Bruce Lee Podcast

We return to Bruce Lee’s Library to examine another book that greatly influenced Bruce Lee’s philosophy. Bruce would underline and annotate his books, and would journal about them creating his own version of a book report after reading. In his volume of Zen in Japanese Art, A Spiritual Experience by Toshimitsu Hasumi, Bruce highlighted passages, made notes throughout, and wrote a long note at the beginning of the book. This book, Zen in Japanese Art, A Spiritual Experience by Toshimitsu Hasumi, is about the notion that Japanese Art, or Zen in Japanese art, is a spiritual experience that is connected to nature, the Tao, the artist, and the viewer of the art. There is a spiritual essence woven within the art so that through the simple nature of the art much more can be felt. The first excerpt that Bruce Lee highlighted in this book is: “Art is the form-language of the human soul.” For the full podcast notes and excerpts from the book go to: BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Stor

What does it mean to be healthy in our mind, body, and spirit? Health is not limited to our physical wellbeing, but encompasses our mind, body, and spirit. In order to get to optimal health, we have to be willing to look at the unhealthy parts of ourselves. Bruce Lee pursued not just his physical health, but also his mental and spiritual health. “Health is an appropriate balance of the coordination of all of what we are. A healthy person has both a good orientation (sensoric system) and ability to act (motoric system). So if there is no balance between sensing and doing, then you are out of gear.” We all experience the issue where we know in our heads what we should be doing for our health, but avoid acting on it because it is hard or inconvenient.  “Just as the maintaining of good health may require the taking of unpleasant medicine, so the condition of being able to do the things we enjoy often requires the performance of a few we don’t. Remember, my friend, it is not what happens that counts; it is how you

“Don’t think, FEEL.” This line comes from a scene in Enter the Dragon where Bruce Lee is instructing a student. He tells the student to throw a kick, the student kicks, and Bruce says, “What was that? What is this an Exhibition? You need emotional content.” The student kicks again and Bruce says, “I said emotional content not anger! Try again, but this time with me. Don’t think FEEL.” When Bruce Lee says, “Don’t think,” he means, “Get out of your head.” When he says, “FEEL,” he means really feel into the situation and sense what is happening here. When you are kicking you are kicking a person who is present, you are not trying to perform the perfect kick. That is what Bruce was saying when instructing the student to, “Don’t think, FEEL.” Often we are not fully present because we are instead trying to categorize, calculate, and think of the next five steps, or the situation is uncomfortable so we mentally checkout. When you “Don’t think, FEEL,” you are turning your body into a sensing organism. What you are fe

Taking action, the physical act of “doing” can be like salve to the soul. It can be a tool, a medicine, a cure, something that actually leads us on a path to healing and what we want to accomplish in our lives. If we get caught up in our thinking and thoughts it can be paralyzing. In order to free ourselves from that paralysis we have to take action and do something. A simple example is just to get up and move your body. If your body is feeling stiff, get up and stretch, go for a walk, and by moving your body will feel better. The actions can be small actions; they do not have to be big actions. Bruce Lee was a philosopher and he wrote a lot about his thoughts and how he thought that life should be lived. He did more than just write; he put his theories into practice and lived his philosophies. Bruce Lee was a normal person who lived his own philosophies and became a globally loved icon. “Action is a high road to confidence and self-esteem. Its rewards are tangible. The cultivation of the spirit is elusive an

“Using no way as way; having no limitation as limitation.” The idea of being limitless was a core tenet of Bruce Lee’s approach to his art and his life. He lived the philosophy of being limitless and took action. The idea of being limitless is a mindset and a sense of freedom within one’s own life; it does not mean that you have no boundaries or that you are negligible of your environment or others around you. Being limitless is the ability to make the decision to be and do anything that is centered in your heart and in harmony with you and the world. You do not have to ask for permission or get approval from any outside institution, person, or society. Most of our excuses or rationalizations for why we cannot do something is us giving voice to a fear we have about it. Sometimes we limit ourselves because we fear criticism. It is inevitable that we will receive criticism when we follow our hearts, and that can be really hard, but it is important to stay true to our hearts. “Limitless means infinite mobility.”

Happy New Year! To kick off 2019, Shannon and Sharon wanted to share their goals for the New Year and have a discussion surrounding creating goals, working towards them and maintaining momentum. When creating and pursuing goals it is important to have awareness, intention, clarity, and the will to take action.  Bruce Lee was a man with many goals. He had big, visionary life goals and he also had smaller daily goals. Bruce believed that goals often just serve as a target and that the important thing about goals is that they give you something to work toward, but not to lock you down if something is not working. Goals are as big as you want them to be to facilitate your dreaming, but it should not overwhelm you or make you feel trapped in any way, you should have freedom to pivot if needed. Bruce had the big goal to share the beauty of his art and culture with the world. Initially, his path to this goal was to open martial arts schools all across the US, but this shifted as Bruce learned how he liked to teach,

Thank you to all of our listeners for a wonderful year! In this episode Shannon and Sharon reflect on the lessons that they have learned in the past year. We want to encourage all of you to look back on the year and notice your progress. It is important to not only look forward, but to reflect on what we have learned. The end of a year is a good marker to reflect back on the progress we have made and we wanted to share the lessons we have learned over the past year with all of you. Bruce Lee was big on learning: constant discovery, self-knowledge, growth, maximizing one’s potential, and self-actualizing. Bruce Lee was conscious and optimistic about continuing his own evolution. “Learning is discovery, the discovery of the cause of our ignorance. However, the best way of learning is not the computation of information. Learning is discovering, uncovering what is there in us. When we discover, we are uncovering our own ability, our own eyes, in order to find our potential, to see what is going on, to discover ho

This week we share wisdom from our podcast listeners. We’ve selected a few stories to share about how listeners have incorporated Bruce Lee’s philosophy into their everyday lives and the impact that the philosophy has had on them. Thank you to all of our listeners who write to us sharing the impact that Bruce Lee and this podcast has had on their lives! We love reading how you all are living your lives fully and authentically. We wanted to share these pieces of listener wisdom because they are all interpreting Bruce Lee’s philosophy for themselves and using their own words. These pieces of wisdom resonated with us so we hope they resonate with you too. It is awesome and amazing that you all are taking the Bruce Lee’s philosophies and creating your own recipes for life. Thank you all for listening and working with these philosophies in your own lives. Please continue to share your stories with us!  Go to our show notes at brucelee.com/podcast to read the listener wisdom shared in this episode. Full Notes: Bruc

“The autonomous individual is only stable so long as he possessed of self-esteem. The maintenance of self-esteem is a continuous task which taxes all of the individual’s power and inner resources. We have to prove our worth and justify our existence anew each day. When, for whatever reason, self-esteem is unattainable, the autonomous individual becomes a highly explosive entity. He turns away from an unpromising self and plunges into the pursuit of pride, the explosive substitute for self-esteem. All social disturbances and upheavals have their roots in crises of self-esteem, and the great endeavor in which the masses most readily unite is basically a search for pride.” Bruce Lee had a lot of thoughts around the notion of self-worth and self-esteem. (Many of these quote and thoughts are from The Passionate State of Mind by Eric Hoffer.) Join Shannon & Sharon as they dive into self-esteem, taking action, and feeling worthy. Find our full show notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the

Disclaimer: Some of the language in this episode includes profanity In this episode Shannon and Sharon were joined on the podcast by special guest Mike Vallely. Mike Vallely is a professional skateboarder, owner of Street Plant, musician, actor, tv personality, stuntman, professional wrestler, and FHL hockey player. Mike shares with us his philosophy on skating, how he first encountered Bruce Lee at flea markets, what it was like growing up as a skater in 1980s New Jersey, and how he first started his family-run company Street Plant. Mike Vallely became obsessed with skateboarding when he was 14. He began skating by borrowing friends’ boards, but finally got his own board for Christmas that year. From there he skated obsessively, even sneaking out at night to go skating. By 1986, Mike had an amateur sponsorship deal with Powell-Peralta Skateboards and his picture was in skateboard magazine Thrasher. After winning the amateur division in the 1986 “Street Attack” contest in Oceanside, CA, Mike Vallely was featu

Bruce Lee referred to the separateness of all the martial arts styles as a “Fancy Mess” or “Organized Despair.” This included the blind devotion of martial arts students who lacked a real sense of individual and personal investigation and growth. Bruce Lee created his own art of Jeet Kune Do which he called the “style of no style.” He was really interested, both combatively and philosophically, in researching one’s own experience and creating what works for you as an individual. Bruce had his own ideas about his own techniques, what worked best and what had efficiency and simplicity when it came to fighting. He passed these ideas along to his students, but he was open to the idea that these ideas could be tested and changed depending on who you were as an individual.  “A Fancy Mess” refers to the rigidity of certain styles of martial arts which require memorization and regurgitation without any deviation from the style. These different styles were often in competition with each other over which was the best.

In this episode Shannon and Sharon sit down with Doug Palmer, a student of and close friend to Bruce Lee. Doug shares with us personal stories and anecdotes about his friendship with Bruce, including how they spent a summer in Hong Kong together and went on double dates when they both still lived in Seattle. Doug first met Bruce Lee when he was in high school in Seattle during the summer of 1961. He first saw Bruce perform a demonstration at a Chinese cultural event in Seattle’s Chinatown and then met him later at a Japanese community festival. Doug was fascinated by gung fu and asked Bruce if he could study with him, and Bruce told him to come to the next class, and if he was still interested after the class they could talk. From there their friendship grew. Bruce Lee became Doug’s teacher and friend, having a lasting effect on Doug’s life. Go to brucelee.com/podcast to see our show notes. Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

In this episode, we continue our discussion of Bruce Lee’s cards he wrote to his friend and first assistant instructor Taky Kimura. In these cards to Taky, Bruce lays out these principles on how to be a Gung Fu man and how to own and operate a school in the best way without Bruce being there himself. In Part 1 we talked about self-cultivation, no-mind, no-thought, and following nature. Listen to #123 A Gung Fu Man: Part 1 at brucelee.com/podcast. Read Part 2 of the Taky Kimura letter at Brucelee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

In this episode we discuss some cards that Bruce Lee sent in 1964 to his best friend Taky Kimura. Taky was Bruce’s best friend, he was the best man in Bruce and Linda’s wedding, and Taky was Bruce’s first assistant instructor in Bruce Lee’s first school in Seattle at the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute. In 1964, Bruce Lee left Seattle and moved to Oakland to open a second school with James Lee. When Bruce moved he wrote these cards and gave them to Taky, who was now going to run the school in Seattle, as a way to prepare Taky to step into the role of teacher and to be a Gung Fu Man. An excerpt from the cards: “Self-Cultivation The point where to rest being known, the object of pursuit is then determined; and, that being determined, a calm unperturbedness may be attained too. To that calmness there will succeed a tranquil repose. In that repose there may be careful deliberation, and that deliberation will be followed by the attainment of the desired end.” Read Part 1 of the Taky Kimura letter at Brucelee.com/podcast

Bruce Lee’s The Tao of Jeet Kune Do was published posthumously in 1976 and the very first section is titled “On Zen.” While the Tao of Jeet Kune Do is an instructional book, it is not structured that way as it begins and ends with sections on philosophy. This chapter “On Zen” was made the first section of the Tao because it is supposed to orient the practitioner to this mindset and also to infuse the practitioner with the importance of the philosophical approach to the art and not just the physical. This chapter orients the reader into having the right intention going into this practice. Like how the Be Water quote begins with “Empty your mind,” the chapter “On Zen” orients the reader in a similar way. Zen has become slang for feeling peaceful and relaxed, or anything with an Asian aesthetic. In modern culture, zen has developed an insubstantial meaning. However, zen is a very substantial practice. For the Japanese Buddhist monks who practice zazen, which is the practice of sitting meditation, zen is a very d

Bruce Lee had a giant library and read voraciously. He would annotate his books, and it’s evident that these books helped influence his philosophies and approach to living life. We think it’s important to share these books because they help illuminate the process of Bruce Lee becoming himself and how he used the insights gained from his reading and molded them to fit himself. In this episode we return to the Bruce Lee Library to discuss his annotations of the book, Great Ideas from the Great Books by Dr. Mortimer J. Adler, Director for Philosophical Research, Answers drawn from the wisdom of the past to the problems about which we are most concerned in the world today. Bruce Lee was a philosophy major in college, so it makes sense that he was in exploration of all the great philosophers in the world. He had a wonderful harmony of Eastern philosophy and Western philosophy. Check out our full show notes at Brucelee.com/podcast to see what Bruce Lee annotated in this book. Help support the Bruce Lee Podcast &

This episode features a letter that Bruce Lee wrote to his good family friend Pearl Tso when he was 21. Pearl was around Bruce’s age, and her mother was Bruce’s favorite auntie who was a mentor and good friend to him. Bruce wrote this letter after he had left Hong Kong and had been living in the United States for around three years. The reason we have this letter is because Bruce Lee liked to present a beautiful finished product and would create drafts of letters. This version of the letter that we have has cross-outs, corrections, and edited notes. After his practice draft, Bruce would write out a finished letter in his beautiful handwriting on nice paper. This letter is phenomenal and packed with a lot of Bruce Lee’s ideas and philosophies. Bruce talks about his dreams, his practical approaches to these dreams, and his measure of success for himself. He sat down and thoughtfully expressed himself through this letter to his dear friend. We are lucky and thankful to have this letter because in the digital age

“Be water, my friend.” This is one of Bruce Lee’s most famous quotes, but how did the idea first come to Bruce? In this episode we share and discuss an essay that Bruce wrote around his epiphany on the nature of water. When Bruce first had his epiphany on water he was 18 and this essay is him reflecting back on that time. When Bruce was 18, he had been studying wing chun gung fu with his sifu Yip Man for about four years. Being a teenager, Bruce was filled a fiery dragon energy, and was set on beating his opponents. During his training his teacher Yip Man continually tried to get Bruce to be more in tune with nature and his opponent instead of being so concentrated on winning. It was not until a solitary boat ride that Bruce’s connection to nature was realized. Bruce’s epiphany on the nature of water shifted his perspective forever on both gung fu and life. Read the full essay at brucelee.com/podcast Help support the Bruce Lee Podcast & check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Bruce

This week we have one of our favorite guests back on the show, Shannon’s mom, Linda Lee Cadwell! Linda joins Shannon and Sharon to talk about the making of Enter the Dragon. With rare insights into Bruce Lee’s process and experience on the set of Enter the Dragon, Linda shares behind the scenes stories, discusses how important this movie was to Bruce Lee, and talks about the lasting impact Enter the Dragon has had in action films. It is always wonderful having Linda on the Bruce Lee Podcast, and we are grateful every time she can join us for an episode. Thank you Linda for sharing these behind the scenes stories on the making of Enter the Dragon! We’d love to hear from you! Please write to us at hello@brucelee.com or tag us on social media @BruceLee #BruceLeePodcast. Help support the Bruce Lee Podcast and check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store!

“Thinking is rehearsing in fantasy for the role you have to play to society. And when it comes to the moment of performance, and you’re not sure whether your performance will be well received, then you get stage fright. This stage fright has been given by psychiatry the name “anxiety”. “What will I have to say on the examination?” “What will I say in my lecture?” You meet a girl and you think, “What will I wear to impress her?” And so on. All this rehearsing for the role you play.” Anxiety has become a part of our culture and it can cause us to reach an impasse in our lives. What is The Impasse? What roles are we rehearsing? Are we living in the moment? In this week’s episode Shannon and Sharon discuss Bruce Lee’s essay on “The Impasse.” Full notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Help support the Bruce Lee Podcast & check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com