AIKIDO: Iriminage: What variations do you do at your dojo 

Hard theres just so many variations the twist of uki shoukders push down uki inside elbiw take ballance

Not very helpful, because reasons weren't given for why it's necessary yo keep the eyes level. I guess I could try it to see if it works but I have found that simply improving my posture in techniques doesn't automatically translate into better technique. Sometimes I find ukes that just walk right past, as if they didn't care if you were at their side, and kuzushi isn't achieved at all. I think it would be helpful if you could indicate more precisely 'the direction' we're supposed to be leading uke. If you don't use your arms at first to sweep away uke's attack, which is what you say and your videos show, this is to slide against his skin...which makes him unable to gauge where you are at the moment you begin to pull him around. The function of the arm at Stage 1 (or entry) must therefore be two or threefold: 1) Redirect his arm just a little to avoid getting hit on the head and 2) stopping his forward progress just a bit, putting the brakes on his forward attack (so that it becomes possible to bring him around us, and 3) sliding along his arm, with your arm, to distress his awareness of where you are. By the time he realizes where you are, in space, due to the sliding action on his skin, his recalibration is off, which gives you the opportunity to exploit this momentary imbalance to begin 'pulling' him, which is, in turn (forgive the pun), a consequence of your turning. The question I have is with the Second Phase: Or 'The Turn'. I think you showed it on your website but, I guess, rather than lead uke around your center, you simply shift weight side to side, don't you, and sink down a bit at the same time, no..? But where would one's consciousness be in the turn. Sinking deeper, seems evident from the video, if we want to send him further out, releasing our arms in this final phase. Thus, in terms of what the arms are doing, aren't there three separate actions..? How do you coordinate this "slide, pull and let-go cycle"? Does it happen naturally? What has to happen to make these three actions transition smoothly? Is this the meaning behind using the eyes like a level..? I think the reason people look down is because their own body is noticing and having to adjust to these changes that you don't describe very well. But, most of all, I want to know the direction we're supposed to lead uke. When you say look at the wall and draw a level line with your eyes, is this 'looking' supposed to lead or precede uke's turn, looking ahead of uke to the space we want him to go in (Tohei sense taught this) or do we look in the same direction as uke (at the same time as uke...looking together in the same direction at the same time) or do we delay looking? I mean, it's possible to start turning uke and look around the room from behind uke's eyes, no..? So, which is it? Tons of times, for me, uke doesn't do the many things I see the ukes doing in this video. They don't bend at the waist. They don't bend back at phase three. And they don't even coil around you when you start turning. Nothing works..!! Therefore, I suspect, I am not doing something correct with my eyes..? Assuming we followed your directions in the video, I am still not sure if the eyes are suppose to look in front of uke, to where you want him to go...is this perpetually one inch or one foot in front of where he is in space...? Or does the point of vision trombone from a few inches in front to a few feet away as the technique progresses..? On the surface, it's kinda confusing otherwise, or shall we say counterintuitive, to say 'look all around the room,' when that feels and sounds totally disconnected to what uke's doing... The hands are monitoring uke's balance after all, which is constantly shifting. But, you say the eyes must be divorced from this and should simply stare into the space around him? Aren't these two instructions contradictory. Stay connected but look around? Can you hear my confusion? I sometimes wish you'd take the beginner's point of view as a starting point, so we can learn the moves less confusingly. Otherwise, it just seems mumbo-jumbo, with a few Japanese phrases thrown in. When do finally get to dance aikido? I've been doing aikido for decades and no one seems capable of teaching the basics so people can actually do it. It's not the most difficult to do but the most frustrating to do because so called 'instructors' don't seem to know how to instruct. It's quite painful to watch in dojo after dojo, sensei after sensei...