Well to me it is about dealing with the energy rather than the "technigue" per se. When one applies concepts instead oc fixed "applications" you react to what is given. For example, using concepts to deal with an attack often will result in doing something different even though the attacks look tge same. The difference is the energy being provided which will dictate the response. If you allow the energy received to form the response it will never be application based because each attack will form it's own defensive response.
You can see this illustrated in many FMA with the idea of covering using angles. Everything cominv from one angle is responded to with a specific response. In the beginning this appears to be application based. However ic you delve deeper you begin to see it is not the application that is important but the idea of covering