for what life throws at you. In other words he was always prepared and never, in modern terms, switched off.
I learnt a lesson about not switching off last night in the salle. As usual my coach asked me to help him demonstrate various moves. In this case he asked me to take an engagement of sixte and then attack down the blade. He would then respond with an opposition parry. Once we had demonstrated this several times and the class had practiced it he then introduced a ceding parry of prime which was totally different in force and feel to the previous technique. I just had to engage and lunge, engage and lunge and I sort of fell into a mental doze as Andy demonstrated the prime parry again and again. Suddenly he reverted to the opposition parry and whilst the class probably didn't notice, this had an electrifying effect on me because I nearly fell over! The force and direction of the parry was totally opposite and I had become adjusted to the feel of one technique and wasn't paying attention. Luckily I was able to maintain my balance and avoid too much embarassment but it just goes to show how crucial it is to pay attention at all times! Even when being the 'stooge'!