I'd say there have been several over the years although I'm not sure any of these precisely fit your question.
Probably the first major change was the realization that if I was being thrown from 3 feet away it probably had more to do with me than the person throwing me.
Somewhere after that was the idea that Aikido will save the world. Too much in-house staff work still to be done.
Next I'd say tossing out all that ki/new age stuff. I'd argue that some of that stuff actually moved me backwards and at the very least much of it is tremendously misleading.
More recently has been a change in my thoughts in regards to this stuff as a martial art. I spent a lot of time in a place where it was never looked at that way. I don't want to devalue what was done there from a certain perspective because I think it was unique and had value. However, my own taste is to a more physical brand of Aikido and while I can, I'm going to do that kind of Aikido.
Last edited by Erik : 09-18-2002 at 05:38 PM.
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