I recently spoke to an old training partner who stopped training regularly in goshin-jutsu around when I did. He has since been training with the Daito-ryū Takumakai group in NYC and learning authentic aiki-jujutsu.
Initially, he liked Daito-ryū but kind of missed the energy of the hard training found in the self-defense oriented style we had practiced. I spoke to him again recently, two years later, to ask him his current opinion of our old waza — specifically, I asked him if he thought they involved "aiki" in any way. From his updated understanding, he was quick to respond in the negative. In fact, now from practicing a more traditional approach, he is seeing more and more ways in which some of his earlier practice could be improved.
It is interesting to me, that while I am practicing bagua and taiji, and he is practicing Daito-ryū , we are coming to similar conclusions.
I am sure a lot of our answers to the question of what might be done differently are not the same, but it is interesting that we are coming to similar conclusions none the less.
From what I have seen, the Takumakai is an excellent Daito-ryū group. I encourage martial artists in NYC who are interested in all things aiki to check them out.
If you are reading this and confused about the differences between aikido, Daito-ryū aiki-jujutsu, and jujutsu in general, a short introduction written by Toby Threadgill can be found here. Meanwhile, on a similar note, Ellis Amdur will be releasing a new book on the origins of Daito-ryū and Aikido, check here for a short lead-in he recently wrote about it.