Ninja, dragon tail kick (Anna holding focus mitts)
It is a complete martial art in that it has a specific methodology for training each individual to be able to defend themselves against single or multiple opponents with or without weapons in a variety of environments.
How a student expresses themselves in that moment to moment flow of survival against resistance, is their style. Core JKD helps them reach their full potential in their expression.
Core JKD isn’t a style in that sense because there isn’t anything other than optimum functionality against resistance with a variety of tools in a variety of environments.
It might be considered a neutral style in that in an of itself, each individual trained in it becomes capable and functional in their own expression for surviving. This means that it is a foundation for freeing your personal expression.
It is a martial art in that there are distinct, foundational methods of training with a specific understanding of physics and expression of motion against resistance that leads to functional techniques that work for the majority of students who train in it.
The techniques themselves are minimal and are able to be modified to accommodate the larger variety of individuals using them.
It’s not that everyone must conform to the rigid technique. It’s that the technique is modified with certain requirements for functionality that help release the individual’s full potential.
The techniques I’ve use and the ones I’ve developed have to meet the following criteria:
- They have to work fluidly with other techniques.
- They have to allow for stability in transition from movement to movement, technique to technique.
- They have to allow for their absence, meaning dropping it in an instant —should it not be working in a particular moment—but not to where it’s absence compromises your functionality.
That’s a brief list, but should give you an idea of what goes into it.
If Core JKD has a style, it’s the ability to adapt in the moment to changing conditions using a functional set of tools and techniques from well-conditioned individuals. And conditioned in this case, means stress-tested.
As are the techniques. If the technique can’t allow the individual to function under resistance or it only works for a tiny few individuals on the planet under a very minute set of conditions, then it most likely will not be in Core JKD.
Now, some of what I show on YT and FB comes from other arts that some people wish to see. I do my best to modify the techniques from these arts to at least bring out some functionality against a resisting attacker. So that’s why you’ll sometimes see things that aren’t in the Core JKD functional toolset.