Carpe Diem

What is it about Jeet Kune Do that separates itself from other martial arts?  Could it be its simplicity, directness, and its non-classical characteristics?  How about that it's only geared for street fighting and NOT for competition fighting?  Or maybe because Jeet Kune Do derived from the man himself, Bruce Lee?  So what's the answer?  I'm still trying to figure that out but one thing is for certain, this artless art will probably save my life and most likely other people lives.  When I decided to study martial arts, my only concern was one thing and one thing only...self-defense.  It's a crazy world out there and I was not going to gamble with the fact that nothing will happen.  Let's be realistic, ANYTHING can happen.  I needed someone to teach me how to defend myself PROPERLY and when I did find that someone, everything changed.

365 days ago, I knew I was going to get into something serious when I walked through the door of Sifu Richard Torres' school.  Can you believe it?  It has been a year since I've started to train and study Jeet Kune Do and to my surprise, I'm still eager to keep on learning.  Ever since my first lesson with Sifu Torres, my mind has been (here comes the cliché) an empty cup.  I have learned a lot from this man and I do mean a lot. Before my training, the book "Tao of Jeet Kune Do" was just a book that had Bruce Lee's writings and philosophy in it.  To be real honest, I never really thought that much of what was in the book.  The philosophy was the only thing that captured my interest.  Silly of me to think that, right?  You know what's funny?  Whenever I ask Sifu Torres questions about Jeet Kune Do, he would always go behind his desk, pull out the "Tao" book and showed me the answer I was looking for.  I was so dumbstruck and thanks to the "cause of my ignorance", I will never take the "Tao" book for granted ever again.  (This is the part where I take my palm and slap it against my forehead). 

Months passed, and whenever I left Sifu's school, I was always enlightened.  It's like opening my eyes for the first time and actually saw how unarmed combat was from a simplistic point of view.  Even though I lived an hour and something minutes away from Sifu's school, I was determined to learn what was being taught.  Never did I once complain about the drive because it was all worth it.  After every class, I was eager to go home and practice.  I had always something new to train for during the week I wasn't at the school.  Sifu's guidance led me to embrace the 5 Ways of Attack, 3 types of fighters, the Elusive Lead, and so on and so forth.  Body mechanics was something I thought I would never have to learn.  Sifu pointed out that body mechanics is ESSENTIAL for unarmed combat.  Understanding was easy to enough but I wouldn't really fully understand it if I tested it out myself.  ONE of the ways to do that was to spar. 

Other than Sifu giving me advice, Sifu's student instructors give me advice as well.  A few weeks into sparring, one of Sifu's student instructors, Tom, told me something that I would never forget:  "Try committing to an attack rather than worrying about getting hit."    Thanks to him, I always kept that in mind whenever I spar.  Before Jeet Kune Do, I've only sparred ONCE in my last school.  Believe me, it's NOTHING compared of how we all spar in Sifu's school.  I mean, Sifu's other students spar hard with great efficiency.  I look up to ALL of them.  NO joke.   All of them inspire me to train harder.  They stay real honest about my progression in Jeet Kune Do and because of that; I consider all of them friends.

One of the best experiences I had with Sifu Torres and the students of the Jeet Kune Do Martial Arts Institute was when we all traveled to Seattle, Washington in Late July of 2008 for the 35th death anniversary of Bruce Lee.  When we were all paying our respects at Bruce Lee's grave, I felt that we were all but ONE family.  During those three days in Seattle, I felt that I've known Sifu and his students forever.  We all had a wonderful time and we all trained with the best martial artists within the JKD community.  I was deeply honored in being in the presence with the likes of Ted Wong and Jesse Glover.  Just being side by side with those who practice JKD or the ones that follow Bruce Lee's philosophy under one roof made me proud to study the way of the intercepting fist.   I would never trade any of those moments for anything.  I was glad that I was there with Sifu, my classmates, and everyone who attended the event.

On August 16, 2008, Sifu Richard Torres tested my knowledge of my basic tools in Jeet Kune Do.  All I can say is that I HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO.  Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do was being passed on to me and quite frankly during the test, I didn't want to screw up.  In the book "Jeet Kune Do:  Bruce Lee's Commentaries on the Martial Way", page 392 with the title "Parting Thought-In My Own Process", Bruce Lee states:

"Yes, I have grown quite a bit since the day when I first became a martial artist
and am still growing along the process...."

Needless to say, after the test, I realize that I had to re-evaluate the way I train and then train harder.  It IS about growth.  I realize that I am still progressing and I cannot force myself to progress to where I want to be.  Everything needs to be natural.  Like I said...again...I HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO.  Sifu Torres has been a great teacher to me and I feel that I want to be at least a decent student to him.  He has given me a chance to test my basic skills and I truly thank him for that.  Sifu has been honest with my progression since day one and is truly a great teacher in my book.

So we go back to the question,
What is it about Jeet Kune Do that separates itself from other martial arts?  If you don't know by now, Man made art, so Man is important rather than why certain martial arts separates itself from other martial arts.  If you really get down to it in a technical sort of way, a punch is just a punch and a kick is just a kick right?  Bruce Lee saw that.  Bruce knew that there is no such thing as Chinese way of fighting, Japanese way of fighting, or WHATEVER way of fighting.  Catch my drift?

I would like to thank Sifu for a wonderful and enlightening year of his teaching.  Obviously, I wouldn't know all the things I would know now because of him.   His student instructors and his students made me feel that I can really actually progress and not be afraid to make mistakes.  Again, it's all about growth.  I'm looking forward to see what's next.  At this moment, I am going to seize this day, my year anniversary of studying Jeet Kune Do, and give thanks to my teacher and to my classmates for helping me along the way.  I would have never gotten this far without them.  Here's to another 365 days, Sifu.