I remember that as a novice I moved my obi to a point that would support my back and to provide some indication of whether I was breathing correctly and feeling it down below the navel where the diaphragm could work in lieu of the chest breathing. I used this only for the time it took me to discover body alignment, proper posture, or in other words the fundamental of body mechanics and the body principles of the martial system.
Once there in the basics of the system I then removed the reminder to keep my mindfulness on using my body to do what is needed to make it and my system of martial practice focused on attaining and using all those martial principles to achieve my end goals.
Recently I read where someone said as a black belt you wear the obi down on the hips to support the back, to feel the hara what ever that means, to feel that your tensing the abdominal muscles [this one warrants thought cause I cannot understand needed to feel the muscles tensing which seems less effecient unless they were discussing at the moment of impact or something like it], and then they stated it was to remind you of where gedan started and chudan started [acutally what happened to jodan, i.e. gedan, chudan, jodan, i.e. lower, middle, upper area of body] etc.
It, the quote, reminded me that we tend to rely heavily on such things where we then become dependent on them when in reality we should have achieved self awareness and mindfulness of these things with out a belt or uniform or some other device to "remind us" or to give us an "indication" of where things are. This is a tool that must be used only as a novice much like teaching the basic fundamental motions as a novice with the understanding and expectation that it MUST be removed so no dependencies remain. Tools like this are like the lines we used in grade school to learn how to form letters in writing. No one today would think of using those lines when writing a letter, etc.
As a black belt if you are not aware of or in need of were gedan/chudan start/stop or begin/end then maybe you need to re-evaluate that level of grade. If you need it to support your back go back to the fundamentals/principles of body dynamics/mechanics, etc. because that need of extra support indicates the person may not be properly aligned, etc..
Actually, if I am right, the point just two or so inches below the naval where we find the center cannot actually be positioned behind or against the knot, try it for real and you will find that if you fasten it properly it rises up a bit above the true center of the body. We all know that the "hara" is that midsection band of muscles that provide support and strength of the entire center but the center itself is within that hara area so the knot actually is being used to try and remind the novice of their center in approximation.
Yes? No? Maybe? Discussions?
p.s. a little humor now: now someone is going to tell me his Sensei said that the longer ends of the obi provide the black belt additional balance when moving or transitioning from kamae to kamae!
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