On 6/2/07, William Pietri william@scissor.com wrote:
In aikido, you lead the mind away by physical means, though these are always as gentle as possible. The idea is not to further upset the person or draw more attention to yourself, as stiff resistance or a punch would do. In fact, skilled aikidoists often disable their attackers without even touching them, which of course is what you want to do with someone who is blaming you.
Um actual combat suggests that put up against a halfway effective opponent (say someone with a bit of knowledge of judo) aikidoists lose badly. While Aikido may have had some effectiveness in it's early days it has become way too stylised to be useful.