ChrisHein

Here's what I get from all this. When we are talking about doing Aikido, we are talking about using our bodies. When the subject of 'internal' comes up, one of the main things that people seem to believe is that there is a different way of using the body (the internal way), this way allows for "Aiki". By not using this body method, we cannot do "Aiki".

So for me, it is important to hash out what this different body method is, this way assess why it may be useful for the practice of Aikido.

My main point of interest in this discussion is to find out how 'internal' is using the body in a unique way.

I made a distinction with 'area 1' and 'area 2' because I wanted to make a clear distinction between body use, and affecting the source of power. That is to say if the force coming at us is the same- how would 'internal' and non internal handle the situation differently. This would be 'area 1' if we change the amount of force coming in, before it gets to us (this is changing the force at the source of power) that would be 'area 2'.

I'm interested in all of this because of the idea that in order to do Aikido with "Aiki" we must use a special and unique body method.

As we're working through the problem, I think there are simpler ways to say it. I personally have no idea why we needed two threads. I think we could combine them both.