Bruce Lee is looked upon as one of the greatest martial artists who ever lived, and for good reason. However, it’s interesting to note that Lee never had a belt or possessed a ranking in any martial art style or system. He never had a certificate proclaiming him to be a master or grandmaster in any martial art. Yet people from all walks of life including world champion martial artists, top Hollywood celebrities and executives, and elite professional athletes all sought him ou

When someone attacks you verbally, they are extending their energy or force toward you. The idea when countering is t o take the energy from the opponent and either interrupt it, avoid it, or re-direct it. In this way the force exerted against you fails to have the desired effect. One of the prime ways to do this is to “refuse to engage.” If we are really honest, most of verbal attacks made against us are not worth wasting our time and energy to address and are better off sim

Bruce Lee’s martial artistry was phenomenal. Lee attained a level in his martial art practice in which he was no longer confined by technique or principle, and his high degree of physical skills and finely tuned awareness gave him the ability to become formless, adapt himself to fit in with any opponent, and ‘flow’ like water in any situation. This high degree of mastery is referred to the “artless” state or the “stage of artlessness.” However, we need to keep in mind that Br

In the film, Enter the Dragon, as Bruce Lee’s character faces off against his opponent, a really tough and brutal man named Ohara, the man tosses a board he has been carrying into the air and smashes it in two with a single punch. Lee maintains his detached cool, looks at Ohara and, with a slight smile, informs him, “Boards don’t hit back.” Immediately afterward, Lee annihilates Ohara in the fight. Unfortunately for Ohara, his attempt to “psych-out” Lee failed miserably. Perh

The phrase “Walk On” was an immensely important in Bruce Lee’s overarching philosophy of living. So important, in fact, that he even had it written on the back of one of his business cards which he displayed on his desk to remind himself to keep moving forward and to flow on in the current of life. For each of us, our life is an ever-flowing process, and that somewhere on the path unpleasant things can and will pop up. The odds that only good things will ever happen to us are

“Don’t waste yourself…” 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, simp

It starts inside our head. Sometimes it whispers, sometimes it shouts. Call it what you want; the “inner opponent,” “the internal critic,” “the saboteur,” the voice speaks and unless we are careful, we listen. The voice scolds us with such things as, “Who do you think you are?” -- “You’re not smart enough to accomplish that” -- or “You’re too old.” And if we pay attention to what it says, we often end up stopping what we are doing or deciding not to even start something. How

When I was a kid, on the outside back cover of a lot of comic books you would see advertisements proclaiming such things as “I’ll make you into the world’s deadliest fighter in seven days!” or “Defeat any attacker in 10 seconds or less with karate secrets!” Often the guy making such proclamations wore a mask to conceal his face so he couldn’t be recognized for giving away such deadly secrets. If you shelled out your hard-earned allowance to buy the book you’d get some cheap-

In 1989 I was offered the opportunity to travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to work on a movie entitled “Exposure”, which involved knife-fighting. The opportunity arose because my friend and martial art training partner, Jeff Imada, who is one of the top stunt action coordinators in the business, was offered the job but had to turn it down due to other film commitments. When the producers asked him to find someone to take his place, he called me because he felt I could handle

Bruce Lee was committed in his quest to express the full potential of his body and mind and strove to improve himself both physically and mentally. In addition to his daily martial art training, Lee also engaged in supplemental training to improve such things as his strength, power, endurance, flexibility, coordination, mental attitude, etc. Regardless what you do, whether you are a martial artist, a writer, a tennis player, a doctor, a computer programmer, or whatever, your