Bruce Lee Podcast

The idea of Personal Liberation was very important to Bruce Lee. This idea was so important that his wife Linda included the quote “Your inspiration continues to guide us towards our personal liberation,” on Bruce’s headstone in Seattle where he and his son Brandon are buried. Many of Bruce’s writings cover the topic of personal liberation and its connection with flow and freedom. “Freedom is something that cannot be preconceived. To realize freedom requires an alert mind, a mind that is deep with energy, a mind that is capable of immediate perception without the process of graduation, without the idea of an end to be slowly achieved. Pre-formations simply lack the flexibility to adapt to the ever changing. At this point many would ask, ‘How then do we gain this unlimited freedom?’ I cannot tell you because it will then become an approach. Although I can tell you what it’s not, I cannot tell you what it is. That, my friend, you will have to find out all by yourself, for there is no help, but self-help.” Some

“Life is wide, limitless, there is no border, no frontier.” Bruce Lee believed that there were no limitations or borders in life, and this is reflected in his core tenet of Jeet Kune Do: “Using no way as way, having no limitation as limitation.” When you encounter boundaries or walls in life, then it’s time to step back and see if there is another way. These blocks mean the way you are going is not working, not that you can’t do it. The baseline for living in oneness with life is embracing the limitless condition of life. You may face plateaus in life but there are no limits to how much more you can learn, grow, enjoy life, be happy and become conscious. “The oneness of all life is a truth that can be realized only when false notions of a separate self, whose destiny can be considered apart from the whole, are forever annihilated.” Living in oneness is living in a connected state with your environment, nature, and those around you. The pain a lot of people experience is when they have feelings of isolation fr

This week we talk with Bruce Lee superfan Daniele Bolelli. Shannon first met Bolelli when he was interviewed for the documentary “I Am Bruce Lee” and later she was a guest on his podcast “The Drunken Taoist.” Bolelli is an Italian born author, college professor, martial artist, and has two podcasts, “The Drunken Taoist” and “History on Fire.” Bruce Lee came into Bolelli’s life when he was a 7 year old kid growing up in Italy. Daniele and his dad watched a Bruce Lee movie together and he was hooked. Bruce’s energy and personality as a movie star captivated the young Bolelli, but he built a life-long relationship with him by reading Bruce’s writings and philosophies. Bolelli is also a martial artist who starting his training at 15. He finds that Bruce Lee’s philosophies are helpful in studying martial arts and life. Like Bruce, he studied several styles of martial arts including Chinese kung fu, Brazilian jiu jitsu, boxing, wrestling and MMA. He currently prefers Judo because of the aesthetics of the big throws

"Don't think. FEEEEEEEEL! It's like a finger pointing away to the moon. Do not concentrate on the finger or you will miss all of the heavenly glory!" In this scene from Enter the Dragon, Bruce is teaching his student about the importance of staying fully present in the moment. If you just concentrate on the finger, you’ll miss the glorious experience of the moon. We often take ourselves out of a moment we are experiencing for many reasons—to analyze it, to think about it, or document it. Even when we pause to take a picture of a beautiful sunset, we have to leave the moment of experiencing that sunset to take the picture. When we do this, we lose the feeling of the moment. “There’s too much tendency to look inward at one’s moods and to try and evaluate them, to stand on the outside and try to look inside is futile. It’s like turning on a light to look at darkness. Analyze it and it’s gone.” “Feeling exists here and now when not interrupted and dissected by ideas or concepts. The moment we stop analyzing and l

The Root was an important concept to Bruce Lee. The Root is where real knowledge and real personal expression can spring from, the starting point and essence of “Who am I?” “What we are after is the root and not the branches. The root is the real knowledge and the branches are surface knowledge. Real knowledge breeds “body feel” and personal expression, and surface knowledge breeds mechanical conditioning, and imposing limitation and it squelches creativity.” “The Root is the fulcrum on which will rest the expression of your soul. The Root is the starting point of all natural manifestation. It cannot be when the root is neglected that what should spring from it will be well ordered.” Your body is the vehicle through which you manifest everything, even your thoughts. When we neglect the vehicle that holds our vital energy then we can get ungrounded. Bruce Lee was integrated with mind, body, spirit and his body was in service to his greater Purpose in this world. Even if your path in life is not of an athlete o

Bruce Lee was driven by his own Purpose in life: “All in all, the goal of my planning and doing is to find the true meaning in life: peace of mind.” Bruce’s Purpose was “peace of mind,” rather than his specific goals of becoming a big movie star or financial success. His big Purpose was self-actualization. “Completeness, the now, is an absence of the conscious mind to strive to divide that which is indivisible. For once the completeness of things is taken a part, it is no longer complete. All the pieces of a car that has been taken a part may be there, but it is no longer a car in its original nature which is its function or life.” If your goals are infused with purpose, then it never feels like you’re striving, it feels like it’s a pursuit of becoming. You feel like you’re becoming more of yourself in the accomplishment of your goals rather than needing to accomplish goals for outside accolades and prestige. So much of our culture is built on the pursuit of things, prestige and status—these do not make us ha

During one of the busiest times in his life, Bruce Lee wrote a letter to himself titled “In My Own Process”. When Bruce wrote this, he had just halted production on Game of Death was in mid-prep for Enter the Dragon which included re-writing script pages, creating fight choreography, and being a producer. He was moved to pause and write several drafts of this letter to himself—each version was an evolution of the ideas he began pondering. Through the different versions, you can witness his thinking and creative process—adding, building and refining with each iteration. He wrote: “At the moment I’m wondering for whom am I writing this organized mess? I have to say I am writing whatever wants to be written.” “I have come to the realization that sooner or later what it really amounts to is the bare fact that even an attempt to really write something about ones self demands, first of all, an honesty towards oneself to be able to take responsibility to be what we actually are.” “What it boils down to is my sincere

This week we discuss a typical day in the life of Bruce Lee, his habits and activities on an average day when he wasn’t filming. The Wing Luke Museum in Seattle has an exhibit called “A Day in the Life of Bruce Lee” and you can make your own “Day in the Life” infographic here. Bruce Lee believed in the restorative powers of sleep, typically getting about 8hrs a night. He went to sleep around 11pm and got up at 7am. In the mornings he would stretch and go for a jog. Bruce liked to use jogging as a form of meditation. Following his morning workout, Bruce had breakfast then played with the kids. Then he would usually teach a private lesson in his students’ backyard or in his own backyard. Between the hours of noon and 4pm he would have lunch and then either teach or work on his writing. Then, he would have an hour and a half for his own personal training (his second workout of the day!) Bruce spent his early evening hanging out with the family and playing with the kids. For the rest of the evening, Bruce would h

When Bruce Lee was 21 he wrote: “I feel I have this great creative and spiritual force within me that is greater than faith, greater than ambition, greater than confidence, greater than determination, greater than vision, it is all these combined. My brain becomes magnetized with this dominating force which I hold in my hand. Whether it is the godhead or not, I feel this great force, this untapped power, this dynamic something within me. This feeling defies description and no experience with which this feeling may be compared. It is something like a strong emotion mixed with faith, but a lot stronger.” This energy is something that Bruce Lee talked about a lot, and energy is also often how we talk about Bruce Lee. Bruce would talk about energy in relation to his willpower, vital life-force to create, to move, to accomplish, and to motivate. He talked about it as a creative and spiritual force within himself and also talked about not wasting this force but using it for good. “A creation uncontaminated by thoug

This week we sit down with Bruce Lee superfan, and self-professed Bruce Lee geek, W. Kamau Bell! He’s a comedian and TV host. He hosts CNN's United Shades of America, and podcasts Denzel Washington is the Greatest Actor of All Time Period and Politically Reactive. Kamau Bell became a Bruce Lee fan as a kid watching 70s martial arts films on TV. He thought Bruce Lee was in tons of movies because of all the knock-off Bruce Lees on TV. It wasn’t until he was 13 when he went to the video store and found “Enter the Dragon” that he realized that the real Bruce Lee was the real deal. He watched the VHS tapes over and over and sought out Bruce’s other film. That’s when Kamau became a superfan. He bought all his movies, got Bruce Lee posters, made his own iron-on T-shirt of Bruce and converted his friends to fans. He even created a petition at his high school to get Bruce Lee a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He studied Wing Chun because Bruce Lee studied Wing Chun and took a bus all the way across Chicago to stud

When Bruce Lee spoke about the Art of Dying, he did not mean dying in the literal sense, but as a metaphor for letting go of the past and things that limit you, so you can be a fluid human in the present moment. “Like everyone else, you want to learn the way to win, but never to learn the way to lose. To accept defeat, to learn to die, is to be liberated from it. Once you accept this you are free to flow and to harmonize. Fluidity is the way to an empty mind. You must free your ambitious mind and learn the art of dying.” Bruce was constantly practicing this idea of dying because to him it meant returning to beginners mind and neutrality. He even had an art piece tombstone created which stated, “In memory of a once fluid man crammed and distorted by the classical mess.” This was a physical reminder to let go of anything that keeps you rigid or limits growth. “To understand and live now, there must be a dying to everything of yesterday, die continually to every newly gained experience be in a state in choiceles

Bruce Lee started writing poetry when he moved from Hong Kong to the U.S. at age 18. He wrote poetry to express his feelings of contemplativeness, love, melancholy, and oneness with nature. The poetry was a way to process and understand his own feelings. Bruce also wrote poems and letters to his wife Linda expressing love and gratefulness for her. Linda says that she can still feel the warmth of his love through his writing. Bruce Lee was a masculine man of action who also had a very integrated feminine side. He was always cultivating both Yin and Yang. The Dying Sun The dying sun lies sadly in the far horizon, The autumn wind blows mercilessly. The yellow leaves fall From the mountain peak two streams parted unwillingly. One to the west one to the east. The sun will rise again in the morning, the leaves will be green again in the spring but must we be like the mountain stream never to meet again? Love is like a friendship caught on fire Love is like a friendship caught on fire, In the beginning a flame, very

The Yin Yang symbol is circle with two interlocking teardrop shapes in complimentary colors with a dot on each side. It’s used in popular culture, but it is a core Chinese philosophy. The Yang side represents positivity, firmness, masculinity, substantiality, brightness, day, and heat. The Yin side represents negativity, softness, femininity, insubstantiality, darkness, and coldness. Excerpt from Book 1 Chapter 28 of the Tao Te Ching: “Know the masculine, but keep to the feminine. And be a valley to the realm….If you are a valley to the realm then constant virtue will be complete and you will return to the uncarved block. The uncarved block is cut into vessels wise men use them as rulers of vessels, the great cutter does not cut away.” Read the full version here Bruce Lee could take heady philosophy and physicalize it, giving it a purpose in a human context, and illustrating it in an entertaining way. Instead of viewing the Yin and Yang as opposites, Bruce would say that they are complimentary to each other.

Bruce’s wife and Shannon’s mom Linda Lee Cadwell joins us again and she shares more stories about Bruce, telling of his spirit of generosity and charity. And for the first time she shares stories about their son Brandon Lee. When Linda first visited Hong Kong in 1965, it was a tough time for many Hong Kong people. There were a lot of very poor people and many would stand on corners asking for donations. Bruce never passed up anyone without giving some coins and saying a kind word. He had great feeling for those who were less fortunate and was always willing to give his possessions and time to those in need. For most of their marriage, Linda and Bruce never had two dimes to rub together, but Bruce was always generous with his money, time and expertise. At a time when the country was still mired in racial tension, Bruce’s studio was filled with people of all races and backgrounds. He taught movie stars and regular people in the same way. Bruce himself faced discrimination again and again, so it was of utmost im

11/27/16 is Bruce Lee’s birthday and he would have been 76 years old today. In honor of his birthday we are reposting the Be Water, My Friend episode (#2) with a special birthday message from Shannon Lee. To honor Bruce, take a moment for yourself today to listen or re-listen to this episode. It’s filled with great tips on how to center yourself, clear your head and move around obstacles you have in your life. "Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

At the request of fans, this week we discuss Bruce Lee’s approach to nutrition and fitness! Nutrition and fitness were ongoing obsessions for Bruce during his life, and we can’t cover everything, so we’ll discuss the big ideas on this episode not specific regimens. Bruce Lee was constantly experimenting on himself and seeing what worked for his body. There was cardio, weight training, martial techniques, teaching as training, nutrition from diet to supplements, meditation, and reading books. Often Bruce would be found doing several things at once, such as stretching and reading, using his time efficiently. Bruce’s diet varied, but he consistently drank protein shakes and juices from their commercial grade juicer, an unusual household appliance in the 60’s. Bruce Lee explored many diets, including one with organ meats because of their high mineral content. He drank tea every day and put supplements into his tea such as ginseng and royal jelly. He was also a big proponent of getting enough sleep, getting 8hrs a

This week we talk with Bruce Lee Superfan Steve Aoki. Steve is a Grammy nominated Electro house musician, DJ and record producer. Steve’s unique musical life is the subject of a new Netflix documentary called “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead," Steve has been a die-hard Bruce Lee devotee since he was a kid. When he was taking karate classes, and he emulated all of Bruce Lee’s moves and became obsessed with watching every Bruce Lee movie repeatedly on VHS. Aoki looked up to Bruce Lee as an Asian man who “made it” when there weren’t any strong Asian role models. Having a strong, kick-ass Asian man like Bruce Lee as a role model helped Aoki build confidence even though he experienced racism growing up in Newport Beach. As a teen, Aoki and his friends studied Bruce’s interviews and read the Tao of Jeet Kune Do together. This practice became the basis for his lifelong love for Bruce Lee’s philosophy. The Bruce Lee quote that Aoki always uses is “Be like water” and he adds “...by any means necessary.” He also uses: “Someti

“Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system.” From a very young age Bruce Lee was a rebellious thinker with a keen awareness that established systems could restrict the full development of a human being. One event that sparked this questioning was the discrimination he faced at his Kung Fu school in Hong Kong. He was ultimately kicked out of that school because he wasn’t 100% Chinese. He learned that the institution favored an arbitrary rule over his passionate devotion to study martial arts. This made no sense to him--even as a young man. Bruce Lee eventually called classical martial arts styles “organized despair” because he felt that the rigidity of the styles limited people from discovering themselves and their personal style of martial arts. “Why do you as an individual depend on thousands of years of propaganda? Ideals, principles, the ‘what should be’ leads to hypocrisy.” He said “you do not have to become a robot,” in any system. In

In this week’s episode we are finishing up our 3-part discussion of Bruce Lee’s affirmations with the 7th and final affirmation: Willpower. Affirmation 7: “Recognizing that the power of will is the supreme court over all other departments of my mind, I will exercise it daily when I need the urge to act for any purpose, and I will form habits designed to bring the power of my will into action at least once daily.” Bruce believed that, “A self-willed man has no other aim than his own growth. He values only one thing – the mysterious power in himself, which bids him live and helps him grow. His only living destiny is the silent, ungainsayable law in his own heart, which comfortable habits make it so hard to obey but which to the self-willed man is destiny and godhead.” Bruce Lee didn’t view willpower as the voice in your head forcing you into action, but more as the energy of mastery over one’s soul.Being a self-willed man is about tapping into your heart, your life force, that power within you, that thing that

This week we continue our discussion of Bruce Lee’s Affirmations with three more concepts: Emotions, Reason, and Conscience. Even though we are discussing each affirmation individually, Bruce Lee used all 7 together to help achieve wellbeing. 4th Affirmation: Emotions “Realizing that my emotions are both positive and negative, I will form daily habits which will encourage the development of the positive emotions and aid me in converting the negative emotions into some form of useful action.” 5th Affirmation: Reason “Recognizing that my positive and negative emotions may be dangerous if they are not guided to desirable ends, I will submit all my desires, aims, and purposes to my faculty of reason, and I will be guided by it in giving expression to these.” 6th Affirmation: Conscience “Recognizing that my emotions often err in their over-enthusiasm, and my faculty of reason often is without the warmth of feeling that is necessary to enable me to combine justice with mercy in my judgments, I will encourage my con