Let water flow over you like a rock in a stream

We've been doing a lot of randori during aikido these days, maybe cos some of us (in the dojo, not me lah) are going for grading soon. And it's not the one-on-one or two-on-one type, it's typically five or six attackers at a time! Can't really do much fancy stuff in this kind of situation. Keith Sensei says that we have to 'swim through' our attackers, blend in and flow with their direction, rather than block them, or stop them by trying to do some pre-determined technique. And of course, it's a lot harder than it sounds. My first instinct is still to try and intercept my attackers, rather than let them bring themselves past me. It's tiring and back-breaking for this number of people involved! In fact, I did a lot better when I was forced to evade attacks with one hand behind my back (and having both behind was pretty stressful, I can tell you).

Is it something I do off the mat as well? Try to meet obstacles head-on rather than observe the flow of the situation and blend with it?