Epiphanies can be giant revelations. Death is often an epiphany. Imagine you see someone suffer and die of heart disease and many other complications from obesity. This may also be a challenge of your own and seeing a loved one suffer can lead you into a type of truth and may be your key to unlock the shackles and chains to this type of bondage. Perhaps it’s attending a seminar on nutrition or just being mentored by somebody who has great wisdom, it could even be a revelation that occurred during a movie or a song. It may happen walking on a nature trail or on the beach. You may inwardly hear a voice calling to you to change. Whatever has spoken to you to get to a point where you know change is needed, let me assist you in a deeper understanding of yourself.

One of the things you will need to do is be willing to be totally transparent to yourself. Only then will you be able to have true freedom. Transparency will allow you to have an honest, inward discussion with yourself. This will allow you to self inspect and self examine. This will lead you to an awakening of who you really are; the true human being without the world of self-labeling or without all the programming. Your job is not who you are, it’s simply what you do. Who you are is the person laying in bed at night contemplating life. Who are you really? By this I mean, your true DNA, not all the artificial conditioning from birth until now. Once you step into this inward exploration you will be awakened from your slumber, a move from the unconscious to the conscious.

As you may know if you have already read any of my articles, I’m a firm believer that all of the habits that you have picked up since birth are actively steering your judgments and decisions. Lacking self awareness will certainly lead you down an unfruitful existence always feeling there is something missing in your life. You will try to fill the void with all kinds of earthly wealth, which is only temporal. Your happiness generally comes in stages based on what you buy; a new car, a new house, a vacation, a new gadget. These stages are also temporal. Soon the feeling of despair or the need of something else to fulfill the void comes roaring back to existence. So the question should be- why do we have a void to begin with? And what can we do to fill the void and maintain joy throughout the journey of life?

Habits will manifest and crystallize and it takes a total revolt of all of the conditionings and the negative influences to begin a new you. Look at negative influences like a virus that attacks your computer. You need a solid firewall, great antivirus and spyware software actively working, or better yet sandbox technology to filter out damaging input. You want to concentrate on positive habits and positive affirmations to bring clarity. Strive to allow statements of life and beauty to enter into your mind. You have to set your environment up for success. Dream big and be a student of life. Habits are formed in the body, mind, and the spirit. You need to address all aspects for total transformation. The treatment depends on your starting point. Remember there are many good habits to cancel out the bad habits, like a pH scale the extremes balance each other to become neutral. Like Chinese medicine, if you are extremely yang (hard & rigid), extreme yin (softness & fluidity) will be required for your well-being. Everyone looks at your character; how you react to certain situations in your life, at your workplace, in your family. You’re judged by your character. Words that you speak quickly fade, but your character will be a lighthouse for those that are lost and need direction in their lives.

Grandmaster Gallaher

Starting Sunday, October 3rd through Sunday, October 10th for anyone who would like to participate we will be doing a No TV or Movies Week, and replacing them with books, relaxing music and/or board games. We all know that most of us watch too much TV. We want to encourage people to evaluate how much time they spend watching television or movies as opposed to interacting with their spouse, significant other, family etc. Even if you are reading this at a later date, I encourage you to find a week on your own.

After the week is through instead of just turning on the TV and watching whichever program happens to be on, try setting a limit of how much television you want to watch per day. Try watching a movie with your family that everyone can enjoy. You will be surprised how much more you can accomplish in a day. If a movie or television program goes against your personal belief, it doesn’t make any sense to support the program. Try to pick movies or TV programs that edify you as a person. Movies and TV programs carry messages. I encourage you to look at what program you’re watching and find out what message it’s trying to convey to you without your realization. (Try to find out what they’re selling and make sure you want to buy it.)

Recommended Books:
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
People are Idiots and I Can Prove It by Larry Winget
Bad Childhood, Good Life by Dr. Laura Schlessinger
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey
The Natural Way to Vibrant Health by N.W. Walker or any other books by N.W. Walker
Tao of Jeet Kune Do
The Wise Woman by George MacDonald

Recommended Board Games:
Sorry!
Monopoly
Pictionary
Taboo

Recommended Music:
Kitaro
Peter Davidson
Classic Instrumentals
Any soft, relaxing, meditative music

Grandmaster Gallaher

Let me finish with some finals thoughts that may help start your day off right. I encourage you to meditate and process these thoughts before applying them. Bruce Lee also had a famous quote, “knowing is not enough, we must apply; willingness is not enough, we must do.” Knowledge has a certain amount of power in the knowing, but the actual power comes from the application of the knowledge, that’s true power.
-Ditch the morning alarm clock that makes your day start off in a panic, replace it with an alarm clock that wakes you up with soft music or a tone that is not so obnoxious.
-Make sure you go to bed at a decent time. Our bodies require 8-9 hours for maximum rest. This will prevent that groggy, lethargic, moody feeling from lack of sleep.
- Make a habit when you wake up to take 5 to 10 deep inhales and exhales for proper breathing.
- Practice early morning smiles. I guarantee when you wake up, look in the mirror and smile, it’s refreshing.
- Wake up on the first alarm sound, don’t hit the snooze button.
- Have a nutritious breakfast, stay away from the greasy, sugary foods.
- Before you leave for work or school make a small list, let’s call it the “gratitude list”, start your morning off by giving thanks for what you have.
- Lose the morning coffee, if you need caffeine try green tea.
- Start off with a large glass of purified water, reverse osmosis, or distilled and a squirt of lemon or lime for electrolytes.
- Listen to music that is encouraging, soft, and therapeutic, stay away from hard obnoxious music, especially in the morning.
- Avoid the news for long periods of time. Generally speaking the news is seldom positive and has a bias to the negative side. Just hit the highlights and any major concerns that could affect your day.
- Take a minute to meditate and pray. Praying is talking to god, meditating is hearing from god.

I hope this helps and I encourage everyone to live an abundant life.

Grandmaster Gallaher

This is what I ate today, to give an example.

Breakfast: soaked oats  (not cooked) with fresh organic blackberries, blueberries and bananas on top and drizzled with honey and cinnamon.  One large, freshly juiced carrot, apple, ginger, celery juice.

Lunch: Organic romaine lettuce, organic cabbage, freshly homemade salsa, black beans, fresh avacado, fresh cilantro, tomatoes with a lime squeezed over it, light SEA salt & pepper. One large, freshly made smoothie with macadamia nuts, the base being chocolate almond milk, frozen banana, 1 teaspoon fresh coconut oil and a little bit of 100% cocoa (no sugar). I use the magic bullet for convenience.  One Kombucha drink in the late afternoon and two glasses of water (distilled or reverse osmosis).

Dinner: Organic soup & salad and another smoothie. (Which I haven’t eaten yet because I’m still here at the school)

Obviously, you don’t have to be a raw, or vegetarian, but my idea is to eat clean. You may think it is more expensive, or it takes a lot of time. But, expensive is eating out. And when it comes to time, you will be adding time to your life by eating this way. Remember time is all you have, look at it as a football field. When you’re born you are in the first stages of your life, you’re at the 50 yard mark when your in your 40’s and you’re in the endzone after that. I want to stay on the field as long as I can. God Bless You. I encourage you to eat better in your life no matter where you are.

Grandmaster Gallaher

Bodhidharma then devised a set of exercises primarily to prepare his disciples for their lessons, and later these developed self defense principles.  So over the centuries, the Shaolin monks through continual practice and progression developed a formidable fighting style of open hand and weapon techniques.

After the fall of the Ming Dynasty there came a period of oppression at the beginning of the 18th Century under the Manchu Emperors and so at this time the monks, became more politically involved and more into the attention of the Government, who rightly feared their Martial ability.

All attempts to destroy the Temple were repelled by the defenses of themonks, and the Emperor’s forces met with little success until they were able to engage the help of a renegade monk, Ma Ning Yee, who not only laid open the plans of the Temple, with its secret passages but helped by starting a revolt inside the Temple and setting fires within.

So the destruction of the Shaolin Temple was brought about and most of the monks and disciples slain: amongst those who escaped were four monks and a nun, elders of the Shaolin Temple and known late as the Venerable Five.  They were Pak Mei, Fung to Tak, Mui Hin, Chi Shin and Ng Mui the nun who was the eldest and most proficient in boxing skills.

Ng Mui instead of leading the revolt against the Manchu Government, preferred to wander the country keeping out of the turmoil that existed after the destruction of the Shaolin Temple.  Finally Ng Mui settled at the White Crane Temple on Tai Leung Mountain.  It was during this period that Ng Mui reflected upon the Shaolin style, now being taught to the Government troops, with its long swinging movements, exotic stances, complex forms and imaginative names, developed for the performances in front of audiences rather than actual practical application.

One day while walking the countryside Ng Mui witnessed a fight between snake and crane, the direct striking of the snake and the simultaneous block and strike of the crane using wing and beak, always facing the opponent square on.  Ng Mui instead of mimicking the animal movements, as with other styles, used more the concepts involved in the contest, directness, simplicity, conservation of energy, avoidance, never strength against strength, with more emphasis on technique than strength.

Ng Mui on visits to the local village for provisions became aquatinted with Yim Yee who sold the bean curd form a stall in the market but also happened to have been a disciple at the Shaolin Temple.  On one such visit Ng Mui sensed that Yim Yee was troubled and upon inquiry found that a local warlord had made known his intentions to marry his daughter, forcibly, if necessary.  Yim Yee’s daughter a beautiful girl by the name of Yim Wing Chun had already been promised to one from their home town of Kwangtung Province, from which they had to flee as Yim Yee had become involved in a court case, and being a Shaolin disciple, even though he had only upheld the law he would have been arrested.  Ng Mui Decided to solve the problem indirectly by taking Yim Wing Chun with her to the White Crane Temple and there she became her first and only disciple and over a period of three years, with Yim Wing Chun studying diligently Ng Mui taught Yim Wing Chun the newly developed fighting style.

After her time at the White Crane Temple, Yim Wing Chun returned to the village and was immediately pestered again by the warlord, this time more seriously, but now Wing Chun was prepared and challenged him to open hand combat, which of course he accepted as all he could see was a frail young woman who would soon be his wife, or so he thought.  Yim Wing Chun totally devastated the warlord and being troubled no more was then free to marry her intended husband, Leung Bok Chuuo who himself was a skilled pugilist and together they would practice this new fighting system, and it was in reverence to his wife that he named the style Wing Chun, or Beautiful Springtime.

     Leung Bok Chau passed the techniques of Wing Chun onto Leung Jan Kwai, an herbalist who took a disciple called Wong Wash Bo who acted in an opera troupe and while working on the Red Junk encountered the poler Leung Yee Tei who had been taught the six and a half pole techniques by Chi Shin who was one of the Venerable Five most skilled in stick and pole work.  Leung Yee Tei became the successor of the Wing Chun system and so the pole techniques were added.

Leung Yee Tei’s disciples who carried Wing Chun on was Leung  Jan a physician of Fatshan in Kwangtung Province of Southern China.  Leung Jan had two sons, Leung Bik the eldest and Leung Tsun, both of which were taught Wing Chun daily, but Leung Jan’s successor was Chan Wah Shun, though not well educated by his determination he mastered this sophisticated system, and being of the market place where life was tough he had the opportunity to refine his fighting skills and so it was to him that the responsibility of Wing Chun was rested.

During the thirty-six years of teaching Wing Chun, Chan Wah Shun only took sixteen disciples.  The last of these was a young man of quick mind and inquisitive intelligence, his name Yip Man, destined to become the Great Grandmaster of Wing Chun.  Yip Man can be considered t be the result of two great teachers, the first Chan Wah Shun the ‘Fighter’ and Leung Bik the ‘Scholar’ whom he met in Hong Kong while attending St. Stephen’s College.

Now the history becomes the present with the legacy that the Grandmaster Yip Man left behind him before his death on the 2nd December 1972 in the form of an eight millimeter  film.  So preserved in this fashion are  all three forms and the 116 wooden dummy techniques, and left in trust with his two sons, Yip Chun the eldest Martial Arts Association and promoting the once secret style to a popular art known throughout the world. Extracted from the book, “The Path of Wing Chun,” by Samuel Kwok (with permission).

These are some of Bruce Lee’s philosophies. I would like to discuss his view on the physical art of Jeet Kune Do.  If you are new to this art, there are two important issues that are the bulk of Jeet Kune Do.  First is what I have briefly talked about, the philosophy or mental nature of Jeet Kune Do; next are the physical components as well as the biomechanics of this intriguing art.  Bruce stressed that he did not create or invent a new martial art, but found the cause of the ignorance. He knew that all humans have two arms and two legs, but he needed to find the most efficient way to use these weapons.

Bruce researched different ways to enlighten his mind and to cultivate his physical skill.  Bruce came to the realization that simple physics could work in Jeet Kune Do.  He increased his power and strength through weight training and cardiovascular activity.  Bruce realized that mass times velocity gives you pure power at impact if you have a solid structure and good body alignment.

While the bulk of the techniques in Jeet Kune Do are Wing Chun, boxing, and fencing, Jeet Kune Do is also concerned with using the minimum to achieve the maximum, not the other way around.  It was Bruce’s own evaluation of himself that makes Jeet Kune Do so unique.  To me, Jeet Kune Do is Bruce Lee’s personal evolutionary process.  Martial arts masters before Bruce and many after him chose to stay in the traditional and conditional past!  This is an example of what Bruce regarded as the classical mess.  He bucked at the systems of bondage and catapulted himself into freedom and changed the martial art way of thinking forever.  While there are no forms to learn in Jeet Kune Do, all the techniques are straightforward and are geared purely for self-defense and self-perseverance.  All techniques of the techniques are simple and natural for the body and mind to learn.  All wasted movements have been intelligently discarded.  You will not find flowery or mechanical movements in Jeet Kune Do.  Bruce developed his body as a weapon, not just for cosmetic purposes.  My sifu, Ted Wong always said, “David, if you want Bruce Lee results, you need to train like Bruce Lee and put in Bruce Lee hours.”

Jeet Kune Do is the most complete martial art available in the world. Jeet Kune Do is a martial art that you can consider a full circle art.  We practice all logical attack and defense possibilities.  Again, we are a balanced Gung Fu system, we kick, punch, hand trap, throw, and grapple.  Our body becomes whole to the total expression of the human being.  Bruce Lee knew that the human entity is always more important than the established style but all to often the style becomes law.  It’s the Korean Way or the Chinese Way or maybe it’s the Japanese Way.  My friends, be concerned with the root of the tree for it is the root that gives life to the intricate branches and leaves of the tree, and it is the water that is the blood of the tree.  We need to be more like water, always flowing to the least resistant area, but still having the persistence and faith to realize that we need to train hard, realistic, and intelligently.  Set accomplishable goals and train diligently.  It is imperative to seek an authentic instructor, trained under Bruce Lee, or one that has direct lineage to Bruce Lee.  In conclusion, I will leave you with a note from Bruce Lee, “Walk on.”

Best Regards,

David Gallaher