At the makotokai we have many visitors from different aikido groups. The one principle that I tend to emphasise is the most important lesson I have had myself. That the attacker must be made to spin, spiral and turn around the aikidoka NOT THE OPPOSITE. Cross training quickly teaches us this. Any attempt to spin around Thai or karate will quickly send you to the mat. If the martial artist can perform obeying this criteria then fine. If not then I would question his effectiveness. Politics or personalities simply do not come into it. regards koyo
That's not to say your Aikido, from what I saw of your students, is static. All your blurry pictures, blurred by movement, shows this also!
Basic principle pirate is that we should execute the techniques or /and strikes through the opponent in a triangular manner. So we must keep moving and as you say not become static. Imagine if I attempted to spin around an attack from yourself or either of the bears, if I managed to catch your attack it would be like grasping a tree branch with a solid trunk. Of course I could always "explain" that you were attacking incorrectly and should follow me around. I can imagine the reaction. A sad reflection on aikido is the number of clubs where the bear has been "encouraged not to return" I can imagine you may have seen this too. Perhaps the second most important principle I was taught is that aikido is triangular NOT circular. The guys send their regards best wishes koyo
