Recap of Aikido "Understanding" thus far from North Florida Aikikai (Tallahassee)

Initial Note:  All outlooks on principles and understandings of Aikido are only my own at the current time of the post and are not to be taken as correct or incorrect, just my own at the time.  They will absolutely change as time goes on and I come to understand something differently and will be interpreted in my own understanding in order to post something of value for myself.

Working with a fellow student at NFA I was told about using a wave motion starting from about the elbow region, maintaining relaxed and lowered shoulders to allow the lower half of the arm to resemble that of an ocean wave drawing onto the shores and then cactching the opponent on the "receding tide" part of the wave effectively drawing in their attack and allowing you to relax your arms to your center as the opponent continues past you into an ukemi roll and you move on to the next attacker.

We spent a lot of time on Tuesday's class going over uke's giving a "genuine" attack in the form of a Shomen strike.  The sensei's said a lot of our attacks as Uke were lacking in energy, mine especially.  I have been trying to understand how to give a good attack to Nage but have not picked up on it too well.  Tuesday's practice with Mark Sensei really helped me to develop a better understanding of delivering a "energy-full" yet controlled attack.

From my exam for 6th Kyu I proven a general understanding of the following techniques at my testing level:

• Tenkan                                        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s77tJ6XGiNg
• Shomenuchi ikkyo and irimenage  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgoM_xrveO4
                                                     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pth5aX0nIzs
• Menuetsuki kotegaeshi                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB01hhonf8Q
• Katate dori shihonage                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfuwPVOfGZ8  
• Yokomenuchi shihonage              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5BYCtOWhBM
• Kokyu tanden ho                         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sSSQ7VJIJw

        (ura means to perform the technique to their back side, omote means to the front side)

The pronunciation of each "attack" follows the form of uke's attack followed by nage's reaction to uke's attack: such as Shomenuchi ikkyo.  Uke focuses on giving a "genuine" and "honest" Shomen strike while nage reacts with an ikkyo (first technique).