Martial Arts

Martial Arts

Martial Arts were popularized by Bruce Lee in America and throughout much of the world. Bruce utilized the techniques of many karate systems together in the creation his own concept. This concept was that your moves should encompass all martial arts styles and be dictated by the particular situation you are in. He called his style Jeet Kune Do or "way of the intercepting fist" (1967). Jeet Kune Do is the mirror in which we assess our self knowledge.

Jeet Kune Do utilizes all martial arts styles and techniques to achieve the desired outcome. It possesses everything but is possessed by nothing. A big part of Jeet Kune Do is self-examination. Bruce Lee would film his techniques and use the films as a mirror to assess his balance, speed and efficiency.

Jeet Kune Do was a vehicle for self-discovery, a road to personal growth, and an examination of freedom, freedom to be efficient and natural. To make choices in life to cling to the useful and disregard the useless. Lee encouraged his students to examine many martial arts styles: judo, jujutsu, aikido, western boxing, kicking techniques, whing chun, kali, escrima, and many more. He wanted them to assess the advantages and disadvantages of each for range, and efficiency. No style is better than the next but some styles have advantages over others in certain situations.

Bruce Lee only taught a few students at any one time. He knew that his alert assessments of each student was the key to their learning. Fixed routines were a sign of a bad teacher and never utilized by Lee. Martial Arts is a symphony without rhythm, undergoing constant change, just like everyday life. Every student has to find his own way in Jeet Kune Do.

Lee used a systematic approach to training techniques to improve:

• speed
• distance
• power
• timing
• coordination
• endurance
• footwork

The Void

The void is that which stands right in the middle of 'this' and 'that'.

The void is all-inclusive, having no opposite-there is nothing which it excludes or opposes.

It is a living void, because all forms come out of it and whoever realizes the void is filled with life and
power and the love of all things.

Bruce Lee

"Either you understand or you don't, and that is that."

Bruce Lee

"Your truth is not my truth, and my truth is not yours."

Bruce Lee

"In the landscape of spring there is neither better, nor worse. The flowering branches grow, some short, some long."

Dan Inosanto

"A good instructor functions as a pointer of the truth espousing the student's vulnerability, causing him to explore both internally and externally, and finally, integrating himself with his being."

Bruce Lee