I can’t help but to get frustrated when people are so against individuality and freedom of self expression in martial art. Many would say that I hold this point of view because I am an instructor of Jeet Kune Do Concepts, and am therefore an anti-traditionalist. This is simply not true because to say you are against tradition is to create another tradition of anti- tradition!

In fact, I recently started researching Ninjutsu because I respect it’s totality as a combat art. When you learn Ninjutsu you aren’t just a student of fighting, you are a student of war. Quite simply, I like what the art has to offer.

So why do I hold firm to our right to be creative and find our own way through martial art? The answer is really self explanatory, if we don’t we are not martial artists, we are martial emulators. What is art? It is self expression. The arts we study are only “arts” to their creators if we cease to develop them and allow them to change with the times. My view is not based on my JKD background, it is based on what art is, the expression of self. If I trace your picture I am not the artist, nor should I claim to be.

I will even go as far as to say we are doing the creators of our arts a great injustice by failing to keep their expression of martial art effective. If I knew that we would all be flying around in spaceships in 10 years, why would I want to teach my students to shoot a bow while riding horseback? If I would teach it I would be sure to do it for mere historical preservation, and I would also let my students know my purpose for such methods.

This is another thing that brings me back to my favorite Chinese proverb. “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.” We go to our instructors and they keep handing us fish, and we become content with that. We want them to give us our fish! The truth of the matter is that we should be asking them to show us how to fish for ourselves.

Why don’t they teach us like this then? Well, basically because they were also students who like us wanted someone to give them the answers. In this way they wouldn’t have to put in the flight time and suffer the blood sweat, and tears of hard training. They could simply take their instructors teachings as the gospel truth, and if it ever fails them when needed they can just blame the instructors who taught them!

Bruce Lee said that “The mind is like a fertile garden in which anything that is planted, flowers or weeds, will grow.” When we have 80 years of traditional instructors just allowing their students to stick their hand out demanding the fish, that is the seed that is planted. Therefore our minds just accept that this is how it should be. A garden is cultivated over time and you must continue to cultivate it, it is a never ending process of getting rid of weeds and planting new seeds. We must also remember that the gardener still has the freedom of choice to plant the garden the way he wants. Does he want veggies or flowers (combat, or pretty forms and katas), maybe a mixture of both? It’s his garden, why should we be offended or even care?

I have my own garden, and I fish for myself and I am proud of that. I am also proud of others who do the same which is why I love W.O.N. I am even proud of those who are practicing one traditional art because they are passionate about it. What I don’t appreciate is when people start trying to force there tradition or opinions on me from the perspective that there is only one way. There is always more than one way to a destination although some ways may be more difficult to travel than others.

We must all find our own path. If you want to take the same road everyone else does that’s fine, if not that’s fine too. However it never hurts to check out the other routes to see if another path might work better for us.

I myself appreciate all arts and I feel that they all have something to offer. I like Bruce Lee’s attitude on this. “Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.” Learn to fish for yourself, plant and harvest your own garden and share your ideas even if they are not yours, someone can use them I’m sure, just don’t claim your path is the only one because in all actuality “their is no style if you understand the roots of combat.” Martial art is about discovering our weaknesses and making them stronger, it is about overcoming personal limitations and fear, and it is art so it is also about self expression. Keep this in mind and find a Way of Ninja that you can enjoy. In this way you will continue training for years and develop yourself as a human being to the fullest, in body, mind, and spirit.

Kurtis Banish

I wanted to post this video link for the members of W.O.N. to show how we blend both elements of training in Jeet Kune Do. It is also sort of a homework assignment! I want you to see if you can tell the difference between when the students are drilling and when they are sparring. By doing this you   will be more equipped to create your own drills. Many times  I have students do this type of training with equipment on so they can get a little more vicious with the sparring element.

Kurt B.

This is a subject of great importance in regards to training in the martial arts. Many martial artists unknowingly spend too much time on one and not enough on the other. Most people simply don’t recognize the difference between the two, or the importance of them both.

Bruce Lee said this in an interview… “You have natural instinct and you have control. You are to combine the two in harmony. If you have one to the extreme you will be very unscientific. If you have the other to the extreme you will become all of the sudden a mechanical man.” Bruce was simply speaking of the importance of harmonizing both self perfection along with self preservation.

To give you a better understanding of this article I must define both methods of training. Self perfection is the time you spend perfecting your technique. You might practice kata, hit focus mitts, or do drills with a partner in a cooperative manner. It can also include hitting a bag or working with a Wing Chun dummy. Any drills that involve a pattern of any sort can also be considered self perfection.

Self preservation on the other hand is focused more on application. It is not even as simple as training to strike an uncooperative opponent because you must also learn to get hit and keep your composure. Self preservation includes sparring, that’s it! However we are not talking about the type of training we see in Tae Kwon Do schools. I’m sure you’ve seen it, two Tae Kwon Do students sparring according to Tae Kwon Do rules. I’m talking about sparring at ATLEAST 60% contact, anything goes! Head shots, groin shots, take downs, submissions, and body slams are all fair game. Things like head butting, eye gouging, and biting should be simulated, and multiple opponents and weapons must also become a variable at some point. You simply have to simulate street fights so that you learn to preserve yourself in reality, not just in the dojo.

I consider both types of training to be of equal importance, but we must train them equally. Considering something important doesn’t mean your doing it! Too much time perfecting technique will lead you to becoming the “mechanical man” with no application skills. If all you do is spar you will become very “unscientific” and you will lack finesse, precision, and economy of motion.

Trying to compartmentalize your training and separate both elements all the time can be tedious, although it  produces great results! In fact it has to be done to an extent because you must learn the difference between the two. We must spend 50% of our time doing one, and 50% percent doing the other.

However, both elements can be weaved together to produce a synergistic effect. For instance, you can be working a particular drill or technique with a partner (chi sao, lop sao, Hubad, or anything with a pattern for the sake of learning). To make it more combative, either of you can break the pattern by striking outside of the limitations of the drill or pattern, and switching to sparring mode. When ready you simply find your way back into the drill. Simply alternate between drilling and sparring. Get creative and blend both elements together.

This type of training is very beneficial. It makes your self perfection element more combative, and it makes self preservation more conducive to learning rather than competing. When you equally work both elements they tend to help each other out along the way. A synergistic effect takes place, instead of  how your going to one extreme would make you either “unscientific” or “mechanical.”

Kurt B.