Bruce Lee felt that his "Way" which he labelled "Jeet Kune Do" was not a style per say but a a way in which to free oneself from clinging to constraints and patterns in which we view fighting and ourselves and that one person either gets it, or they do not. He espoused simplicity and lack of artifice; the "way" being a true expression of ones feelings. Truth in movement could not be confined in molds and patterns of movement and was not exclusive to one or another. On Martial arts styles he felt:
"To reach the masses, some sort of big organization (whether) domestic and foreign branch affiliation, is not necessary. To reach the growing number of students, some sort of pre-conformed set must be established as standards for the branch to follow. As a result all members will be conditioned according to the prescribed system. Many will probably end up as a prisoner of a systematized drill.
Styles tend to not only separate men - because they have their own doctrines and then the doctrine became the gospel truth that you cannot change. But if you do not have a style, if you just say: Well, here I am as a human being, how can I express myself totally and completely? Now, that way you won't create a style, because style is a crystallization. That way, it's a process of continuing growth.
To me totality is very important in sparring. Many styles claim this totality. They say that they can cope with all types of attacks; that their structures cover all the possible lines and angles, and are capable of retaliation from all angles and lines. If this is true, then how did all the different styles come about? If they are in totality, why do some use only the straight lines, others the round lines, some only kicks, and why do still others who want to be different just flap and flick their hands? To me a system that clings to one small aspect of combat is actually in bondage.
This statement expresses my feelings perfectly: 'In memory of a once fluid man, crammed and distorted by the classical mess.' "
So why am I putting this up here? Well, the bits I highlighted express well my feelings about the style of the website or rather the "perceived style" some have of what this website should be about. Some think that the models on her should only have tattoos and be "alternative" or whatever and those that are not don't belong on SG. BS.
To those that think that, I ask you to think again. I think you are only restraining and enslaving yourself to "style" and I think that will only lead you down a path of rigidity and inflexibility and will only take you further from appreciating beauty on all forms.
My thought was that this website was created by and for women who weren't always considered mainstream to celebrate their own beauty and individuality. Now it seems that idea has blossomed and in away "style" has been created in members minds and anyone who falls outside that norm is considered normal or not fitting into the SG "Style" or mold; and if this idea is clung too, that women "must" have tattoos and piercings to be "truly SG" then I think this website has become fixed and rigid and cannot support true expression of self.
Anyway, if you read that, thank you and your reward is... another quote from Sifu Lee!
"Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.
"To reach the masses, some sort of big organization (whether) domestic and foreign branch affiliation, is not necessary. To reach the growing number of students, some sort of pre-conformed set must be established as standards for the branch to follow. As a result all members will be conditioned according to the prescribed system. Many will probably end up as a prisoner of a systematized drill.
Styles tend to not only separate men - because they have their own doctrines and then the doctrine became the gospel truth that you cannot change. But if you do not have a style, if you just say: Well, here I am as a human being, how can I express myself totally and completely? Now, that way you won't create a style, because style is a crystallization. That way, it's a process of continuing growth.
To me totality is very important in sparring. Many styles claim this totality. They say that they can cope with all types of attacks; that their structures cover all the possible lines and angles, and are capable of retaliation from all angles and lines. If this is true, then how did all the different styles come about? If they are in totality, why do some use only the straight lines, others the round lines, some only kicks, and why do still others who want to be different just flap and flick their hands? To me a system that clings to one small aspect of combat is actually in bondage.
This statement expresses my feelings perfectly: 'In memory of a once fluid man, crammed and distorted by the classical mess.' "
So why am I putting this up here? Well, the bits I highlighted express well my feelings about the style of the website or rather the "perceived style" some have of what this website should be about. Some think that the models on her should only have tattoos and be "alternative" or whatever and those that are not don't belong on SG. BS.
To those that think that, I ask you to think again. I think you are only restraining and enslaving yourself to "style" and I think that will only lead you down a path of rigidity and inflexibility and will only take you further from appreciating beauty on all forms.
My thought was that this website was created by and for women who weren't always considered mainstream to celebrate their own beauty and individuality. Now it seems that idea has blossomed and in away "style" has been created in members minds and anyone who falls outside that norm is considered normal or not fitting into the SG "Style" or mold; and if this idea is clung too, that women "must" have tattoos and piercings to be "truly SG" then I think this website has become fixed and rigid and cannot support true expression of self.
Anyway, if you read that, thank you and your reward is... another quote from Sifu Lee!
"Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.