I wanted to take a minute to thank Howard Popkin for his excellent seminar this weekend at George Ledyard's Aikido Eastside. Howard presented his very solid material with clarity and humor. He was very patient with our many questions and the material selected seemed very well chosen for the target audience. It was distinct and different enough to force folks (myself certainly included) out of the comfort zone of "stuff I know" and yet one could easily see how many of the principles involved could be applied to ones Aikido. His ability to make distinctions between aiki-waza and (aiki influenced) jujutsu waza was very helpful and informative. Personally I found a lot of similarities (in terms of technical details, martial strategy and mental intent) with what I've experienced from Don Angier and his students in Yanagi Ryu and Shindo Yoshin Ryu (by way of Toby Threadgill). If you get the opportunity, I very much recommend taking advantage of an opportunity to train with Popkin Sensei (or if you're able, his teacher Okamoto Sensei. FL anybody?
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So, Sensei, thank you very much for your time and generosity this weekend. George, thank you for bringing Howard out and hosting this weekend, it was very much appreciated.