(upbeat electronic music)
- Well, today I'm very excited and I'm honored.
I have my sifu here with me all the way from Portland,
coming to Vancouver.
Today, I want to kind of introduce sifu and for you
to get to know a little bit about his background.
Also, his brand, the Art of JKD, and a little bit
about his history as well.
So, sifu, how did you get into martial art?
- I was probably about 13 years old
and my father worked in farm laboring, right?
At the time, and he saw an individual pick a peach
off the tree, okay?
One of his workers, and he goes, hey you wanna,
you gotta teach my son because he knew I was looking
for something that I needed to release whatever it was.
- Were you getting into a lot of trouble or something?
- Well, they-- (laughing)
(giggling) Well, you know what I mean,
I mean most people at that age,
we try to figure out who we are
and so I think I was trying to identify with something
that I can express into.
So that, my teacher, the first kickboxing teacher I've had,
he was from Mexico.
- Okay. - And, he had a,
a really good way of puttin' me in line.
In fact, he was like a father figure as well.
But, he took me on as a student,
one of his personal students, and then he started bringin'
in people into the garage, you know,
and it's just like the underground stuff, you know,
that you don't get to see-- - So, is he like working
in the daytime and in the nighttime,
you guys are like punching and kicking and stuff?
- I would, I would get home with like bruises
on my arms and legs, exhausted too.
I mean, you wouldn't believe how much training we did.
You know, my face would sometimes bleed
or kicks would come across my nose.
At that time period, there was no legality issue
at that time.
It was, he was from Metzga, nobody understands that stuff.
(laughing)
I mean, he just, he was gonna train you exactly
the way he was taught, and he was one of those champions
that, you know what?
Get up, fight, and go aggressive against the opponent.
So, I learned a lot from him.
During that time period, I did pick up
the Tao of Jeet Kune Do,
and just to see if I can have a,
you know, a different game in there, right?
Because every time I spar, or I at least fought somebody
in that class, I was gettin' hammered.
It, I mean these guys had a lot of weight
behind their punches. - Was that the,
your first exposure to Bruce Lee or did you watch a movie,
or like how did you come across that book?
- Bruce Lee was really, when I was younger, I mean,
you'd see it, they'd play the movies--
- All the, we play all the time.
- All the time, it was one of those Kung-Fu Theater moments,
that time period, it was just always Kung-Fu movies
and you'd always have a Bruce Lee movie
right in the middle of them.
- Yes. - That inspired me,
obviously to, you know, as a little kid, to like do all
these kicks and punches and stuff, run around
and think you are Bruce Lee.
I mean, you identify as (stuttering),
with his circumstances that was going on.
I mean, I truly felt that it was something encouraging,
'cause where I lived was, I don't know,
there's a lot of racism involved as well.
So I, that identified with me as well being Hispanic
and so forth.
Then, going back to my instructor, he was able
to teach me a lot about life and about how to fight.
So, at that point, you know, he had to move back,
I had to continue my training.
I still read the Tao.
I was lookin' at other different martial arts,
and all those teachers that have taught me in the past,
I've really appreciated their time.
Whether it was a personal thing that they had to move on,
maybe they moved somewhere else or, you know, things change.
We all evolve into something else and it wasn't up
until I started training with Jerry that it enlightened me.
Jerry Poteet is one of a--
- Bruce Lee's original students.
- [Octavio] Bruce Lee's original students.
The man was very serious too and I related to that,
'cause my first teacher was pretty serious.
You know, I had a lot of personal relationship
with my first instructor.
With Jerry, I also had a personal relationship,
but I related to that type of environment.
You could say it's kind of old school.
You know, it's like you show up on time,
you make sure you pay it that respect in his home,
and you listen to the man.
- Were you training at his--
Where does, the time Jerry did, did Jerry have a school
or were you training in his--
- Jerry was always a private individual.
He liked everything to be pers--
You know, private lessons only.
He felt that he was able to increase your awareness
by making sure you're focused on the tools.
There was a few questions I would ask, but they were always
related to how the structure was,
because that was important to me.
It's like if he said he wanted to work on only two
or three things, that's it.
I could sit there and ask all these questions,
well, what if, you know, somebody,
you know, grabs you-- - Grips you.
- From behind or what if they grab you on the leg.
- What if, what if, what if, yeah.
- Right, those what if questions have to go away,
you have to listen to how you build that structure.
That refinement that was very important to him.
- Was that, was Jerry is the one that took,
gonna take, took your skill to the whole new level?
- [Octavio] I believe so.
I want to go back home and train this stuff also.
I mean, you'd have to-- - Jerry passed away when?
- [Octavio] Passed away in 2012.
- 2012. - And it, you know,
for me to, then, you know, you lose a mentor
and you have to now continue on, it's quite difficult.
You always want to find somebody that can help you.
The thing is, is that it allowed me
to do a lot more research on my own, okay?
You know, look at it from different perspectives
and maybe going back and reflecting to what I've learned
and utilizing that.
You know, there's a lot of experimenting involved.
And then, you know, I still, you need, still need coaching.
So, right now, you know, I'm currently with Steve Golding.
He's able to at least take me to an area and say,
okay, look at what you're doing,
figure out how you can use your tools in this way.
Does it work for you, does it not?
And there's a lot of experimenting there as well.
So, it's good to always have a mentor with you.
Otherwise, you know, you're gonna think of,
up your own ideas, so you can't--
You don't have all the answers.
- Yeah. - Nobody does, nobody does.
- Do you find that now with so much noise out there
and people talk about JKD, and you have,
like, the original JKD, you have JKD concepts, you have JKD,
like I could, it's just like now so many branches.
And there's also a lot of gossip, a lot of like people talk
about you, you're good, you're no good, or I don't know.
Personally, I don't think it's the right thing to do
because it's about, well it's not what Bruce is about.
- Right. - It's about the art,
growing yourself, become a better version of yourself,
expressing yourself, it's not like a piss match
where you are no good on--
Like, it's all ego-based, right?
- Yeah, yeah and that's really a problem,
because then you're trying to crystallize
what Jeet Kune Do is.
Is it method the way we have to crystallize it?
It's, it isn't that at all.
- Yeah.
- I think a lot of the problem that people are missing
is their attitude, and their attitude,
is it getting in their way?
Because, even if you had individuals that have done this,
said, hey, I've seen Bruce Lee's movies,
I know how he moves, I've done it since forever.
- Yeah, or I know how to do the nun-chucks.
- Oh, I know how to do the-- - (stuttering) that should
kick you right there. - Yeah, exactly!
That doesn't mean that they know
what Jeet Kune Do is about, it just means
that they've increased their awareness of what the art is.
But still, they got, their character
that they need to develop and develop their ability
to teach students.
The ability to really be the mentor type.
I mean, that comes a long way, and how you teach people
to stay out of situations where they don't need to be in.
- Yep.
- I mean, I had the conversation the other day
and you're gonna walk to an alley
and you're gonna mind your own business,
and there's a group of individuals.
If you're gonna walk right through that,
that might be a problem.
You might have to go on the other side of the street
and keep on walking.
You're avoiding situations like that.
You don't need to be involved with that.
There was a circumstance where somebody is yellin' at you
from across a distance, why would you engage that?
It doesn't make any sense.
- Yeah. - So, you're making--
- That's just situational awareness, yeah.
- Right, right.
You start utilizing that piece of the art,
not I'm going in, how to kill somebody.
That's not it at all.
- I think in some way that why, partially,
I wanna make these type of videos is,
'cause as you know, I'm not an instructor.
This is just my passion, my hobby.
I've learned from sifu Ted Wong,
I've learned from sifu Octavio, I've learned a little bit
from Joe Lewis, that it just my passion and I see so much,
especially, in this kind of,
this sorta have none of it show on camera.
I was watching some videos on YouTube
about, like, some JKD guys in Taiwan, in Hong Kong.
I look at that, I was just, I'm just pissed.
- Right, right. - Right?
I'm like what the hell is this?
That's not what it is.
Because there's no one kinda, putting out content out there.
- Right. - So, and I'm not saying,
like, we've got all the answers.
I'm, at the best, there's no way I could,
or anybody could, I think, could represent like JKD,
right sifu?
It's, at best, it's one person's interpretation.
Here's what I think I've learned to my,
the best of my understanding ability,
and here's what I think it is.
- Right. - Right, nobody can say,
oh, I know what JKD is, no you don't.
Unless you're Bruce Lee, nobody does,
nobody can say that, right?
- Well, I mean, there's, okay, so Bruce Lee left a lot
of these, of his material behind.
- Yeah. - And this is
what he's researched throughout the years.
Whether or not he taught students, we wouldn't know
how exactly he taught 'em, but those students were able
to at least mature what their understanding of,
or what it was at the time,
and mature their understanding of it.
And, whatever they understood at that time period,
they took it to a, different levels.
But then, you have to realize that we all have
a body structure, we all have two legs, two arms,
unless, you know, you're handicapped or something,
but how do we actually increase acceleration?
It depends on that same structure.
I, a great friend of mine, he actually made the analogy
of a ladder.
The ladder is, the purpose of climbing it is to climb it.
I mean, there's a structure of that ladder is the same
on every single ladder, you know?
So, if we could utilize that, the skeletory system,
how else are you gonna develop power?
It just depends on the timing, the rhythm,
and how you're about to apply distance in it as well,
and apply the structure all at the same time.
So, there is a base structure, it's just gonna be a little,
slightly different for each individual.
You know, of course, it's always different.
But, the challenge is, is trying to show somebody
how to do it and then they may not understand
how you're expressing it.
So, it may be, need to be heard from someone else,
from a different perspective.
- Yeah. - And, then it clicks.
- Yeah, and I think it's the whole, the journey of learning,
of discovering yourself.
Don't be such a serious martial artist.
I think it's not very smart to come to your own conclusion,
or make your own judgements.
You see a lot of that on YouTube, right?
- Right. - You watch one video,
(gasping) oh, that guy's not doing it right,
or he should be this way, or that's wrong, or I could,
I could take you on any time.
It's all this stuff, right?
Versus, hey, you know what?
That's interesting.
Let me try that.
Oh, that's an interesting. - Right.
- And, you gotta go a lot (stuttering),
a lot of depth to learn someone's art, right?
It's not make your own judgment based on one video.
It's like you look at a photo,
oh, I know what that person is like.
- Right. - Oh, I know his character.
What do you know?
You don't know anything, right?
So, that's not what we're talking about.
So, hopefully this interior gives you
a little bit of insight.
Sifu, if someone, let's say they, I know you're
based in Portland, if someone wants to kind of get in touch
with you and learn more about your training,
maybe want some private lessons--
- Sure. - What's the best way
to do that?
- You can visit my website at theartofjkd.com.
I'm also developing personal clients if you're willing
to train in the warrior athlete system
that develops your nutrition, your physical well-being,
mentally, everything that has to do with the art as well.
I mean, we have this total package customized for your needs
and you're able to actually improve yourself overall.
Not just Jeet Kune Do, but you're talking about--
- Your well-being.
- Your well-being. - Your overall well-being.
Yep, and I think, and sifu Octavio here,
we're gonna be making a series of videos for you
in the next coming weeks, so stay tuned for that.
Subscribe below.
Make sure you don't miss any videos.
I think you'll love those videos with putting,
we'll be putting in a lot of work.
Also, check out our other JKD videos on this side as well.
So, stay tuned.
I'll see you next time.
B'wana, my friend.