JEET KUNE DO weds PARKOUR...

There are many things that we bring in to our life un-necessarily. And we can not avoid them.

If we get a packet of milk, what are we actually targeting? Milk of-course…isn’t it? And after consuming it, what do we do with that packet which contained milk? We just throw it away. But does that mean that the packet was completely useless. No. It had a purpose – to carry the milk in it for the consumers.

That’s exactly what my point is. There are various things that we incorporate in our daily lives, because they help us in achieving what we aspire for. Few of them, later become obsolete and hence we just discard them. We don’t carry them along with us, for the whole life. Failed love affairs are also the examples of it. Most of us just move on with life, thereby leaving their previous lover.

Life is a mixed bag of good & bad things. It is a combination of few of our strengths and rest of our weaknesses. It carries successes along with our failures too. And most of our actions are useful, whereas others are just not beneficial.

And we don’t really need a specialist to come and tell us to grab good things, carry your strengths, live on your successes and absorb what is useful. That’s sheer common sense. Isn’t it? And that’s what Jeet Kune Do (JKD) teaches us – to use our common sense…. It has one simple premise – Absorb what is useful.

Unfortunately, Jeet Kune Do is being taught by many Martial Art Centers as an Art or as a form. Just because JKD was invented by Bruce Lee, who later became an iconic figure in the world of martial arts, many money minting folks laced up their shoes to teach JKD as forms. However, JKD is formless…

Unlike other martial arts, it does not have a set pattern/technique of attacking, defending, grappling and moving. And there is a reason to it…JKD is not a form, but a psychology. It’s a state of mind which can never be judged merely by efficient delivery of punches and kicks. There is more to it…

Imagine, a person trains himself in Kung Fu…but in a real life situation, he is supposed to jump from a 10 feet wall for his defense. That’s the only alternative he has got. Is jumping from a 10 feet wall, that very easy? No…it’s not…until we break that mental block from within and learn its technical know how. What’s the use of an art which fails to protect us in such situations? The forms which Kung Fu possesses are mostly useless when we face a real life combat situation. And why just Kung Fu, there are other martial arts too, which become useless somewhere or the other. A Taekwondo specialist would always use flying kicks but would never know how to kick lower parts of his opponent. Where as an Aikido specialist would just use his palms/wrist to knock his opponent but would fail when his palm/wrist gets injured.

There are N number of forms, punches, kicks, blocks and carats which do not hold good in one or the other situation. Here we need to use our common sense and deliver only those actions which would hold good. Otherwise, we are just wasting our time and energy which can be fruitfully utilized by creating other situations.

One must know almost everything to be a super human to deliver every action with finesse. However, almost all martial arts are not so very complete by their nature. One must learn atleast five to seven different martial arts so as to combine them to chalk out his own way of actions. Absorb what is useful in a particular martial art and then use it aptly where ever you can. Every human body is different. And based on the strengths and weaknesses of each human body including his own, the JKD specialist analyzes and delivers his movements. So no…it’s not just attacking an opponent in a set technique of punching, but to use brain efficiently and quickly along with his body to deliver an action that suites the most, in a particular situation. It’s just that the action which is derived from various martial arts needs to be well versed with full dexterity.

Presently, I know nothing in the field of martial arts. However, I have that passion in me to be a JKD expert, right from my childhood. But before re-venturing into it, I must achieve a (long-lost) fitness level where in I can learn various martial arts and derive my own strategically researched way of movements. I am extremely desirous and have my plans to learn Muay Thai, Aikido, Taekwondo, Ninjutsu, Shotokaan, Gojuriu, Win Chun and may be Kung Fu & Gymnastics, so that I can absorb what is useful to me in each particular art and then use them in my own JKD style which would be my customized version of movements. I do not intend to be a trainer or an instructor but would definitely dedicate my life to explore martial arts to the fullest.

Lately, I have been associated with Parkour. The photographs featuring in this blog is a combination of martial arts and Parkour that we learn from Mr. Gunjan Sharma (the lean guy with black and white T-shirt). As per Gunjan, Parkour is both a discipline with the aim of moving from one point to another as smoothly, efficiently and quickly as possible using principally the abilities of the human body, but is also built on a philosophical premise, perhaps more similar to martial arts than to a sport such as gymnastics. Parkour's focus is on how any obstacle is dealt with, whether the obstacle is either physical or mental.

If martial art is to fight…then Parkour is to flight. Parkour practitioners move not only as rapidly as they can, but also in the most direct and efficient way possible. Efficiency also involves avoiding injuries, both short and long term, part of why Parkour’s unofficial motto is – TO BE AND TO LAST. Those who are skilled at this activity normally have an extremely keen Spatial Awareness.

There might be few situations where in one has to run for his self defense. Now Running can never be straight when it comes to reality. There are several obstacles that come by when we are running. Like a dead end, or a car/truck, a building, a pool and so on and so froth. Parkour teaches me how to overcome these obstacles by clearing the mental block, using spatial judgment and developing expertise on technicalities of jumping and climbing in a real life environment.

Right from twisting/curling our body in air to rolling it while landing, Parkour has numerous action movements that help in moving efficiently and freely. If cat walk is something to walk on horizontal pipes, then flips are plain elevated jumps which have more variety to it…like side flips, back flips and front flips. And vaults and somersaults make it so exciting that one can not control himself from doing Parkour instead of just walking plainly. He he he…

Of course, after mastering Parkour to a satisfactory level, I would analyze how few Parkour specific actions benefit me in the long run. Subsequently, they would be a part of my JKD style.