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Bruce Lee and Steve Jobs are both considered innovators, and rightfully so. Both were trailblazers in their respective fields. Both had a vision to move forward, a faith that turned their dreams into reality, and a determination that broke through barriers and obstacles. Lee didn’t invent martial arts, but he revolutionized it. He broke down centuries of tradition and changed the way people viewed martial arts and martial art training. Lee didn’t invent martial art films, but his innovative ideas and creativity created a whole new genre of action films. While Steve Jobs did not invent such things computer science, broadband, wireless telephony, or recorded music and entertainment, he was the ultimate catalyst for these technologies. Jobs didn’t invent the personal computer or the MP3 player, yet he innovated around those devices and gave the world the Mac and the iPod. He didn’t invent smartphones or the tablet computer, yet he innovated around those devices and gave us the iPhone and the IPad. Both Bruce Lee and Steve Jobs were pioneers who changed the world in some fashion. Both men, to use Jobs own vernacular, “put a dent in the universe.” The world of innovation offers a shining example of the necessity of “using no way as way.” When it comes to innovation, there are no fixed rules or templates. The core of innovation is a dynamic way of thinking, seeing, and acting, which requires open-mindedness, fluidity, and adaptability. To innovate, a person (or company) has to remove restrictions and be willing to try different approaches, experiment, toss things out or add them, and come at things from various angles. Innovators need to not only be able to “think outside the box,” but to completely “shatter the box” if necessary. And they won’t be able to do that if they’re limited or bound by set ways. It will be difficult, if not impossible for a person to be creative and innovative if they are confined by a set way of thinking or a set way of doing something. Set ways can create self-limiting beliefs which can confine, restrict, or even imprison you. They can inhibit your freedom and squelch creativity. Ways offer “selective” security and in some cases, they can serve as a “crutch,” which, will offering comfort will limit or block growth and change. Set ways create boundaries and people can often become trapped within those boundaries. In the arena of innovation, strict observance to any particular methodology can inhibit intuition, represses individuality, and close people’s minds rather than opening them. In his martial art notes concerning “ways” and “systems” Bruce Lee wrote, “When there is a “way”, therein lies the limitation.” Applying the principle of “using no way as way” can help you avoid narrow-minded restrictions, be it with regard to a way of doing something, a way of thinking about something, or a way of perceiving something. It will allow you to be creative and give you the freedom to draw from and use anything and everything around you. You can add, subtract, do whatever you need or want to do. In the course of innovating, if a particular way of doing something is not working, you can simply switch to another. If a particular mode of thinking is not helping you or is restricting you, you can change to one that does.

When you are working on creating or developing functional training drills or exercises, there are four primary factors you should take into consideration: 1. Who am I teaching? Are they adults or children? Are they beginner, intermediate, or advanced level students? For example, when children are first learning something, they often have difficulty remembering more than 3-5 things in a row. So if you’re teaching them a complex pattern of movements, you might need to break the sequence into one move at a time and tie it to a concrete illustration. The current training level of the student can be a deciding factor on where the emphasis or focus is placed when working a particular technical action. For example, when working a lead straight punch combined with a push shuffle advance, a beginning student might need to focus more on the footwork being used with the punch, whereas an advanced student might need to place their focus solely on explosive arm extension. 2. What type of learner are they? Are they a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner? Or are they a combination of two types? This relates more to a one-on-one teaching situation. In a group class you will have students who fall into different categories so it becomes more difficult. Dan Inosanto, who was both my instructor and teaching mentor, taught me that you need to be able to teach one thing five different ways in order to reach the various types of students. 3. What is it that I want to teach? What is the experience you want the student to have? Is it about performance development or performance enhancement? For example, perhaps your goal is to help the student develop the proper body mechanics of a particular punch or kick. Maybe it’s to help them develop power behind the strike, or the proper distance in relation to an opponent. Or you could be helping to develop a good sense of rhythm. It’s important to know this in advance so that you can develop a drill or exercise that gives them the experience. 4. What apparatus or equipment, if any, can I use for this particular drill? For training a particular technique or quality you may choose to use the focus gloves, whereas for another you may decide to use the heavy bag or kicking shield. Sometimes you may choose to use more than one piece of equipment when working the drill. For example, if you’re having the students work on a side kick, you might have them use the heavy bag first to develop the sense of power and distance, then follow with focus gloves to develop accuracy and retraction speed. In addition, it’s important to evaluate the drill or exercise when finished. How well did the training drill work? Did it accomplish what you wanted for the students? If, for some reason it did not work out as you intended it to try to ascertain why. You may decide to adjust the drill in some way or even get rid of it. It’s a good idea to keep a teaching journal in which you can write the results down so that you can review them.

I believe we need to put an end to the epidemic of “victimitis” that is running rampant in the world. We need to avoid or intercept and destroy the “victim” mentality that is becoming so prevalent in our society today. Many people have fallen prey to this insidious disease. And everyone from the media, to lawyers, to doctors, to social workers,  to school administrators  are busy telling us how we are “victims” of this and that, or that we’ve been ‘victimized’ by such and such (so that we have someone or something to ‘blame’). I’m not talking about a physical attack here -- if someone hits you from behind with a two-by-four while you’re walking down a path that is a different matter entirely. Or if someone steals your entire life savings through some investment scam. In both these cases you are indeed a victim. Here’s a little example for you of the sort of “victimitis” I am talking about. I have a good friend who was at one time involved in law enforcement. He and the other officers he worked with had to attend a workshop on yes, that’s right, “victimization,” which was conducted by a psychologist. Every officer was given six yellow post-its, and in different locations around the room were posted different categories of victimization, such as sexual harassment, name-calling, etc. Each officer was required to put one of the post-its in whatever areas applied to them, until all six were gone. When my friend didn’t put any of his post-its up, he was confronted by the psychologist, who asked him why he hadn’t put them up. My friend’s response was that, while he may have encountered some of the situations listed, he never considered himself a victim. The psychologist’s response, was, “We’ve all been victimized in one way or another, even you.” So, in order to avoid getting into trouble for not posting anything, my friend posted a note that stated that he felt victimized by being forced to attend the workshop. Suffice it to say that the psychologist was not happy at all. It seems to me that so many people today are being taught to claim their “victimhood” instead of being taught how to deal effectively with situations. This notion is being forced down the throats of children from the moment they start school by the school systems (i.e. – If someone calls you a name you don’t like you are suddenly a “victim”) Really? Who came up with this crap? Because someone calls you “stupid” does not mean you have to claim to be a victim. Such a situation could be dealt with very effectively without sticking the label of “victim” on the kid. Before I go on, I want to touch briefly on the subject of “bullying” (I say briefly because it deserves an entire blog of its own). Make no mistake, I am in no way denying that bullying exists. The fact is that it does exist and has existed since the dawn of man. And while I do not consider myself a pessimist, whether we like it or not, it will most likely continue to exist. But the questions I ask are concerning the subject of bullying are these: 1)    Is bullying really such an epidemic in this country as people would have us believe, or have we simply expanded our definition of what constitutes bullying to include everything that annoys or upsets us, or that we take offense to? 2)    Who defines what does and does not constitute bullying? What are their qualifications for being able to make such distinctions? If you look up the word "bully" you will actually find that originally the word had a much different and positive meaning. In the end, other people do not make us into a victim, we make ourselves into one by getting angry, taking offence, pointing fingers and blaming other people. And when we do that, we are not victims but rather interdependent players. You cannot claim to be working toward liberating yourself from the all the shackles that would attempt to restrict you if you are continually allowing yourself to feel like a victim or consider yourself a victim. Here's an idea, lets all make a strong effort to eradicate the victimitis that is sweeping through our world today.

With relation to JKD, people need to stop regurgitating statements like, “None of us are Bruce Lee” -- “Only Bruce Lee could do that” -- “None of us have Bruce Lee’s speed”, etc. Very often the people who make such statements are simply repeating what they themselves have been told by someone else, or what someone else has written. I have heard and read these kinds of statements since shortly after Bruce Lee passed away, and personally, I believe it’s high time that they ceased.  Why? Because they’re self-defeating and a total waste of time and energy. They don’t accomplish anything. Worse yet, they may end up stifling or killing the enthusiasm of individuals who may, as a result of continually hearing such things, never actualize their own potential.  If you’re continually being told that what worked for the individual who developed Jeet Kune Do will not work for you because you are not blessed with the same physical attributes as that person, then why should you even bother to study the art at all? I’ve heard some people say that Bruce Lee was one in a million and his attributes were one in a million, or that they were unique to himself. Therefore, they put forth the idea that what Bruce Lee taught or did himself either won’t work for you, or you will not be able to do it because you’re not one in a million. What they fail to take into account is that while Bruce Lee may well have made himself into such a one in a million-type person, he wasn’t born that way. He wasn’t born being as fast as he was, he wasn’t born being as powerful as he was. Quite the contrary, he trained very diligently and very, very hard to develop his attributes and attain the level of proficiency he achieved. When it comes to martial arts, there are physical attributes and mental/emotional attributes. Physical attributes include such things as an individual’s strength, power, speed, endurance, neuromuscular coordination, etc.  Mental and emotional attributes include such things as an individual’s willingness to engage an opponent, their ability to tolerate discomfort or withstand pain, etc. When it comes to attributes, genetics can also be a mediating factor. While physiologically we are all essentially the same, it may be that some individuals simply aren’t wired for a particular attribute and spending all their time and energy attempting to develop it can end up resulting in frustration and failure for them. Genetics can also apply to an individual’s ability to commit themselves in such a dedicated fashion to neural development or skill training. The fact of the matter is the only way you can find out what your personal attributes are and cultivate or develop them is through dedicated work and training. In a way, they kind of find you. It’s important to also keep in mind that you can only see your attributes in retrospect. That is, after you have developed or cultivated them. How can you (and especially anyone else for that matter) know how fast you are, how strong you are, how coordinated you can become, etc. until you’ve put in the work necessary to actualize your potential in each of these areas? When it comes to attributes, it has nothing to do with whether you have the potential to reach Bruce Lee’s or any other martial artist’s level of proficiency. It’s about you actualizing your own potential as a martial artist. So, whether you are a JKD practitioner or a JKD instructor (and especially if you are teaching others), remove any the aforementioned type of statements from your vocabulary. Utilize the principle of “Reject what is useless” and throw them away and focus instead on developing and cultivating your attributes and those of your students to their highest level. That, my friend, is the attribute truth.

Bruce Lee wrote, “Life is combat, and as such should be dealt with accordingly. If you understand combat you understand life.” “Wait a minute!..." I can already hear many of you saying “That’s a pretty pessimistic way of looking at life!” I thought the same thing myself when I first I began training in Jeet Kune Do. And without a proper understanding of the quote that would indeed seem to be very true. But if we take a moment to examine it more closely, we can see how true Bruce’s analogy between life and combat really is. First, we need to define what Lee meant by “combat”.  In the context of the above-mentioned quote, it refers to some form of physical conflict between two individuals. In order to understand combat, one must approach it in a very simple and direct manner. Combat is simple and total. It has no rules or boundaries and is alive, fluid, unpredictable and constantly changing. It’s not something limited to nationality, individual perspective, conditioning, or type of martial art or style of fighting. In any combat situation there are numerous variables over which a martial artist has no control, including such things as the opponent’s physical size, their relative speed, power and agility, their mental or emotional state, what type of fighting style they might have or what techniques they might attempt to use against you, etc. While they might be able to influence them in some way, they cannot dictate or control them. Combat is a series of choices: choosing the correct weapon or technique to use, establishing the proper distance in relation to the opponent, choosing the correct moment to use an offensive, counter-offensive, or defensive action. Life, like combat, is alive, fluid, unpredictable and constantly changing. And as in combat, there may be variables which arise in our lives over which we have little or no control. Life is also a matter of choices.Choosing a career, a spouse or partner, where we want to live and how we want to live. For each of us, our lives are filled with personal choices and professional choices. In combat, sometimes when you’re dealing with an opponent everything is easy and things just seem to go the way you want them to. You can move in and out of range, out-time the opponent, and score against them at will. You’re in complete control of the situation. Other times, the opponent is tougher, and things aren’t so easy. You have to work hard in order to defeat them. And there may be times when an opponent suddenly overwhelms you, or lands an unexpected shot, and you momentarily lose command of the situation and have to cover up and rely on your defensive skills to “weather the storm”. The same goes for life. Sometimes life's easy, and things go just the way we want them to. Things seem to come to us without any problem and we feel in complete control. At other times, things don’t go the way we want or plan, and we have to struggle and work hard to do what we want to do or get where we would like to be. And there are times when life hits us with an unexpected blow or tries to “kick the stuffing” out of us, and our ability to hang in there, protect ourselves, and then come back fighting will determine whether we ultimately achieve victory or suffer defeat. Combat is definitely not something to be taken lightly or frivolously. In combat, a warrior knows that a mistake may cost them their life, or the lives of others. Similarly, in life a mistake may end up costing us our job, our career, or even our family. Finally, life, like combat, may combine different elements which can and do change from moment to moment.It may stress speed one moment, strength the next, then resilience and endurance. Life has always demanded the ability to “take it”, and this is true today more than ever. Am I saying that everyday life is tough and mean and that we have to constantly fight in order not to be crushed or destroyed? Absolutely not. Living life as if we were in a constant and never-ending battle is not wise, but rather it's paranoid. What I’m saying is that for each of us, everyday life is the arena that we must step into. And the battles each of us must engage in are against such adversaries as fear, doubt, anxiety, anger, self-imposed mental and emotional limitations, conformity, resignation, etc. - all the powers that would attempt to crush us, restrict or limit us, and prevent us from actualizing ourselves and our potential. (The above material was excerpted from "Liberate Yourself - How to Think Like Bruce Lee" by Chris Kent which is available through Amazon)

A lot of people have asked me where Dynamic Personal Liberation™ came from. Here’s the answer. I began training in Bruce Lee’s martial art of Jeet Kune Do in 1973, at the age of seventeen and a half. At first, like most of the other students, I was primarily interested in the physical aspects of the art. I wanted to learn how to do things Lee was able to do, such as stop a swinging three-hundred-pound heavy bag dead in its tracks with a single kick and reach an opponent standing ten feet away with a finger jab before that person could even react. However, as my training progressed, my knowledge and understanding grew. I realized that there was much more to Jeet Kune Do than simply the physical component. What made Jeet Kune Do truly different from any other martial art was the underlying philosophical foundation upon which the art was built. The central theme of this philosophy was self-actualization and liberation of body, mind and spirit through greater self knowledge. Non-restrictive and non-limiting by design, it was a fluid, all-encompassing philosophy that allowed an individual to deal effectively and efficiently not only with combat, but also with life. Lee’s philosophy touched a place in my soul and lit a fire within me which has never been doused. The mental and spiritual aspects of the art became equally as important to me as the physical component. One of my primary objectives became to develop my knowledge and understanding of the philosophical principles and thought processes Lee synthesized and used. In the years that followed, in addition to training in the physical aspects of Jeet Kune Do, I spent countless hours investigating and researching the sources that informed Lee in his process of intellectual growth and development. Through my friendship and affiliation with Bruce’s widow Linda Lee Cadwell, my close friend John Little, my teacher Dan Inosanto, and many of Lee’s personal assistants, students and friends, I was privileged to have access to a tremendous amount of Lee’s material, including his personal library, writings, etc., and had the opportunity to see things that many others haven’t. Discovering the nature and depth of Lee’s research and conclusions firsthand was truly enlightening. Through my research and study, I came to understand how Bruce Lee’s thinking process enabled him to actualize his full potential. The most important thing I discovered, however, was that while Bruce Lee had lit his torch from many different candles, the light he shone came from within himself. As my training continued, I began to see the much broader application of the principles and concepts I was learning. The school served as a microcosm for the arena of life that each of us must step into every day. The self-knowledge I gained in the martial art environment could be used in dealing with challenges and obstacles I ran into outside the school. The principles, techniques, tactics and strategies I had learned for dealing effectively with the fluidity and unpredictability of combat translated to tools which helped equip me to handle parallel situations in both my personal life and business. The philosophical ‘framework’ that had taken root in my being gave me the freedom to stand on my own two feet as an individual and find out things for myself rather than simply taking things on faith. It gave me the courage and confidence to try new things, to explore my capabilities. Through direct application of Lee’s principles, I was able to discover certain talents I didn’t know I had. As a result, I was able to write four books on martial art training, write and produce three series of training videos and DVDs, pen numerous articles for martial art magazines, even choreograph fight action sequences for film and television. In my teaching and travels across the United States and around the world, I've encountered countless people who claimed to have been influenced or inspired by something they refer to as “Bruce Lee’s philosophy” and tell me how Bruce Lee helped change their life for the better. But when pressed to define what in Lee’s philosophy effected such a change, most were incapable of elucidating it. I decided to make it my mission to share with as many people as possible the philosophical principles and thought processes that helped Bruce Lee become the self-actualized person he was, in the hope that they might integrate those principles and thought processes into their own lives, overcome obstacles, and fully realize their innate potential in all aspects of their life; physical, emotional and spiritual. In so doing, each person could become a light unto themselves that would shine forth for the rest of the world to see. Dynamic Personal Liberation™ the name I chose to put to the program I developed, actually came from a stone book that lies atop Bruce Lee’s resting place, upon which there is an inscription that reads, “Your inspiration continues to guide us toward our personal liberation.” And in the same way that Bruce Lee inspired me to chart a course toward my own personal liberation, I hope to do the same for others. In the Spirit of JKD, Chris Kent

Take one of Bruce Lee’s personal day-timer diaries and lay it next to any JKD school class curriculum. It doesn’t matter whether it is the curriculum from the Seattle school, the Oakland school, the Los Angeles school, or any JKD school for that matter, you will see quite a difference. The class curriculum lays out a basic structure of the training program for the particular school (such as the "Twelve Week Lesson Plan for Jeet Kune Do" that is included in the "Bruce Lee Jeet Kune Do" book published by Tuttle Publishing). Lee’s notes on the other hand, record a continual personal refinement of the various combative tools and skills (such as throwing over 18,000 punches in a single month) and the development of his body to support and enhance the use of those tools and skills. One is an example of “class” curriculum and the other an example of “individual” curriculum. Class curriculum is geared for a group of people. It is designed to lead a group of people in a particular direction, to help guide them. Class curriculum is designed by the teacher to supply the group with whatever the instructor feels they need at a particular time. This will obviously vary depending upon both the level of the students, as well as the knowledge and teaching ability of the instructor. And while there will obviously be differences in skill levels amongst individuals in a class, the curriculum is designed to move the members of the group forward at a steady rate of progress. In addition, most class curriculums are primarily designed to teach towards the middle of the curve, or the majority of the group. If the information being taught is too complex or difficult, then those at the lower end of the curve will feel lost or get left behind. If, on the other hand, it is too simple or easy, then those at the higher end of the curve will probably become bored and lose interest. Part of the reason for designing class curriculum in such a way is a matter of necessity. It would be very difficult in a class setting, for example, to have all the members of a class throw 500 punches or kicks in one workout, especially if that workout is one hour in length. Do the math for yourself. If a person threw 10 punches every minute it would take them 50 minutes to complete. I’m talking about good punches as well, not simply thoughtless, mechanical repetition. You would also have to add in the boredom factor. The average martial art student today would get bored very quickly of doing the same punch over and over for an hour straight. In comparison, individual curriculum is something designed for you specifically. It is about personal cultivation, and doesn’t stop at the classes you attend. With individual curriculum your focus is on what you feel you need to work on or want to work on at that time. You decide the length and the pace or intensity of the training session. Whereas in a group class you may have only had enough time to throw fifty repetitions of a punch (such as a three-minute round), now you may choose to spend thirty minutes on it and throw three hundred punches instead. Perhaps you decide that you want to develop your ability to bridge distance very quickly, or that you wish to develop an extremely powerful side kick. It’s totally up to you. Individual curriculum can not only include physical techniques or movements, but also non-technical aspects of training such as strength, agility, coordination, flexibility, etc. that support the delivery of your techniques. In order to develop yourself to your true potential, you cannot simply rely on going to classes several times per week. It doesn’t matter if you’re going everyday. Yes, you will develop, but you need to go further. A lot of it will depend upon how you view your training. If, for example, a person views their martial art training solely as a form of recreational activity or some kind of social event, they’ll more than likely go to class 2 or 3 times a week and that’s it. They will probably give little or no thought to it the rest of the time. If, on the other hand, you view it as a vehicle personal growth in all aspects of your life, you will expand your training to include work outside the class lessons. Whether you attend group classes at a professional school or work out in a small backyard or garage training group, I feel that it is important for each person should have their own individual training curriculum in addition to the class curriculum (As long as what they are working on in their individual curriculum is not going against what they are working on in their class). Don’t bifurcate into an either/or frame of mind. Instead, utilize both class curriculum and individual curriculum as part of your overall development as a martial artist.

In his book, The Warrior Within, author John Little relates a story told to him by Bruce Lee’s attorney, Adrian Marshall, in which Lee and Marshall were having lunch with Hong Kong film producer Raymond Chow at an upscale restaurant in Los Angeles. During the course of lunch, the trio was served by a jerk of a waiter who went out of his way to be rude to Bruce. He spoke in a derogatory and condescending manner to Bruce, who, to Marshall’s surprise, simply smiled at the man and totally ignored his rudeness. When Marshall finally asked Bruce why he put up with the waiter’s attitude, Bruce replied, “I came in here in a great mood, so why would I choose to allow someone to ruin it?’” Some people, for whatever reason, seem to take joy in trying to provoke or offend others. They love nothing more than to see if they can draw some kind of reaction from the target of their attack. I’m sure that everyone reading this has experienced it at one time or another in their life. The choice of how we react is up to us. We can get all upset over it and respond (usually in a negative way), or we can choose to maintain what Lee referred to as our ‘detached cool’ and deal with the situation in a much more effective manner. If you simply ignore them and refuse to respond, eventually they will either lose interest or run out of energy and give up and leave you alone. By refusing to engage the other person, by saying nothing and in some cases, calmly walking away from the scene, you remain completely detached from the situation and refuse to give them what they want, which is some form of attention and interaction. Whether you choose to talk to them or not, the message your actions convey to the attacker is very clear, "How does your action affect me? It doesn’t. I recognize that you are attempting to draw a particular reaction from me with your attack. Well, forget it, because it’s not going to happen. I refuse to play that game, so don’t waste your time and energy.” When someone speaks to you in a disparaging or condescending manner or fires some form of verbal attack at you, take a moment to size up whoever is attacking you. Who is this person? What’s their relationship to you? Do you have any reason to fear this person or situation? Is there any need for you to prove yourself to them? Does their opinion really matter to you? Size up the situation. Ask yourself, “Is this situation any kind of real threat to me? How can it affect me? How much does it matter to me? Is this matter even worthy of my time and energy? What purpose will be served by me becoming disturbed by the actions of this person? How important is it in the larger scheme of things? I am not suggesting that you maintain a detached attitude in every situation. There may be instances in which a person crosses a line and needs to be reminded of who they are and what they are doing, etc. But for the most part, if we’re honest, most of the verbal attacks made against us are not worth wasting our time and energy to address and are better off simply being ignored. Honing our ability to maintain our detached cool does not necessitate that we need to become a super-aggressive person, or someone who is cold and aloof. In day-to-day relationships, effective countering is not about winning and losing. It’s not about being the “victor,” or dominating or retaliating against another individual. It’s about effectively dealing with actions made against us by someone else, and not allowing force being exerted against us to have its desired effect. While we might not have any control over who chooses to attack you, the one thing we can control is our own attitude and our reaction to the attack. Just because someone throws down a gauntlet doesn’t mean we have to pick it up. We can choose to leave it on the ground. Don’t respond or react to useless or insignificant verbal attacks such as derogatory comments or condescending remarks. Don’t expend your time and energy on them. Instead, choose to maintain your ‘detached cool’ by simply smiling and ignoring their rudeness or condescending remarks. Tune them out. Life’s too short. Send them a clear message -- "Don't waste yourself." (Some of the above material was drawn from my book, “Liberate Yourself! – How to Think Like Bruce Lee” © 2019 Chris Kent)

As an instructor who loves teaching, for me it’s one of the most distressing sights to see. As I look around at a group of students training, my eye is caught by someone who, for wont of a better term, is simply “phoning it in.” They are going through the motions, but it’s blatantly obvious that the “blasé factor” has sunk its claws into them. When we begin our martial art training, everything is new to us and we are like a kid in a candy store. We pay attention and absorb and process information continuously and rapidly. Our new environment gives us fresh sensory input; new sights, new sounds, new experiences, and even new attitudes. We are motivated and engaged learners. But over the years, as our training continues, if we are not careful, the ascendancy of routine can start to have an effect and the blasé factor can begin to creep up on us. Habit takes over and, if we are not careful and paying attention, we can start mindlessly going through entire sections of our training. In any form of martial art there is obviously a need to automate certain actions that might at first be complex or difficult and require much thought and attention on our part (the moving from volition to reflex action). But there is a fine line between efficiency and thoughtlessness, between mindfulness and mindlessness. How can we keep the blasé factor at bay? There are numerous ways, and honestly, you are only limited by your own imagination. Try approaching a particular thing you do in a new or different way. Try working a technique in the opposite lead, not simply with the idea of training both leads, but because it can help you feel certain things that you have become oblivious to in your regular lead. Try closing your eyes when practicing something, removing your sight and forcing yourself to focus on kinesthetic feel. Try using a different form of training equipment which can give you a different experience. I can still hear my teacher, Dan Inosanto, telling me, “Chris, you’ve got to be able to train one thing ten different ways in order to stave off boredom.” Most of all, keep the two M’s at the forefront of your training: Motivation and Mindfulness. Motivation, in the sense of active engagement and a continuous desire to learn and grow. Mindfulness, in the sense of constant presence of mind; immersing yourself fully in the moment with complete attentiveness and hereness.

Have you ever thrown a side kick into a kicking shield just for the sheer enjoyment of throwing it, of experiencing the energy of the movement itself? Or perhaps you hit a focus mitt with a lead straight punch or worked a particular escape from a grappling position for the same reason, because it just feels so damn good doing it. If, as you finished doing it, Bruce Lee suddenly appeared and asked you, “How did it feel to you?” your answer would not be, “Let me think…,” but instead something like, “It felt so freakin great!” Martial art deals with movement. All types of movement; footwork and body movement, striking actions, grappling actions – offensive actions, counteroffensive actions, defensive actions, etc. In his martial art notes, Lee wrote, “The essence of fighting is the essence of moving.” Sometimes it can become very easy to get caught up in the mentality of maintaining a sense of over-seriousness when we train. We get out our stopwatch or put on the timer, determined to throw as many kicks or strikes as we can in a given time period. We record everything we have done in our training log, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, especially if you are a professional combative sport athlete training for an upcoming event. There is nothing wrong with recording your workouts and there is nothing wrong with pushing yourself to improve. And learning combative skills for self-defense purposes is serious business. My point is simply that sometimes, if we’re not careful, things can become overly mechanical, and we can lose sight of experiencing the enjoyment of what we are doing. I went through such a phase myself (in fact I’ve gone through it numerous times in my years of training). Each time it occurs, I end up asking myself, “Why am I doing this?” And the answer I get is that I’m doing it because I enjoy doing it so much. And at that point I realize that I need to reinsert a state of enjoyment into what I’m doing. When it comes to martial art training, we’re never too old or too experienced or too advanced to discover (or re-discover) the joy of movement, of our body in action. Bringing such a sense of enjoyment to your training can alter your mindset. It can bring back (or cultivate) your sense of body awareness. It can help you “ease the burden of your mind” by getting rid of excessive tension and self-consciousness. It can bring a sense of ‘emotional content’ to your movement. So strive to maintain a sense of enjoyment in your training.

“A good JKD man has no technique; he makes his opponent’s techniques his techniques.” - Bruce Lee There’s an old saying relating to technique that states, “Everything works and nothing works.” This is not a pessimistic statement but rather a simple statement of fact. Techniques work sometimes, and sometimes they don’t work. Nothing works one hundred percent of the time. There is no such thing as an infallible technique. I think every martial artist can remember one time or another when they tried to use a particular technique and for whatever reason, it failed. As a JKD practitioner you must be able to “transcend” technique. To transcend technique you need to understand structure and energy as it relates to the opponent. While there are numerous reasons why a particular technique fails to work, the following are the primary ones: - The hands or arms of the opponent are in a different position from where you need them to be. - The body position of the opponent is different from what you need -- it’s sideways, front, angled left or right, etc. Or their lower or upper half of the opponent’s body is in a different position. - The energy the opponent gives you is different -- it’s too soft, too hard, too jerky, too smooth, etc. - The distance is incorrect -- you are too far away or too close. - You have poor sense of timing or for some reason your timing is off. - The point where you catch the opponent’s energy is off ( ¼, ½, ¾ point) - The speed of the opponent. Make no mistake, in JKD the learning of technique is important, because technique teaches you coordination and shows the options that are open to you. Techniques are the “what-to-dos,” specific actions that fit specific circumstances. Keep in mind however, that they are actions that work in one circumstance but not necessarily another. At times circumstances can change and a particular technique can become less than useful or may not work at all. It’s important to remember that in any combative situation, FLOW is the most important thing. Adaptability and versatility are essential requirements for any JKD practitioner. JKD is a principle-centered art as opposed to a technique-centered art, and one of the fundamental tenets of JKD is that you are free to use technique or dispense with it as you see fit or as a situation necessitates. If we cling to techniques we can become bound by their limitations. This is why Lee cautioned practitioners of JKD (and practitioners of any style of martial art for that matter) that, “Any technique, however worthy or desirable, can become a disease if the mind is obsessed with it.” Don’t be a slave to technique. Make technique serve you. Transcend technique by understanding and utilizing the underlying principles of JKD, because those principles are the elements upon which applications or techniques are built. Furthermore, they will help you discern when and when not to use a particular technique.

Imagine this nightmare scenario. You take your car to a mechanic for a maintenance and tune-up. When you go back several hours late to pick up the vehicle, you cannot find it anywhere. When you ask the mechanic where it is, he points to a collection of various pieces spread all over the garage floor and tells, “It’s right there, man.” He’s right, your car is there, but it’s no longer what it was designed to be, a single, useful entity that functions efficiently and effectively. The same can be said about the art of Jeet Kune Do. The primary physical objective of JKD training is to finish up a single, useful entity that works efficiently and effectively, not a collection of various elements that sit separately and do not function. To continue with the analogy of a car, in the same way that different parts from different automobiles may not fit together properly, and even if they fit they might not work the way they were designed, combining various systems of martial arts or elements from various martial art systems together does not guarantee that what you end up with will function well, or even function at all. This is why I believe that JKD should not be confused with the numerous ‘eclectic’ forms of martial arts now popping up everywhere. Eclecticism is often nothing more than the random throwing together of different styles or stockpiling techniques from numerous arts according to fleeting fancy or personal tastes. This is not what Bruce Lee was doing. Lee had a very clear objective in his training. That objective was martial “totality.” And he made sure that all of the components he used to achieve his objective fit together well and functioned at the highest degree of efficiency as possible. JKD has often been referred to as a “process.” However, even a process, as I said in another article I wrote, is no longer a process if you take it apart. The moment you separate the parts of a process, once you take the process apart, there isno longer a process. There's no movement. There's only this thing or that. And to me, if you take JKD apart, it is no longer JKD. So keep in mind that the objective of your own JKD training should be to finish up with a single, useful entity that works with the highest levels of efficiency and effectiveness for you.