Bruce Lee started writing poetry when he moved from Hong Kong to the U.S. at age 18. He wrote poetry to express his feelings of contemplativeness, love, melancholy, and oneness with nature. The poetry was a way to process and understand his own feelings. Bruce also wrote poems and letters to his wife Linda expressing love and gratefulness for her. Linda says that she can still feel the warmth of his love through his writing. Bruce Lee was a masculine man of action who also had a very integrated ...
Dec 15, 2016•44 min•Ep. 24
The Yin Yang symbol is circle with two interlocking teardrop shapes in complimentary colors with a dot on each side. It's used in popular culture, but it is a core Chinese philosophy. The Yang side represents positivity, firmness, masculinity, substantiality, brightness, day, and heat. The Yin side represents negativity, softness, femininity, insubstantiality, darkness, and coldness. Excerpt from Book 1 Chapter 28 of the Tao Te Ching: "Know the masculine, but keep to the feminine. And be a valle...
Dec 08, 2016•55 min•Ep. 23
Bruce's wife and Shannon's mom Linda Lee Cadwell joins us again and she shares more stories about Bruce, telling of his spirit of generosity and charity. And for the first time she shares stories about their son Brandon Lee. When Linda first visited Hong Kong in 1965, it was a tough time for many Hong Kong people. There were a lot of very poor people and many would stand on corners asking for donations. Bruce never passed up anyone without giving some coins and saying a kind word. He had great f...
Dec 01, 2016•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 22
11/27/16 is Bruce Lee's birthday and he would have been 76 years old today. In honor of his birthday we are reposting the Be Water, My Friend episode (#2) with a special birthday message from Shannon Lee. To honor Bruce, take a moment for yourself today to listen or re-listen to this episode. It's filled with great tips on how to center yourself, clear your head and move around obstacles you have in your life. "Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless like water. Now you put water into a cup, it ...
Nov 27, 2016•49 min•Ep. 21
At the request of fans, this week we discuss Bruce Lee's approach to nutrition and fitness! Nutrition and fitness were ongoing obsessions for Bruce during his life, and we can't cover everything, so we'll discuss the big ideas on this episode not specific regimens. Bruce Lee was constantly experimenting on himself and seeing what worked for his body. There was cardio, weight training, martial techniques, teaching as training, nutrition from diet to supplements, meditation, and reading books. Oft...
Nov 23, 2016•46 min•Ep. 20
This week we talk with Friend of Bruce Lee Steve Aoki. Steve is a Grammy nominated Electro house musician, DJ and record producer. Steve's unique musical life is the subject of a new Netflix documentary called "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead," Steve has been a die-hard Bruce Lee devotee since he was a kid. When he was taking karate classes, and he emulated all of Bruce Lee's moves and became obsessed with watching every Bruce Lee movie repeatedly on VHS. Aoki looked up to Bruce Lee as an Asian man who...
Nov 17, 2016•57 min•Ep. 19
"Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system." From a very young age Bruce Lee was a rebellious thinker with a keen awareness that established systems could restrict the full development of a human being. One event that sparked this questioning was the discrimination he faced at his Kung Fu school in Hong Kong. He was ultimately kicked out of that school because he wasn't 100% Chinese. He learned that the institution favored an...
Nov 10, 2016•39 min•Ep. 18
In this week's episode we are finishing up our 3-part discussion of Bruce Lee's affirmations with the 7th and final affirmation: Willpower. Affirmation 7: "Recognizing that the power of will is the supreme court over all other departments of my mind, I will exercise it daily when I need the urge to act for any purpose, and I will form habits designed to bring the power of my will into action at least once daily." Bruce believed that, "A self-willed man has no other aim than his own growth. He va...
Nov 03, 2016•39 min•Ep. 17
This week we continue our discussion of Bruce Lee's Affirmations with three more concepts: Emotions, Reason, and Conscience. Even though we are discussing each affirmation individually, Bruce Lee used all 7 together to help achieve wellbeing. 4th Affirmation: Emotions "Realizing that my emotions are both positive and negative, I will form daily habits which will encourage the development of the positive emotions and aid me in converting the negative emotions into some form of useful action." 5th...
Oct 27, 2016•43 min•Ep. 16
This week we discuss Bruce Lee's affirmations. These are 7 ideas he wrote on small note cards and carried with him always: Memory, Subconscious Mind, Imagination, Reason, Emotion, Conscience and Will Power. These 7 ideas are part of a whole system of well being and self-cultivation Bruce developed. And they work together as a harmonious ecosystem. Today we discuss the first three ideas: Memory, Subconscious Mind, and Imagination. 1st Affirmation: Memory "Recognizing the value of an alert mind, a...
Oct 20, 2016•44 min•Ep. 15
Bruce Lee, was an extremely joyous person who loved to laugh. It's an often overlooked part of his personality but he loved to joke and play around, and make other people laugh. He also thought of happiness as a synonym for well-being. Linda Lee Cadwell, Bruce's wife, tells us about Bruce's humor and how much she laughed during their years together. Bruce was also quite a prankster on set and with friends, and he loved a good pun. His playful character also created a fun-loving energy in his hom...
Oct 13, 2016•38 min•Ep. 14
In this week's episode we have a special guest Linda Lee Cadwell, Bruce Lee's wife and Shannon's mom. Linda shares stories of her life with Bruce, how they first met and what it was like to be married to and in a partnership with him. She said that Bruce considered his greatest accomplishment was being a father. She describes what kind of father he was to Brandon and Shannon, and how his unusual schedule allowed him to spend more time with his kids than other fathers at the time. Every day was d...
Oct 06, 2016•55 min•Ep. 13
"The medicine for my suffering I had within me from the very beginning but I did not take it. My ailment came from within myself, but I did not observe it until this moment. Now I see I will never find the light unless, like a candle, I am my own fuel." This quote is very close to Shannon's heart. When her brother Brandon unexpectedly died in 1993 on the set of the Crow, Shannon was overwhelmed with intense pain and grief. It was on her journey to find healing from her grief that she started to ...
Sep 29, 2016•46 min•Ep. 12
"Walk on." There's a story behind this famous quote. In 1969, Bruce severely injured his back during a routine training session because he didn't warm up properly. He was told he could never practice martial arts again and may never walk normally. Devastated by this news, Bruce became a researcher of his injury, his body and ultimately created his own path to healing. The journey was long and there were many ups and downs. At one point he took one of his business cards and wrote "Walk on" on the...
Sep 22, 2016•36 min•Ep. 11
In this week's episode we talk about the three core tenets of Jeet Kune Do: Simplicity, Directness, Freedom. Bruce Lee applied these tenets to martial arts, but also to everyday life. Shannon shares the story of the pivotal fight that led Bruce Lee to develop his own martial arts philosophy and way: Jeet Kune Do. In Bruce Lee's words: "The art of Jeet Kune Do is simply to simplify. Jeet Kune Do avoids the superficial, penetrates the complex, goes to the heart of the problem and pinpoints the key...
Sep 15, 2016•44 min•Ep. 10
"Under the sky, under the heavens, we are but one family." This week we discuss harmony. Harmony was an important part of Bruce Lee's philosophy and the way he lived his life. He was always seeking connection over opposition and never needed to compare himself with anyone else. He truly believed that we are one family—black, white, brown, yellow, red—we are all one. Bruce Lee believed in the harmony of totality versus partiality. You need to be aware of your surroundings and relate to your surro...
Sep 08, 2016•53 min•Ep. 9
"To change with change is the changeless state." Change often brings fear, and many times we resist. But if you can flow and be adaptable, you can move through all of the things that life throws at you, with much ease you will remain in a place where you wont freak out and you will remain in a changeless state. "To understand your fear in change is the beginning of really seeing." Life is constantly moving and changing and you have to follow that movement like the shadow following the body. Bein...
Sep 01, 2016•34 min•Ep. 8
"What was that? An Exhibition? We need emotional content. Now try again!" What did Bruce Lee mean by "Emotional Content?" He was describing the feeling of being totally present in your body and connected to your own life force. A spiritual life force that is the energy of creation. This force helps you become a human being from moment to moment. When you are creating emotional content, you are creating in awareness, openness and receptivity to everything around you. You are in a state of relatin...
Aug 25, 2016•36 min•Ep. 7
This week we talk about how Bruce Lee documented his goals, valued mistakes and created a personal definition of success. A dedicated journal writer, Lee consistently wrote down his big and small goals. He believed that all goals did not have to be achieved, they were a way to orient yourself towards a big dream with meaning. They were also an opportunity to make mistakes along the way, learn and adapt as necessary—being in flow, using no way as way. He wrote this big goal for himself when he wa...
Aug 18, 2016•45 min•Ep. 6
How did Bruce Lee interpret the ideas of Originating and Innovating? This week we discuss Bruce's unique take on these ideas. His definition of these words have nothing to do with the buzzwords of business. Originating is the process of self-actualizing and becoming your true self and innovating is what gets created in the world when you are connected to your authentic energy. "We tend to have more faith in what we imitate than what we originate. We feel we cannot derive a sense of absolute cert...
Aug 11, 2016•37 min•Ep. 5
"Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself. Do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate him." This week's show covers Bruce Lee's thoughts on self actualization vs. "self-image" actualization. He did not look to imitate others, he was committed to going deeply within himself to find the truth about his own unique essence and how to express it honestly in the world. He was constantly working on understanding his true self through active observation, questi...
Aug 04, 2016•45 min•Ep. 4
In this episode we discuss one of Bruce Lee's most important philosophies—Take Action! Bruce Lee was known around the world as an action star but his philosophy about taking action goes much deeper. Philosophy was not just an intellectual exercise for Bruce, he believed in applying it in real life through continual action. It was also an emotional process that started in his heart, then energized his body to manifest ideas in the real world. It was a process of becoming more intensely himself. H...
Jul 28, 2016•55 min•Ep. 3
We discuss Bruce Lee's most famous philosophical quote. What does it mean and what inspired him to come up with it? Shannon shares personal stories about her dad and unpacks the quote to help us understand its depth and meaning. We give our first #AAHA (Awesome Asians Hapa) shoutout to Justin Lin and we hear a #BruceLeeMoment from one of our team members who used Bruce's teachings to get through a harrowing personal challenge.
Jul 20, 2016•49 min•Ep. 2
One Inch Punch: The tiny startup with a giant global fan base The Bruce Lee family company is a tiny family startup in a very unique situation. Millions of fans around the world but they didn't control the rights to Bruce Lee's name and likeness due to a bad deal that left a giant media conglomerate in charge. Learn how Shannon Lee tapped into her dad's philosophy and wisdom to reclaim the rights and create a new company to serve her dad's mission of personal freedom. We also introduce our other...
Jul 19, 2016•46 min•Ep. 1
A brief introduction about the Bruce Lee Podcast from Shannon Lee, daughter of Bruce Lee and CEO of the Bruce Lee Family Company.
Jul 13, 2016•4 min
