DH

Dual post. Please delete the one above this

Ellis
Interesting and informative as always. For five years I have been discussing and debating with the boys a project with that very same name. I chose .....Soshin for its multiple meaning potential.

The kanji for "so" I used was for "twin" or "Dual" an example being Sosuishitsu ryu (Twin rivers school). But "mutual" works just as well, thanks Peter. And then "shin" as kokoro. Hence "Twin heart" .
My idea was a multi layered play on words: old/new, traditional / live, empty hand /weapon, In/yo, contradictory force ai and Kia.
Never once did I consider the idea of bodies moving at just the right speed or distance for timing which most folks mistakenly associate as "aiki."

The idea of "so" meaning to make others do what you want by way of aik-ki is, in the end going to prove confusing for most exponents of the martial arts. I honestly think we have been struggling under a misinterpretation from decades. Eric's idea of orbiting relatonships in perfect balance is the the quintessential example of what is wrong with aikido. Why aikido works best against "other" folks doing aikido. And why Uehsiba disasociated himself from it and stated repeatedly that "this is not my aikido.

In/yo has to be worked in you, harnessed and resolved in you (to what ever degree we train it) Aiki is about energy in you. Without that firmly in place you have nothing. The movement aspects -what is yin? What is yang? ceases to have meaning. It's all in/yo. All yin and yang. This is idea of making a yin movement or "leading" relationship is merely a furtherence of external martial arts; Kissomaru's understanding, not his Dad's.
a. The very essence of the failure in understanding is exhibited in the nature of the body turning.
b. The most perfect example of what has been left out is demonstrated in entering.
Both are demonstrated as individual acts when they are not. they are mutual acts in a single person's body. The duality of the movement can be found within the single-bodies central pivot. Hence the proper execution has nothing at all to do with the other person.

In his own way Eric is expressing an understanding forstered on him by teachers, so it can't be helped.

I'll give you a clearer picture Eric. Planets don't orbit solely by relationship to one another. They work by exhibiting perfect balance unto themselves. Without that there can be no relationship. Meaning-long before you ever considered viewing a relationship between two bodies in motion there were two entities in balance to themselves.
1.WIthout the sun being in perfect balance to itelf it would have nothing to attract or hold the earth.
2. The earth without its own rotation would have nothing worth saving.

They exhbit internal power in being. In /yo revealed. The body is capable of perfecting this in itself as well. And when it does so it becomes much more powerful in any relationship to another object.
Most have their first clue about this when they run into someone with good structure...moving. They instantly sense his movements are superior. Weak structure, spinning about in a dance and tryng to meet or join is all but laughable. So the real key is what makes the sun express itself in balance? What makes the earth whole and have an intregal structure? It is understanding what makes the human body- and the generations of chinese and Japanese who have done countless hours of solo training-express itself so well that it can repel or attract and manipulate other bodies that is the first step.
It is exactly why in/yo can be so powerful. It is what Captured Ueshiba's attention and why he got it about his place in the whole universe relationship thingy
And why most aikido is not....with all its hype and discussion. It is still vying to fit-in and blend with another causal action. Like every other martial art.