Ruven Sharf told me another great analogy that he heard from his Alexander technique teacher, Meir.
In a military Bunker there were 10 soldiers and they were always exhausted because they were almost always on guard around the bunker.
A new commander came, and he put a high observation post, so one soldier was in the post, and 4 around the bunker, and now the other five soldiers could sleep, and they kept rotation, so everyone was fresh and functional all the time.
We can notice that many people in kumite tend to be too tense all the time, they are in protective mode, the muscles become overworked, tired, unresponsive,cannot use full rate of contraction/expansion and injury is more likely.
From my experience, the more sensitive one is, the less tension and effort is needed, because I know my opponent cannot surprise me, I can see it before its coming and have enough time to respond.
What we need to do is increase our sensitivity, our awareness to self and surroundings, be present, we need to develop our intuitive perception, and than our body will relax, does not have to be in protective mode constantly, and it will be more responsive. Using our eyes, looking harder, does not make us more sensitive, it actually separates us from what we see, it narrows the awareness it make us not present, behind, in the past.
How to become more sensitive, increase the awareness is not for this article, but the method is engrained in our physical training, in the directions we give students while timing drills and even in the basics.