Starting from the local instance

Traversal from the local instance to one on the other side of an association can be accomplished by specifying a path using the hop / symbol (forward slash).

An instance of Flot, for example, can access its Flot Specification across an association like this:

my Spec .= /is specified by/Flot Specification

The relationship phrase, name or both can be used to unambiguously specify the navigation. For non-reflexive associations, the final path element must be the class name of the target instance set.

my Spec .= /R4/Flot Specification

my Spec .= /R4/is specified by/Flot Specification

In xUML, relationship names must be unique within a domain, but there is no such constraint on association phrases. So, if there is any ambiguity, you must supply the relationship name.

Multiple associations may be traversed in a single path.

my Bank .= /R4/Cabin/R2/Shaft/R1/Bank

Class names are not necessary, so you could type this:

my Bank .= /R4/R2/R1

For maximum clarity, always specify the destination class:

my Bank .= /R4/R2/R1/Bank

A smart editor with access to the class model can provide autofill assistance so that a relationship path can be entered in a consistent style with very few keystrokes.

The key principle is that every relationship path must be unambiguous.