What and How You Wear the Uniform

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When this thought crossed my meandering mind you can imagine how it triggered the old saying, "What your clothes say about you matters." What you wear, how you wear it and what that says to others really does matter even when you wear jeans, nice shirt and sandals, especially in our modern social realities. 

It says about you:

• What kind of character you have;
• What kind of personality you have; 
• What your culture and beliefs are;
• What kind and how much experience you have;
• How it expresses your image, ego and life;
• How others will judge you;
• How confident you are;
• How detailed you are in both action and deeds as well as in mind and spirit; AND
• What kind of impression you convey to others especially in high stress situations like self-protection.

There is a reason why criminals dress so well when they appear in court. I suspect as you already know that if you use your skills in self-protection and then find yourself within the legal system; your attorney is going to tell you just how to dress when in court. 

The clothing you wear, how you wear it and what you wear is a lot like communicating through body language, your clothing will have an effect on another persons emotional reactions when the encounter you and clothes contribute to that a lot.

Most of us use the karate-gi in the dojo. What color is it, how well does it fit, is it neat and tidy, how long is the obi after tying it, and do the ends meet or are they different lengths, how long are the sleeves and pant legs and then add in your personal hygiene along with grooming. 

When you enter the dojo what you are wearing matters and provides impressions to those there, what and how you change does as well and what kind of uniform you put on and how tells its own story as well. Example, tying the obi:

• What is its color?
• What is the condition of it?
• How do you tie it?
• Does it criss-cross at the back?
• Do the ends extend a certain length?
• Do the ends extend the same length when hanging down after tying?

When you enter the dojo and if you are either sensei or senpai, do you think these impressions will matter to the others deshi? What do they feel and how does that affect their efforts and how they learn from that person?

Then, consider the other members of the dojo as to their culture, their beliefs, their perceptions and their social norms and then relate that to how they may infer feelings and attitudes to you, our dojo-mates, your system of karate and to the methodologies used in teaching? 

I can imagine, as you are now and already figured out, how many will say, “That kind of stuff doesn’t matter, what you do on the dojo floor is the only thing that matters.” Yet, respect is about perceptions and everything, even on the dojo floor, matters to everyone when it comes to respect. Sometimes those unspoken things do have an affect on the dojo floor because how we dress and maintain ourselves tells others about expectations of what and how one acts on the dojo floor. 

If you and your uniform symbolize a cocky attitude what do you think training and practice will be like when you are paired up with that person. Suggestions both verbal and otherwise do influence our minds, often subconsciously, toward certain attitudes and perceptions and it will come out later… ON THE DOJO FLOOR and worse, when you are articulating to the first responder why you did what you did in self-protection. You think the first responders and others are not going to use their impressions and emotions to judge you and then that will have an affect on how they decide to proceed, i.e., let you go or cuff you, etc.

Something to think about, right? If you want others to take you seriously then consideration about how you appear and your attitudes all are reflected by body language along with the body clothing added to what you say and how you say it… MATTERS!

All of the good intentions and the proverbial right to dress and act and do what you want are all about impressions and perceptions that in many cases don’t matter YET when it does, what you do the majority of the time will rise up to the top especially under duress and stressors found in aggressive and violent situations. 

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