jzimba

I only trained in aikido for about 4 years. Perhaps with greater understanding I could have integrated some of the things you taught me more effectively.

Right now, I have a hard time thinking how to do the "instant on" thing through the 90-degree angles of joint locks and such.

That isn't necessarily really aikido though, as Hooker sensei points out (hi btw)

Things can only be changed so much in an aikido class setting without lecturing happenning.

I do remember breaking down the classic tenchi-nage technique into something I could do without moving uke's arms and hands more than an inch or so out of alignment. I was shocked, though less so than the person I threw.

I also recall a certain god-like feeling to taking someone's balance and doing the flashy tenkans...

I never found anyone in aikido who could "own" me though. I could be over-powered through the gentle jujutsu, but no stunning power which made a mockery of rooting I'd learned through aikido and taichi. so I quit dojo hopping.

I did run into a Yoshinkan guy who got me hunting for one of their schools near me.

As an aside, I think I could maybe reconsile the aiki demonstrated to me by Howard Popkin. He went to great length to show me jujutsu and then jujutsu with a certain devistating flare and then breaking down the how and why of the flare part as technique and then principle.

That experience in itself would have gotten me out of the aikido world.

Perhaps things are different now. I've not hung out with aikido folks for a while.

jz