"Take what is useful"

"Take what is useful" is a famous quote from Bruce Lee. It is a great piece of advice. In fact, many martial artists these days are taking pieces of useful techniques and using them. The "take what is useful" quote is a direct attack on another phrase Bruce Lee coined. That phrase was "classical mess."

Now, "classical mess" to me means, blindly following a process and protocol. Tens of thousands of martial artists do this continually. Why? Because it is easy to do. The martial artist doesn't have to think. Many martial artists don't want to self inspect, they are looking for the next best parlor trick.

So, "taking what is useful" is a very good thing, but if you want to go deeper into your art you must self inspect. You, as a martial artist must understand your strengths and weaknesses and build around them accordingly. This means understanding your physical attributes and your martial mindset. It's hard to self inspect. However, if you don't, just pulling useful techniques off the shelf will only get you partially complete in your art.

My concept of Martial Arts Fusion, the class I teach is built around:

- A solid use of technical martial skills, drawing from a variety of disciplines.
- The skill sets developed by my students will be different in each of my students, based upon their physical attributes and martial mindset.
- The concept of flow and proper body mechanics in chaining become vital to continued development.

I look forward to sharing these with you and look forward to seeing you on thursday nights. All are welcome.