Great question @Gary Collins. I have adopted Williams Sensei's definition of Martial Arts, so I will quote him directly: “Mars was the God of war. The Martial Arts were originally arts of War. This is not the case in 99% of what is now called «Martial arts». War is about killing people and breaking things, art is the ability to do this to your opponent without having them do that to you.”

I actually used to wear it just below the obi, too. Richard Sensei mentioned it to me years ago, so I looked it up and he was right. He learned it from his teacher, who was Japanese, so it makes sense that he knew what he was talking about, lol. In terms of the reason, it's just poor etiquette for the kaku obi to be showing (i.e., "one is not dressed correctly or representing properly").

@Nicolas Ferrero very cool, thanks for sharing that!

The video for How To Wear the Hakama is now available!

@Joanne Hunter okay, got it. I had bursitis years ago. It was so bad that I couldn't use my right arm to put on my seatbelt. My brother, who was an Olympic Decathlete, also had bursitis and recommended that I kneel over a bench or chair and let the strained arm hang down to my side. He had me hold a light dumbbell in that hand to get a light stretch, while doing clockwise and counterclockwise rotations from the shoulder, and just letting the weight stretch the muscles around the shoulder and arm. You might see a physical therapist or your massage therapis and look up that treatment before you do it (not sure if it's the latest treatment, and I'm sure there are other self-treatment options) but It worked for my bursitis.

@Stephen Dahlin I was hoping you would chime in. Thank you for this!

@Muhammad Zayd Dawood great to have you here! Please let me know if you have any questions as you're training, Muhammad. I'm happy to help.