the bruce lee learning hour

today, i woke up hungover. naturally, i chose to sleep late, eat a big breakfast, and learn more about bruce lee.

it's something i've always been meaning to do, but have never gotten around to doing. although i have not yet watched clips on youtube along with my friends batool and the several-eyed monster, a la



















i have, however, started my preliminary research on wikipedia.

two of the more fascinating things i read were that:

• Lee could spring a 235lb (107kg) opponent 15 feet (4.6 metres) away with a 1 inch punch.
• Lee's combat movements were at times too fast to be captured on film at 24fps, so many scenes were shot in 32fps to put Lee in slow motion. Normally martial arts films are sped up.

wow! he sounds amazing, like a real-life video game. i think the 1-inch-punch thing is something that i made my blue-haired character do a few times in mortal kombat.

however, besides the physical feats, there are kernels of wisdom from him that are much more intriguing. specifically:

• "The more relaxed the muscles are, the more energy can flow through the body. Using muscular tensions to try to 'do' the punch or attempting to use brute force to knock someone over will only work to opposite effect."

i took ballet classes for years and years, and all my quality teachers talked about a related approach. in ballet, we subscribed to the theory that your muscles should be relaxed so that you can send energy in the right direction. when you throw your leg to the front, directing energy backward is stabilizing, and when you're balancing, you continuously direct energy out through all your limbs. gripping your muscles to try to hold a balance always ends in a toppling mess. ouch! and embarrassing.

if this 'opposites' approach works for both ballet and bruce lee, there must be some validity to it. i wonder if it's possible to use this philosophy for other difficult things in life besides overpowering 1-inch-punches and arabesque balances in floofy tutus and under bright lights. let's try it out!

things i find consistently challenging in life:

• waiting ages for the city bus

to apply bruce's wise quote to this particular problem, i will revise it to: "The more relaxed the muscles are, the more bus-please-come-right-now energy can flow through the body. Using muscular tensions to try to 'demand' the bus to come faster or attempting to use brute force to knock the bus into your neighborhood faster will only work to opposite effect."

• cooking things that taste good and that i would feel more comfortable serving to friends than enemies

"The more relaxed the chef's muscles are, the more the olive oil, garlic, and deliciousness can flow through the vegetables. Using muscular tensions to try to 'yummify' the vegetables or attempting to use brute force to knock deliciousness into the vegetables will only work to opposite effect."

• figuring out how to configure my wireless home network

"The more relaxed the muscles are, the more hi-speed wireless energy can flow through the studio apartment. Using individual tensions to try to 'configure' the wireless or attempting to use brute force to knock wireless functionality in the studio will only work to opposite effect."

ok, i get it. being stressed about everything probably doesn't help. i just end up frustrated, defeated, and with a crumpled set of router instructions that have missed the trash can.

aha! i am beginning to appreciate his philosophies for both their truth and versatility. now, i shall visit youtube to watch some serious asswhoopin. i will get some tea before i start to enjoy the clips i'm able to find, and this is what i will look like when i am watching them:










thank you, bruce. you are very wise and have cured my hangover headache. now come over and fix my wireless. also...nice pecs.