Your Own JKD

Friday Knight News

“Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.” Bruce Lee

I was seventeen when the Tao of Jeet Kune Do (JKD) came out, but I'm not suggesting that you can take a bunch of techniques from different styles or systems and call it Jeet Kune Do. I believe in systems and individual styles. So if your interpretation of the arts works for you, it is JKD in a manner of speaking. What I mean by this is everyone has their own background or perspective of their art, regardless of their style/s. In my way of thinking this makes it only possible for one person to truly know their style.

Even if your style is JKD, your JKD will always be different from your teachers. Just because your attributes are different from you teachers. I am only saying we need to make a style or system our own. What we tend to do is find a teacher that has walked in a direction that speaks to our inner vision. Then we try to emulate that vision until it becomes our own. This is learning a system. That is what I loved about Bruce Lee's teaching as it gave me a foundational set of guidelines to tie various arts together as a cohesive whole. I'm not talking about making my own style, but being able to utilize fragmented systems I had trained in as I went from dojo to dojo. As it was difficult to find martial art schools in the same style back then, and either I or many of my instructors moved. Just reading the Tao of JKD does not mean that the five ways of attack can turn anything you do into JKD. Instead I'm saying that the principles of the five ways of attack can be a foundation to both striking and grappling arts.

I have noticed that even before Bruce Lee had hit the martial art world Japanese stylist followed this same pattern. Although they didn't call it Jeet Kune Do, Kano called his Jujutsu, Judo. Ueshiba called his Aikijujutsu, Aikido. Both men studied certain styles and after mastering the concepts and being recognized by their teachers as such, they then formed their own methodologies. There are a host of other more rescent masters of the martial arts that have also made a similar journey. It is this process that brings us to our own individual path even if your art is Jujutsu, Karate, Escrima, or JKD.

  

The first time I fought a world heavyweight champ as a sparring partner, I was a welter weight. He was only an amateur champ, but he was as good as many professional I had trained with later on. I do not know what league sanctioned his title, but I heard that he had fought more than just the local tournament scene. Luck had been with me as I was able to avoid, jam or block most of his shots. However, he kept pounding my arm, which I almost moved to get them out of harm's way, but despite the pain I kept my ribs covered. I got cracked ribs out of the ordeal and a compliment. After my time was up, he took me aside and told me that none of the heavyweights took that amount of abuse and he shook my hand, which stayed with me longer than the pain in my arm. This method of attack became a favorite of mine as I never cared if someone was faster or stronger. I was glad to punch or kick their arm or elbows if they got in the way of my target, it had always worked while fighting bare knuckles.

Later on when I had my own school, it was easy to spot the tough guys coming in the door. I have had many of the no holds barred regional champs come in with a swagger claiming they had knocked out every sensei or sifu in the area and were trying to find a real school. These guys from hard knock backgrounds generally had a local reputation that went along with them. These men wanted to test themselves and the teacher before signing on for a class. These guys would throw, punch, kick full force but they often found that it would take them three months of healing time to recover before they could take the class that they now believed in. Sometimes other students came in to test out the training. While they started out being skeptical, they remained respectful and were gently persuaded that the teaching worked. Then I had guys come in that couldn't do a single push up. Most quit as they couldn't get a technique to work on their little sisters, but then again they never invested themselves into training.

A lot of my students (adults), were hard asses, bouncers, cops, bodyguards, ex-military, boxing, and wrestling champs, but even a good portion of the non-fighters were tough men with dangerous jobs. River workers that filled barges with coal, farmers, high steel workers, metal workers, military and ex-special forces, late night clerks (prone to hold ups). Then again I had a few engineers, doctors, nurses and college students. I also had a lot of dojo hoppers too, heck I had been one myself. Most of the dojo hoppers from other styles stayed after they got in my classes, and I learned from them all, (in my mind that is JKD absorbing what is useful).

If everyone studied martial arts with the awareness that we all pass through an apprentice, journeyman, and master stage, I think we would all be better off. I do not believe the rigid copying of a style is the ultimate achievement in any art. If you take a look at the art world, we can see this practice is limited to the novice and the journeyman stages, masters make whatever styles or systems they have studied their own. Some of these people would stay and transform themselves, but that was the trick. They transformed themselves, the instructor only points the way.

“A good teacher protects his pupils from his own influence.”  Bruce Lee

My stories are about martial arts adventures that are intertwined with paranormal or supernatural events. The following links are to the Kindle version books from the "Dream Walker” series. Our adventurers find themselves on a quest where they are confronted with both conspiracy and mystery. Their challenge is to unite their mind and body skills together utilizing what they have learned in the martial arts with the transcendental power of dream mediation. They attempt to do this while they are trying to make a life for themselves and elude those that seek to use and control them.

Conversations with a Sage (Book 1 of the Dream-Walker)

Conversations with a Sage: This explores Xander Davidson's early encounters with the mysterious fog like Dream Walking martial art sages. He ponders if they are real or if they are only remnants of his dreams. He mainly keeps this secret world to himself as he tries to copes with abuse, growing up without support or guidance and the mystery of his family's past. 

Xander and the Assassins Gift (Book 2 of the Dream-Walker)

The Assassins Gift: Xander Davidson struggles with the conspiracy of his family and the group that is actively trying to manipulate him to join them or die. The young Dream Walkers learns an early lesson to be careful about whom they let into their circle.


Warriors of Perception (Book 3 of the Dream-Walker)

Warriors of Perception: Xander Davidson and his band of friends embark on a mission to free themselves from their oppressors. They bravely face the challenge all the while vying for the right moment to turn the tables.

Jace Lee The Shift (Book 4 of the Dream-Walker)

Jace Lee The Shift: We find a new apprentice, Adam, that is fighting for his life. He is struggling to understand the amazing skills of his mentor, Jace Lee; a younger man that has trained under Xander Davidson. All the while his mentor attempts to reconcile the fact that his skills do not match up with the other Dream Walkers.


Jace Lee No Agenda (Dream Walker Book 5)

Jace Lee No Agenda: Jace Lee attempts to find himself on a self-imposed vision quest of sorts. Instead he finds himself being stalked by the same group that had previously sought after his teacher, (Xander Davidson). Instead of mastering his odd Dream Walking skills he finds love and the potential loss of his powers.

Jace Lee and the Tutelage of Ming Wu: Dream Walker 6 

Jace Lee The Tutelage of Ming Wu: Jace Lee rejoins his teacher Xander Davidson as they cope with a possible combined threat (the mysterious), Ming Wu and the Council that has continuously monitored the Dream Walkers.