Cultivating Your Personal Martial Expression
Cultivating Your Personal Martial Expression “An artist’s expression is his soul made apparent, his schooling, as well as his ‘cool’ being exhibited. Behind every motion, the music of his soul is made visible.” - Bruce Lee Bruce Lee considered martial art to be, in his words, “an athletic expression of the dynamic human body,” as well as, “… an unfolding of everything an individual is: their personality, temperament, fears, strengths, etc.” I’ve heard it said by some people t
JKD Sparring – Part 3 (Taking It Out Onto the Floor)
“The best way to learn how to swim is to actually get into the water and swim; the best way to learn Jeet Kune Do is to spar.” - Bruce Lee Only through sparring is it possible for you to develop your full ability to work to the fullest advantage against an opponent, to learn to exhaust your strength and energy reserves with maximum economy and sense of purpose, to develop mental balance under pressure, and to “surpass” yourself. While sparring is important, it’s also importan
JKD Sparring – Part 2 (Attuned Adaptation)
“When the opponent expands, I contract… And when he contracts, I expand… And when there is an opportunity to hit, I do not hit, ‘it’ hits all by itself.” - Bruce Lee Sparring is all about relationship. When you’re sparring against an opponent, there is a co-existing relationship between the two of you. But it’s an active, ‘alive’ relationship. There’s no “pre-arranged” patterns of movement or “pre-set” responses such as, “If the opponent does this, I’ll do this.” Rather, it’s
JKD Sparring – Part 1 (An Exercise in Self-Knowledge)
“To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person… We learn about ourselves through our interaction with others.” - Bruce Lee Sparring has often been referred to as the ‘lifeblood’ of Jeet Kune Do, and is considered a essential ingredient in the overall JKD training process. An artist can learn all the aspects of painting such as the various types of brushes and paints, how use certain types of strokes, how to mix colors, painting composition, etc. but in ord
Strive to Go Further
You know the feeling you have when, by dint of commitment, hard work, and blood, sweat and tears you’re able to do something, be it a kick, a punch, an armlock, or a hand immobilization attack exceptionally well? It’s exhilarating, right? For some people, that moment and feeling can signal a cessation point with regard to working on that motion or action. They drop it in their combative toolbox and leave it. Their attitude is ‘”Okay, I’ve got.”However, for others, they know t
