DH

I thought you might find these interesting in regards to a Chinese Martial artists experience in learning Daito ryu’s internal aspects. Once again, to express the commonalties of all the Asain arts- from an internal point of view. This fellow, like myself, draws corollaries between CMA and Daito ryu and internal body methods. Some of the things he discusses have been brought up by Rob, Mike and I. think of how it can and should relate to the internals of Aikido.
I just thought it valuable hearing it forn someone else to add to any debate or research. Neither Rob, Mike or I know these men. Yet miraculously here they are with the same statements and comparisons.

This is from a Chinese internal martial arts forum
In my opinion Daito ryu is, at it's highest levels, as "internal" as it gets.
Daito ryu basically consists of three types of technique or three methods of using ones own body and manipulating another persons. Jujutsu, (edited) aiki-jujutsu: the relaxation gives the opponent has nothing to push against while the spiralling movements twist and lock up the joints up to the spine.
and then aiki no jutsu:
Taking control of the opponents spine, breaking their root and throwing them using any point of contact. like a hand on the shoulder, a forearm touching an elbow or whatever. a tiny, fast, barely perceptible circle and you get lifted onto your toes and thrown on the ground. i think a lot of it is to do with subtle and rapid manipulation of a persons natural reflexes. (ie their "intent"....i guess i'll write here what i've been thinking about so i can use the word "intent"...: i'm starting to develop an idea of intent as being something which is happening outside of our conscious control most of the time, for example: when eating and trying to observe, i discover that i am chewing but not deciding when to chew, i reach for another bite without thinking about it, my hands and body shift around all over the place, and very interestingly my eyes move by themselves and also in response to sounds/shapes/movements, before i have time to notice. so now i think this is "yi", and although "yi" can be focused and trained, still a lot of it - most of it - will inevitably be going on constantly responding to the infinite and ever-changing external and internal environment. so talking of sensing and manipulating someone elses "yi" can simply mean feeling and manipulating their bodies' natural reactions - and if you're sensitive enough you can then move them around freely while they are basically powerless since their bodies' inbuilt compensation mechanisms are trying to keep or regain their balance with tiny pushes and pulls that are then manipulated to keep them off balance!!!! hahahaha i think i might have got that out in a way which makes sense!)

soooooooooooooooooo ANYWAY! i realized last night that my daito ryu training has had a huge effect on my IMA, especially in what I am working towards.

Then…………………….
in my opinion the aiki no jutsu skills are exactly what should come from taiji or bagua training (or any IMA "whole body" training) - the ability to instantly feel and control the opponents spine/balance/intent from the moment of contact, using any part of the body - if we train with this in mind.

Then…….
Yes the daito ryu stuff i find very very similar to yiquan, believe it or not. the aiki-jujutsu spiralling body methods are pretty bagua-esque. great combinations. i'm looking forward to revisiting the daito ryu methods once i'm stuck into the bagua

Again I bring this here only to -once again- add support for a position of commonalities between the internal skills in all Asian arts. Here is a CMA artist discovering what I have been talking about for ten years on the net. These skills are real and viable in which ever method you choose to use them in. Whether it be CMA, or Daito ryu or Aikido. The internals are the engine. WIthout them you have an external shell dependant on technique only. Which does work mind you. MMA is proof enough of that. But MMA an virtually anything else- can be improved with these skills.
Once we can get Aikido folks past all this naysaying-they can move forward and empower their own Aikido greatly with Internal skills which were and are the source of what the art was meant to be in the first place.
Cheers
Dan