as explained by Susan Perry in The Hidden Power of Aikido
I think of the crows as a community warning siren. Their noise draws the attention of critters and creatures like me, alerting us that a bird of prey is nearby.
But for all the commotion and dive bombing, the crows do not actually attack the hawk as the hawk is more powerful and so the crows offer warning attacks which are really false attacks, impressive if only for their agility and perseverance.
The hawk has a greater center, a pronounced but quiet presence and the advantage of size and might. The hawk has no reason to be conserved. It is the crows that need to be careful, and they are. They keep their distance, coming close to the hawk in their dive bombs without getting too close. Keeping the proper distance ensures their safety.
In Japanese martial arts this kind of distancing is called maai, which denotes the proper distance between me and an attacker. I cannot express enough how important maai is... It is not just an exotic term for an element of practice in an Eastern martial art. It is something that exists around us everywhere and so, understandably, goes unnoticed. The sooner we become aware of this, the more sensitive we will be to our surroundings and this has got to be of prime martial arts importance.
In terms of maai, everything counts. The observable distance from us to our partner, the quickness or slowness of our partner's movements, whether our partner is holding something and the specific nature of that thing, whether there are prevailing winds and if so their direction, whether there are extenuating circumstances such as the visibility of anger in our partner's face or body or some other liability that might alter the interaction. Just the observation of a neighboring car's tires being low may affect our decision to remain driving next to them. If we see that our partner's ankle bears a brace indicating potential weakness, or perhaps we see that their bon is too heavy for them or that it's broken, or that their grip is in some way compromised, we may alter our attitude and movement.
