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Breathing Is Everything
How you breathe will dictate everything from the type of athlete you are, to how you sleep, to how your body feels and looks.
At the core of breathing is connecting with our core. Our breath does not originate in our lungs or in our chests, but from deep within.
MORE IDEAS FROM THE ARTICLE
Being proficient at anything at full speed takes the willingness and patience to first go slowly, literally and figuratively.
Any professional athlete will tell you that the ritualistic nature of slowing down your craft is the key to success in that craft. You have to walk before you can run.
Words inspire, words inform, and words can destroy - if we let them.
The martial arts will teach you not to react to other’s problems, but to pay attention to your own. Learn not to react to words that are meant for harm.
The ability to be present in a given circumstance means the difference between success and failure and potentially life and death.
Nothing brings you to the present moment quite like a fight, whether it’s a practice fight or a real one. The difference from a practice like meditation where you slow down and find awareness, is that the martial arts not only slows down, it speeds way up.
Even in actual fights, the greatest obstacle we face is our own fear, our own breath, or our own tension.
Battles will be won when we’re willing to face ourselves.
In our culture, we tend to focus on outcomes. Winning versus losing.
In the martial arts, process is growth, regardless of outcome. As we grow old we need not stop growing.
RELATED IDEAS
Bruce didn’t subscribe to a dogma of any kind.
Although he was an avid reader of religion, philosophy, and martial arts, he viewed religious or philosophical ideologies at best only as signposts pointing to the truth, but not as the truth itself.
The truth for him was multi-sided and beyond what words can express.Therefore, it can't be named, packaged, and presented in a certain way without losing its essence.
- He wasn't a master of any standard form of martial arts. He was closest in mastering Wing Chun.
- He invented his own style of martial arts. He based his style on the teaching of Man and what he learned of Wing Chun. He called his style Jeet Kune Do "the style of no style"
- He starred in 20 films in Hong Kong before the age of 18.
- He popularized the "1 Inch Punch" as seen in Kill Bill Vol. 2
- He was a prolific poet and philosopher. He studied poetry and philosophy in school and was even published several times.
- He was so fast, his moves were often too fast for a camera to catch.
- He only made 5 feature films in the US, his last released posthumously.
- Improved lower and upper-body strength. Practiced regularly, it’s comparable to resistance training and brisk walking.
- Boosts flexibility and strength of upper and lower-body.
- Improved balance and, according to some studies, reduced risk of falling by training proprioception (the ability to sense the position of one's body in space), muscle strength and flexibility.
- Improved aerobic conditioning for movements with appropriate speed and size.