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John Matsushima wrote:
I don't dismiss people, I dismiss ideas and concepts. /../ I don't agree that your skills are anything special that hasn't already been taught in mainstream Aikido. /../ it seems to me that it has always been an important principle of Aikido NOT to use muscle power. I think that perhaps what you and others describe as "aiki/internal/kokyu" skills are taught to many from day 1. I know it was to me. /../ Are you saying that the majority of Aikido practioners don't know this as well?
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Just some comments:
Heh, very thorough dismissal there :-) It bears pondering what the details are of that which replaces the muscle power. And incidentally, of course muscles are used, else nothing works. So even the way you have phrased it, it is an indirect telling of the tale. I don't think that can be avoided. In the same vein, it can be said that while a lot of people may be using less muscle than they were before, what they are doing is still not very effective or very efficient. That is, a lot could be improved. In fact, a whole mindset change could be made. So yes, the majority of Aikido practitioners don't know this. Certainly the majority I've met "even" in Japan. I too have been "fortunate" but not as fortunate as I assumed!
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John Matsushima wrote:
I also dismiss your idea of elitism, the whole idea that only members of the "100PLUS Club™" have these "skillz". I think its that kind of thinking that hinders learning. If you realize that there are hundreds of thousands of people out there with very high Aikido skills, then you will see how much higher you can go.
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Well, it is only logical to note that there are fewer people with high-level skills than low-level skills. The basics are certainly within the means of anyone. The problem is access to someone who will teach, and access to someone that will teach in an efficient manner. I know my use of the body improved every year I did aikido, but the increment was extremely small compared to what I would have been able to get with the access to teaching I have now.
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John Matsushima wrote:
On a side note regarding training, I don't think that Aiki/Internal/Kokyu skills should be kept a secret and saved only for the "serious" students. I think that this will hinder the progress of Aikido.
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I think all of us posting here agree on that point. The basics are so essential to everything that having them in the open is still no threat to those with real developed skills. That is, knowledge is not the same thing as actual experience and training over a long period of time. However, most of the people who have access to this training now can verify that there were many reasons why even the extreme basics were and are guarded jealously like the crown jewels they are: someone who know how you train can tell what you can do in an all-encompassing way, and bye-bye surprise in an encounter.