Bruce Lee and movement
Movement is art. Be an artist.
“Martial art, like any art, is an expression of the human being. Some expressions have flavor, some are logical (perhaps under certain required situations), but most martial arts are the mere performing of a sort of mechanical repetition of a fixed pattern.
This is most unhealthy because to live is to express and to express you have to create. Creation is never merely repetition. Remember well, my friend, that all styles are man-made and man is always more important than any style. Style concludes. Man grows.
So martial art is ultimately an athletic expression of the dynamic human body. More important yet is the person who is there expressing his own soul. Yes, martial art is an unfolding of what one is - his anger, his fears - and yet, under all these natural human tendencies (which we all experience, after all) a “quality” martial artist can - in the midst of all these commotions - still be himself.
And it is not a question of winning or losing, but it is a question of being what is at that moment and being wholeheartedly involved with that particular movement and doing one’s best. The consequence is left to whatever will happen.
Therefore to be a martial artist also means to be an artist of life. Since life is an ever-going process, one should flow in this process and to discover, to actualize, and to expand oneself."
- Bruce Lee, Jeet Kune Do: Bruce Lee's Commentaries on the Martial Way (1970)
I love Bruce Lee. Not just as a martial artist, or an innovator in the field of action movies, but as a philosopher. He packs so much into every paragraph:
“Most martial arts are the mere performing of a sort of mechanical repetition of a fixed patterns.”
“All styles are man-made and man is always more important than any style.”
“Since life is an ever-going process, one should flow in this process and to discover, to actualize, and to expand oneself.”
There is something so comforting, yet at the same time humbling about hearing someone so eloquently speak the words I struggle to form—and he did so more than a half-century ago. He might have been speaking about the art of fighting, but the word “movement” could be substituted for “martial arts” without batting an eye:
“So (movement) is ultimately an athletic expression of the dynamic human body.”
“…but most (movements) are the mere performing of a sort of mechanical repetition of a fixed pattern.”
“Therefore, to be a (movement) artist also means to be an artist of life.”
You might find the last one to be a bit of a stretch, as many casual (or even serious) exercisers don’t consider it to be in any way an artistic pursuit, but I think that final paragraph in particular, is where Mr. Lee’s words ring the most true:
“Since life is an ever-going process, one should flow in this process and to discover, to actualize, and to expand oneself.”
In movement, be it exercise, dance, martial arts, et al, we have an opportunity to experience the physical component of life, and through it, how to expand, actualize, and learn more about ourselves. Movement can be a wonderful opportunity to experience being in a body, and it can be a beautiful chance to do the things that a body can do: create, express, and discover.
The trick is to discover a way to practice movement in a way that feels fulfilling to you, not an arbitrary set of exercises done out of obligation. Just like art, it can take many forms, and the form that speaks to you often is the right one to pursue, whether for a day or for a lifetime.