Bruce Lee Podcast

For Bruce Lee the notion of compassion extends beyond the common definition that compassion is “allowing ourselves to be moved by suffering and wanting to alleviate or prevent suffering.”  Bruce Lee was a huge admirer of Kuan Yin, the goddess of compassion and mercy. Kuan Yin shows up in many different cultures in East Asia. In Bruce’s home he had a huge, full-size statue of Kuan Yin and as a kid Shannon used to sit in her lap. Bruce had a great relationship with Kuan Yin and he believed in compassion because he believed humankind as One Family. He believed in living in relationship and understanding of our surroundings and everyone you come into contact with, living the oneness of things. Compassion is acceptance of others for who they are and where they are. It’s freedom from judgment and acceptance of your whole experience. Bruce Lee was an integrated masculine and feminine energy. As an esteemed athlete in a highly masculine practice of martial arts, Bruce balanced that with his inclusion of Kuan Yin in h

“It’s not what you give, it’s how you give it.” Bruce Lee is talking about how you approach life, how you show-up in the world. It’s not what you’re doing, but how you’re approaching it. This concept is about effort, quality, and injecting your heart into what you do. Bruce was a big believer in putting in the training, the hours of practice, and applying effort towards his goals. He also believed in natural action, being in the flow, and not being in opposition to life. Bruce believed in sincerity, with your work coming from your heart.  When Bruce Lee came to the US when he was 18, he could speak some English, but was not fluent. He really wanted to communicate and have facility with the English language in a way that he did not have. Bruce put in the effort and applied himself learning the grammar and syntax of English. He also wanted to be able to communicate colloquially, and practiced this through telling jokes. Being able to understand humor in another language helps you to communicate in a more natura

Bruce Lee referred to Natural Action in different ways. He would write about “spontaneous action” or “naturalism” or used a Taoist term “wu wei” which means non-action or non-doing. From Wikipedia: Wu Wei “In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu explains that beings (or phenomena) that are wholly in harmony with the Tao behave in a completely natural, uncontrived way. The goal of spiritual practice for the human being is, according to Lao Tzu, the attainment of this purely natural way of behaving, as when the planets revolve around the sun.” This grand, celestial action of the planets, the sun, stars, moons; it is a concert of beauty and movement happening naturally with no force or effort. The idea of natural action is action in one’s life without forcing. Bruce talked frequently about the Tao, and a nice synonym for the Tao is nature or the natural world. Bruce Lee talked often about not being in opposition to nature. Our culture is mind-heavy. We are always trying to hack, force, speed up this natural action. Sometim

Shannon met former Kristen Ulmer at the Spartan Race in Lake Tahoe. Kristen is the author of The Art of Fear: Why Conquering Fear Won’t Work and What to Do Instead. In this episode she shares her journey with fear and discusses how we deal with fear. Kristen Ulmer started out as a professional athlete, she was the best female big mountain extreme skier in the world, a status she kept for 12 years. She risked her life on a pair of skis, jumping off cliffs and skiing “you fall you die” descents. Kristen was voted “Most Fearless Woman in America” by the outdoor industry beating women in all sports and disciplines, not just skiing.  While Kristen felt fearless, she realized after looking under her everyday reality that fear was with her in every single moment of every day and in every decision she made. She came to this realization after retiring her ski career in 2003 and studying with a Zen master for 15 years. Kristen started off as a mindset sports coach and currently is a fear specialist. Now Kristen’s whole

“All in all, the goal of my planning and doing is to find the true meaning in life – peace of mind.” Achieving peace of mind was Bruce Lee’s ultimate goal. Peace of mind is something that we all desire, whether we know it or not. We want to feel peaceful so that we can enjoy life fully. Having peace of mind does not mean that you are removed from your everyday life, but instead you are living in a calm state while fully engaged in life. Shannon shares that she has, at times, achieved peace of mind, but that it is very difficult to live your life constantly in that state. This is because there is always something that is going to come and shake things up in life. For Shannon, peace of mind can come in the form of acceptance, just accepting where she is in life right now, that she is in process, and that it is enough. Especially when things are difficult and challenging, being able to step back, observe, and reflect, helps Shannon accept where she is in the moment. This reflection and acceptance helps bring pea

For our end of year episode we asked our listeners to submit questions they wanted us to answer or advice they wished they could receive from Bruce Lee. We had many, many questions submitted and we noticed that many dealt with finding motivation when you’re stuck. People were feeling stuck and unmotivated in a range of topics from their work and jobs, to dealing with injuries and feeling isolated. From listener Anthony: “I’ve had an empty feeling in me for as long as I can remember. It’s not what I would call depression, more like an unmotivated feeling. Like a “nothing really matters” feeling. It’s been with me since early years (I’m 20 now) and I’ve had problems feeling any belonging. Bruce has written about this type of thing. How loneliness is an opportunity to find yourself. I was wondering, were there any rituals Bruce would find himself doing when things were rough?. For example, when he was struggling to land genuine movie roles that weren’t discriminatory to him in his early years. Best wishes from I

“It’s not about what happens; it’s about your reaction to what happens that matters.” This is a big Bruce Lee concept and a big concept for moving through life. Sometimes we use what happens in a situation as justification for our extreme reaction. How you react to anything says more about you and where you are in that moment than any of the events that led to your response. It could be that you had been having a bad day all day and then this one incident sparked a huge reaction from you. Or it could be that this event poked some small part of you where this fear, anger, or insecurity exists and that provoked a huge reaction from you that is not truly related to the situation. The truth is that it is never about the incident it is about the response. “I have learned that being challenged means one thing and that is what is your reaction to it? How does it affect you? If you are secure with yourself, you treat it lightly – just like today the rain is going on strong, but tomorrow, baby, the sun is going to com

This episode we talked with our final Podcast Challenge winner, Dina, who called us all the way from Germany! Dina is a recent fan of Bruce Lee. She grew up in East Germany, the German Democratic Republic, and she never heard anything about Bruce Lee. She thinks Bruce Lee wasn’t mentioned in the GDR because he had “made it” in the Western world and people from Western countries were not talked about in the GDR. Dina just discovered Bruce Lee last year when she and her boyfriend watched “Way of the Dragon,” last December. Her boyfriend grew up in Western Germany has been a huge fan of Bruce Lee since he was young. Finally, he convinced Dina to watch a Bruce Lee movie. She thought the movie was really fantastic and it touched her. The humor in the film surprised and delighted her since she sat down expecting a serious action film. Bruce Lee was like Superman, but without any special effects. It was so impressive and she could see that everything was real, the muscles, the fast moves, something you can only achi

“Many people are still bound by tradition; when the elder generation says ‘no’ to something, then these other people will strongly disapprove of it as well. If the elders say that something is wrong, then they will believe that it is wrong. They seldom use their mind to find out the truth and seldom express sincerely their real feeling. The simple truth is that these opinions on such things as racism and traditions, which are nothing more than a ‘formula’ laid down by these elder people’s experience. As we progress and time changes, it is necessary to reform this formula.” Bruce is talking specifically about racism, but this quote can be applied in a broader sense to old traditions and stagnations we face in life. Bruce encountered racism and stale traditions in both the martial arts world and in Hollywood, and decided that he had to create his own formula for moving through those worlds. When is it time to reform the formula? How do we know when a formula is not working? You can tell when something is not wo

“To hell with circumstances, I create opportunities.” Patience was something that Bruce Lee tried to cultivate. His wife Linda said that he would get very frustrated by other people not being able to match his timeline or if they would say they would do something and then not do it. Bruce was in dynamic motion all of the time. He had follow through so when others did not he would get frustrated. This quote starts with a frustrated, fed up tone, but ends with a proactive, positive tone. It is about not being a victim of circumstances and creating your own solution. Bruce offered a unique talent to Hollywood, he was a superb martial artist, actor, and writer, but he was dealing with a racist 1960s Hollywood. He was not getting the opportunities his talent deserved because of the color of his skin. Bruce could have kept slowly chipping away at the establishment to get to where he wanted to be, but instead he decided to figure out how to fast track his way to the lead roles he wanted. This led Bruce to move to Ho

This episode we sit down with another Bruce Lee Podcast Challenge Winner, Mahmoud Hamed! He shares with us his experience with the challenge and how approaching life from a place of love has deepened his daily interactions. Mahmoud first discovered the podcast out of a desire to learn more about Bruce Lee and reengage with the interest he had in Bruce Lee when he was growing up. Mahmoud knew of Bruce Lee the martial artist and actor, and over the years he acquired that interest in Bruce again, but wanted to know “What more can I learn about Bruce Lee, what more did he have to tell us?” After doing a quick search Mahmoud was excited to find the podcast and excited to see that Bruce’s legacy was being upheld and showcased in a meaningful way. When the Podcast Challenge was announced, Mahmoud was impressed with the format, the affirmations, and the introspection the challenge promoted. Mahmoud’s five affirmations: Love Presence Knowledge Purpose Wellbeing Mahmoud’s Wellbeing Affirmation: Complete wellbeing in

For this episode we talked with another Bruce Lee Podcast Challenge winner, Mary C. If you’ve been following the Bruce Lee Challenge, then you know that we couldn’t just pick one winner due to all the wonderful submissions we received. Mary was kind enough to join us and share her experience participating in the challenge. The Podcast Challenge came to Mary at a very crucial time in her life. She is in a career transition and since 2009 she had been doing her business as a public speaking coach and trainer part time, but at the beginning of this year she decided to do it full time. One aspect that she focuses on with her clients is the “inner critic” and she used the challenge as an excuse to document her own inner critic. The part of the challenge that Mary found the most difficult was the “Letting others be” because you couldn’t say anything negative about other or yourself. Mary wanted to delve into why human beings default to negative thoughts: “As human beings we have a tendency to want to survive. Wanti

We had a chance to talk with another Bruce Lee Podcast Challenge winner, Bryce Young, who came all the way from Montana to record with us. Bryce shared with us his experience doing the challenge, how he found the podcast during a difficult time, and how participating in the podcast challenge changed his life. Below is an excerpt of our show notes, to read our full notes for this episode go to BruceLee.com/Podcast Bryce first found the Bruce Lee Podcast during a very tough time in his life. At the time, Bryce was living with his parents in Texas because his dad was dying and Bryce moved there to help with hospital visits and supporting his parents. The applied philosophies from the podcast really helped Bryce through this trying time in his life. From Bryce’s podcast challenge entry he shares:  “My cousin gave me the advice that I should only do so as long as I can still be my glowing positive self, because if I couldn’t take care of that, I wouldn’t be able to take care of my parents very well. And that’s whe

“Do not pray for an easy life; pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” Sometimes this quote is misunderstood—out of context it seems like Bruce is encouraging you to toughen up because winter is coming. But these words are not about praying for the strength to fight against a hard life. Within the context of Bruce Lee’s philosophy of harmony, the “strength” Bruce is referring to is one of calm and flow. An easy life is not something you get because you pray for it or fight for it, the ease comes when you practice self-actualization and achieve peace of mind. If you only look at Bruce Lee as the ripped warrior, it is easy to misinterpret this quote to be about getting tough and developing physical strength to defend against a difficult life. When you understand who Bruce Lee was as a total human being, you know he could not have had the negative mentality that life was a constant struggle to be defended against. Bruce Lee was about keeping the mind on the positive and being in the flow. Endurance is

“Defeat is a state of mind; no one is very defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality. To me, defeat in anything is merely temporary, and its punishment is but an urge for me to exert greater effort to achieve my goal. Defeat simply tells me that something is wrong in my doing; it is a path leading to success and truth.” Bruce defines defeat not as a mistake or failure, but as an attitude of giving up or a depressive attitude, a loss of energy. We all get knocked down and experience moments where things go wrong. It is important to process your feelings about that failure, but you cannot dwell there. Failure is merely temporary and if you accept defeat then you stay knocked down instead of getting back up. You must accept defeat to be truly defeated. The answer to your problem is within the problem itself. What is it you’re trying to do? Why weren’t you able to do it? Was it something that was within your power to control or was it outside of your control? What can you learn from this? When somethin

Director John Alan Thompson joined us to discuss the film project we worked on together, “One Family.” John discovered he wanted to be a filmmaker at 15. A video production class in high school and seeing “Apocalypse Now” propelled John to start experimenting with filmmaking. His teacher told him about a competition that AFI was hosting for students, and his senior year John created a short film that ended up placing. After that first taste, John dove into filmmaking. John still mostly works in short formats, creating music videos, commercials, and short films, including the short film he made with the Bruce Lee Family Company “One Family.” This project came to John during a time when he was feeling creatively depleted and filled doubt about some life choices. When he started reading Bruce’s philosophy, it was exactly what he needed to hear at that moment in his life. John absorbed from Bruce that fundamental part of living is finding that true essence inside of you and expressing it to the world. For the “On

We had a great time talking with Bruce Lee Podcast Challenge winner Michael R. about his experience with the challenge. Michael first discovered Bruce Lee when he was 12 and first started studying martial arts at a martial arts school. An older student recommended “The Art of Expressing the Human Body.” After that, Michael was hooked on Bruce Lee. He discovered the Bruce Lee Podcast when he was looking for podcasts to listen to as he was remodeling his family’s apartment. Struggling with depression due to lack of job opportunity, Michael knew he wanted to make a change in his life, but felt trapped. When the challenge was announced, he decided that this was an opportunity to reframe how he perceived his world and that would give him a way out. Michael shared with us a few of his affirmations: Recognizing that emotions are both positive and negative and that I can select how I act with their influence, I will dedicate my reasoning to draw out and accentuate the positive emotions and transfigure the negative in

This episode we had the pleasure of chatting with another Bruce Lee Podcast Challenge winner, Katrina R. Katrina knew about Bruce Lee as a kung fu master, but it wasn’t until she was browsing youtube one day that she came across an interview Shannon did with NextShark. This interview sparked her interest in learning more about Bruce’s philosophy. After finding the podcast, the Bruce Lee Podcast Challenge popped up and she decided to do the challenge and found it to be extremely rewarding. Katrina is a single mom who works 40+ hours a week and didn’t get out much. Her mom passed away suddenly a few years ago, and Katrina just put away her feelings and stopped living her life. For this challenge Katrina decided to take a big step towards loving herself again. Her affirmations she repeated every morning revolved around self-love. “Some of them as simple as "love yourself", "always look at problems as lessons, not mistakes" and "everyday is only as good as you make it" One of Katrina’s affirmations was to ask her

“The times of drastic change are times of passions. We can never be fit and ready for that which is wholly new, we have to adjust ourselves and every radical adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem. We undergo a test, we have to prove ourselves. A population subjected to drastic change is thus a population of misfits and misfits live and breathe in an atmosphere of passion.” When you hear the word “misfit” it usually has a negative connotation, but Bruce Lee recasts misfits as unique individuals who are moved by their passions as he was. These misfits are passionate about ideas which society hasn’t created space for yet, so the misfits are doing pioneering work by exploring their passion. Bruce Lee was a misfit in many respects. No one knew what martial arts were in the west, no one had seen an Asian man represent masculinity like Bruce, he was mixed race, and he was in an interracial relationship when it was illegal. Bruce received much negative feedback for his misfit way of living life, but that didn’t disco

“Research your own experience. Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is essentially your own.” The idea of constantly researching and refining your own experience was key to Bruce Lee’s way of life. When Bruce decided to break away from traditional martial arts, he wanted to know what really works in combat and how to train your body for real conflicts. Bruce only incorporated what was useful to him and left the rest behind. This quote is the recipe for finding your path in this world and the first step is “Research your own experience.” Be neutral, be the researcher, understand what’s going on with you from a neutral place. Notice what you normally gravitate towards and notice what you enjoy in the tasks you already do in life. Take note and journal your experience. The second step is: “Absorb what is useful.” After researching and noticing, pull out the things that resonate with you and that are working for you. These are the things that you keep and take with you. The things that bring us