Michael Hackett

Raul, I don't personally know of any correlation between folding the hakama and performing on the mat. I've seen both extremes - one of our yudansha is a superb practitioner and he wads his hakama up and stuffs it in his gym bag and yet another who does both with a great deal of skill. Personally, I enjoy folding the hakama after class to cool down and reflect on what we did that evening. My Aikido ain't that great and doesn't match my folding either. Just a nice, quiet and reflective few moments after training. That probably relates more to my years in the Marine Corps than some supposed tradition, or maybe OCD or something.