"The Centipede's Dilemma"

A centipede was happy quite,
Until a frog in fun
Said, "Pray, which leg comes after which?"
This raised her mind to such a pitch,
She lay distracted in the ditch
Considering how to run.


-- Anonymous

We were practising a pattern, everyone seemed to do well after doing it number of times. Then master changed the orientation of class i.e. earlier we were starting facing the mirror and he asked us to start facing the wall. And in very first attempt after changing the orientation, many of us missed. So as one can see any small thing can become a conscious thought in mind, which can throw us off. Which is exactly what above poem is saying. Until centipede was unaware of complexity of moving it's legs without interfering with each other, everything was fine but the moment a thought was introduced about how to consciously do it, everything went haywire.

In martial arts, we are supposed to learn through head and then forget, which means the technique should be so much assimilated in the body that there should be practically no need for applying brain - it should become instinctive.