Bruce Lee Podcast

On this week’s episode of the Bruce Lee Podcast, Shannon’s guest is actor and Warrior leading cast member, Andrew Koji. Andrew plays Ah Sahm on the Cinemax series Warrior based on Bruce Lee’s treatment. Shannon met Andrew for the first time in his casting session for the show, which she executive produces. Andrew has done such a great job of bringing his own artistry to the role that Bruce Lee would have played without trying at all to imitate him. He showed up in his full soulfulness and genuineness and won the role. Since being cast, Shannon has had the privilege of getting to know Andrew. Andrew is a good egg, as they say, a hard worker, and a thoughtful man. That soulfulness felt in the audition is real! He pushes himself to be better in his craft and in his life, and it’s working. Andrew will be getting to share his talents in the upcoming film Bullet Train opposite Brad Pitt, but you can catch him now in season 2 of Warrior on Cinemax Friday nights. Andrew resides in London and after a few technical difficulties, they were able to get our conversation rolling. Please enjoy their chat about self reflection, their love of Warrior, trying to fill our own shoes rather than anyone else’s, the ups and downs of quarantine, his life as an actor and being part of the Bruce Lee extended family forever. Check out Andrew on Warrior season 2 on Fridays: Warrior on Cinemax Show notes and other episodes on Brucelee.com/Podcast

On episode 2 of the Bruce Lee Podcast, Shannon engages in conversation with middleweight UFC mixed martial artist Uriah Hall. Uriah and Shannon became friends last year when they met in New York at an event for Shannon’s tv show Warrior, and they hit it off immediately. Uriah is getting ready to step into the octagon with his long time idol Anderson Silva on October 31st  2020.  Considered one of the most devastatingly dynamic fighters out there, Shannon was reminded of this passage in her book: “Martial arts is a perfect metaphor for life. There are few disciplines where the stakes are so personal and so high as in a fight. Proficiency in martial arts is the practice of keeping centered and skillfully responsive under the direst of circumstances: The threat of physical harm. When you have mastery in combat, you not only meet a fight with composure and skill, you become an artist of movement, expressing yourself powerfully in the immediate, unfolding present with absolute freedom and certainty.”  Hope you enjoy this discussion with Uriah Hall about how he feels about going up against his idol in the octagon, how martial arts has shaped him, how he handles the wins and losses of life, and that, ultimately, he wants you to know that everything is going to be ok. Find out more about Uriah Hall in our show notes: BruceLee.com/podcast

On this first episode of the new edition of the Bruce Lee Podcast, Shannon engages in conversation with comedian, actor, dancer, writer, rapper, and music producer Affion Crockett. You may know Affion from his work in such projects as Def Comedy Jam, A Haunted House, the wedding ringer, or in the flow. But Shannon only knew Affion from conversations they had on social media before they sat down to talk for the first time during this episode. This conversation reminded Shannon of this passage from her book Be Water, My Friend, “In order to engage with what is happening openly, we have to be able to be fully honest and fully sincere with ourselves. We have to approach every experience head on without prejudice. If you can be fully present and honest about your experience you can begin to truly research it.” Hope you enjoy this genuine discussion about life, therapy, flow, creativity, and keeping it simple with Affion Crockett. Check out Affion’s work here: @affioncrockett on IG, FB, T Subscribe to Affion’s YouTube channel oskamill Affion Crockett: Mirror II Society Nov 1, 2020 on Peacock

FINALLY! A new season of the Bruce Lee Podcast drops OCTOBER 15th! What’s new? This season, I engage in conversations with special guests from all walks of life about their approach to living life fluidly and the wisdom they have gained along the way. In celebration of the publication of my book Be Water, My Friend and 80 years of Bruce Lee awesomeness, I continue to share my dad's philosophies as my guests and I dive deep into the challenges and joys of being human and the best practices for living a fulfilling life. Check out this brief teaser for season 2 and thanks for your patience everyone! I can’t wait to share these conversations with you!  xShannon   For updates and to listen to other episodes of the Bruce Lee Podcast visit: BruceLee.com/podcast #BruceLee #WWBLD #BruceLeePodcast

New Episode! This is a special quarantine edition podcast episode from Shannon Lee. Originally a video, it can be found on our Bruce Lee youtube channel. Shannon made this "What Would Bruce Lee Do?" video as a way to be helpful in this time we find ourselves in during the Covid-19 Pandemic. She set up an email address at WWBLD@Brucelee.com (What Would Bruce Lee Do?) and asked her followers on her Instagram to submit questions. After answering questions in her video, Shannon wanted to share it as a special podcast episode for all the podcast listeners too. She hopes that this episode is useful and that her father’s words are comforting and inspiring during this time. We hope that everyone is healthy and safe wherever you are. For our show notes and to listen to other episodes of the Bruce Lee Podcast visit: BruceLee.com/podcast #BruceLee #WWBLD #BruceLeePodcast

In this special episode Shannon and Sharon respond to questions from listeners wondering “What Would Bruce Lee Do?” With a mixture of Bruce Lee philosophy and personal experiences, Shannon and Sharon discuss choosing career paths, clarifying Bruce Lee’s philosophy on goals, how to share spiritual experiences, and seeking validation from those you admire. This is an applied philosophy podcast and these listener questions are real life examples of when we can apply Bruce Lee’s philosophy to our lives. Hopefully these listener questions and Shannon and Sharon's responses are helpful to all of our listeners, especially when they wonder, “What Would Bruce Lee Do?”   Go to our show notes to read the full notes of listener questions and responses from Shannon and Sharon: BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com  

The “On Guard” position is what Bruce Lee called his resting stance in JKD. This is the optimal stance from which movement can initiate. The On Guard stance can be used as a metaphor for having the proper stance and orientation in life. With this stance you are poised to initiate movement in your life. Bruce’s On Guard stance was a strong side forward stance. For Bruce, he wanted his strongest weapon out front. His stance was a natural step apart and his rear heel was lifted like a “coiled snake, ready to spring."  “The on-guard position is that position most favorable to the mechanical execution of all the total techniques and skills. It allows complete relaxation, yet, at the same time, gives a muscle the tension most favorable to quick reaction time. The on-guard position must, above all, be a ‘proper spiritual attitude’ stance.” Bruce believed that this position was the most favorable for the execution of action. What is the stance for you that gives you a feeling of centeredness, knowingness, and confidence, that would allow you to move through your life with the most ease and power? The way that we stand and move about physically in this world projects and broadcasts our ideas and spiritual mindsets. Our body is an expression of our spirit. The on guard position is, “A simple and effective organization of oneself mentally and physically.” What would it take for you to be organized in your mind and your body so that you can move through your life most easily? “Balance is the most important consideration in the on guard position.” “The position adopted should be the one found to give maximum ease and relaxation, combined with smoothness of movement at all times.” It takes a lot of self-work, self-discovery, and practice to understand what your effective ready position is and how you operate best. “Proper posture is a matter of effective interior organization of the body which can be achieved only by long and well-disciplined practice.” It does not matter how well polished your performance is on the outside, if you are not in harmony and balance with the spirit inside then you will become depleted and break down. It takes a lot of effort to keep up a performance. “Fundamental positioning is the foundation.” What is your foundation? Where is your set point from where you start and stop? You can start by examining how you begin and end your days. “Practice instantaneous explosion from neutrality and retain neutrality in commitment, all into one constant smooth flow.” “Practice constantly to apply ALL tools from the on-guard position and return to the on-guard position with all possible rapidity. Shorten the gap time between position and execution more and more. Ease, speed, relay.” It is impossible to always be in a state of neutrality in whatever we encounter in life, there will be times where circumstances knock us out of our neutral zone or we are required to have fast action. But it is how quickly we can return to our neutral foundation that is important, and then we can reflect on what happened with more clarity. If it takes you a long time to return to your foundation then that is important information to have about yourself. “Do not be tense, but ready; not thinking, but not dreaming; not being set, but flexible. It is being wholly and quietly alive, aware, and alert; ready for whatever may come.”   Notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

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 Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

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 react to them. Your mental attitude determines what you make of it, either a stepping stone or a stumbling block.” We can complain about the tasks that we do not enjoy, but we enjoy the results. Such as not wanting to do laundry, but enjoying having clean clothes, or not wanting to go to the gym, but wanting to be more physically fit.  In order to maintain good health, where good health is the health of the soul, it is going to require us complete the tasks which stepping-stones towards the bigger picture of what we want. The aesthetics of physical health are heavily influenced by our society, but even though those ideals are what we think health looks like, if it is not total wellbeing of mind, body, and spirit it is not true health. It is important to take stock of how we feel physically, mentally, and spiritually on our health journeys. Be sure to ask yourself, “What is healthy for me?” Find out what works for your individual health instead of following along with what everyone else is doing.  Pay attention to what your body is telling you because it will tell you what it needs. Do not listen to just what your mouth craves, but what your whole being needs. Full Notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

“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 feeling in that moment becomes useful information about yourself. When you are not focused just on your emotions, but are sensing with your whole body, you are more open to the use of your intuition. “Don’t think – FEEL. Feeling exists here and now when not interrupted and dissected by ideas and concepts. The moment we stop analyzing and let go, we can start really seeing, feeling – as one whole. There is no actor or the one being acted upon but the action itself. I stayed with my feeling then – and I felt it to the full without naming it that. At last, the I and the feeling merged to become one. The I no longer feels the self to be separated from the you, and the whole idea of taking advantage of getting something out of something becomes absurd. To me, I have no other self (not to mention thought) that the oneness of things of which I was aware at the moment.” Bruce Lee is saying in this quote that if we feel what is happening in the now, and we do not over analyze it and we stay present, then we can truly feel the whole of the experience. Then, we feel the whole experience instead of segmenting the parts of the experience we want to analyze. If we can do this without judgment, then what we are feeling and experiencing becomes one thing. We are no longer separate from what is happening around us because we are fully present in the experience. “Freedom requires great sensitivity.” To actualize yourself, to truly know yourself, you have to feel yourself. “It is futility the maintaining of a façade to act in one way on the surface when actually experiencing something quite different inside. Being one’s self leads to real relationships and acceptance of self leads to change.” In our current culture, we often have an automated response when someone asks us how we are or how we are feeling. We will say that we are “fine,” “okay,” or “good”, even when we are not any of those things. We hide our true feelings behind a façade of niceties because it is easier. It is harder to fake it when we are asked if we are truly “fine,” and by diving deeper we can have a more meaningful exchange and conversation, which can be very nourishing. “We do not analyze, we integrate.” In order to integrate, we have to let in the information and experience. If we analyze, then we are keeping the experience at a distance. Thinking is linear and feeling is expansive. A whole universe opens up when you feel into experiences. Feeling into something does not mean that you are hanging out in an exposed, vulnerable space, but instead it can help you decide how to navigate different situations. Emotions are clues to things we need to examine more closely. “To express oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, is very hard to do.” Full Notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com