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Richard Haight wrote:
I do not, however, think that Daito-ryu in principle is the same as what Kuroda does (although there is overlap).
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Well, fair enough. However, I think the principles are the same. For instance when you see Ueshiba bounce someone off of his chest or thigh, when you see Ueshiba do a good "aiki" technique, or when you see Ueshiba sit seiza and have an Uke push on his head... these are all the same principle. When Kuroda does his two tricks at the end of :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXsMS...ext=1&index=45
or you see Okamoto do his demonstrations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKJm3Sn4K-I
These are all the same principles.
What I'm saying is that from my perspective it just seems a little short-sighted to take the position that the principles in some ryu-ha are so different that that ryu-ha is some preferable way to approach a Dao. The "cultivation of the body" that is called for in the major schools is all part of this same Dao. There are many Dao's but there is only one Dao. However, if your Dao means being part of a singular club/group/organization, that is up to you.
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If I could give any advise to any aiki practitioner that I think would be generally helpful yet not break my oath to my ryu-ha, it would be this: do whatever it takes to develop awareness of the body (yours and others - at distance and close up), the logical mind (yours and others - at a distance and close up), the emotional mind (""), the "reflex responses" of those three things as well as develop the ability to control things like heart-rate, bloodpressure, breath, thought, etc simply by slight intention. The goal being to be able to flow in all these areas without locking up or having negative reflexive responses.
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Once I was invited to join a select and supposedly discerning group to study Taoism. My first thought was, "Do Taoists join groups?". Sometimes you have to choose.
Regards,
Mike Sigman