Bruce Lee: The Dance of Unpredictable Rhythm
Jun 23rd, 2009 by Carolyn Resnick Method
Several months ago I watched a program on TV about Bruce Lee’s Philosophy of Life. As a student and instructor in martial arts, he had come to the conclusion that styles and formulae are inherently flawed and can block your ability to be like water, as he put it. Water, in his mind, was a great thing to emulate. I heard him say that if you pour water into a glass the water becomes the glass. If you pour water into a teapot it becomes the teapot.
He went on to say many things about the attributes of water. I was taken in by how passionate he was on wanting his students to step away from formulae and get in touch with their instinct and become the movement. He spoke of knowing how to deal with the broken rhythms and unpredictability of an opponent and use it as your great asset of strength and he felt that martial arts did not deal with these conditions. Martial arts he felt had become stuck in tradition and become blocked and less than it could be. I got the feeling he would have said it had lost the water energy he had been speaking of earlier. And that students who have mastered a school had not become everything that they could be because the rules stood in the way of their greatness.
Bruce Lee’s feelings on the subject of formulae were also how I felt about what I had witnessed in my own world of horse training. In general, horse trainers that follow formulae, no matter how accomplished, were uncomfortable with unpredictable behavior which creates a feeling of being lost and unsure of how to respond. The format of the seven Waterhole Rituals fixes the problems inherent in other formulae by creating a situation with the horse that, when you don’t quite know what you are doing, using trial and error will bring you to a positive result. This way you learn how to work with unpredictable responses from the horse, which will bring out ultimate horsemanship skills.
These rituals and ceremonies are similar to the exercises in martial arts called Katas, except they are companionship activities rather the pursuit of an opponent. Katas are exercises of movements slowed down in a rhythmic form that you would use to stop an opponent in hand to hand combat. The interaction with horses is similar to Katas in that they are exercises slowed down in a rhythmic movement that you would use to create leadership in harmony. However, the horse may choose to behave at any speed he wishes and the human can control this in a very timely and slow response. This way humans can take their time to think, act and respond accurately.
I believe my greatest asset is how comfortable I am when I haven’t a clue what I am going to do next. I just know how to flow in the interaction that works for me from a natural understanding of horses and the language of movements. This is where I put my focus when developing people in the art of horsemanship. Once my students have made the all important connection, formulas and style then become extremely helpful. All information becomes valuable. When you have developed your natural abilities to be able to handle unpredictable behavior, formulae do not get in the way and become supportive. Horses should be handled like water when water is an ocean wave. An ocean wave cannot be controlled but surfers can ride a wave with a connection that is magical. When you allow a horse total freedom you can shape his behavior to achieve a willing performance without force. Then you have become a master in the art of horsemanship.
I look forward to speaking with you on Thursday.
Carolyn
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The title of this post resonated with me immediately and reminded me of what I’d done this past week with my mare Paloma. She is so unique in her approach to… well, life, and I find myself continually underestimating her. Her reaction to my “efforts” to further her training has been to react big, push back, and avoid contact. After viewing Nevzorov’s work, I was determined to honor this big girl’s innate intelligence. This is why I started searching for more creative ideas and found Carolyn’s website. So, this past week, I was working on sharing space with Paloma and I had my iPod on. Before I knew it, I was dancing in front of her to Fela Kuti’s Shakara and soon she began to pick up her front feet in what seemed like a dance. We danced together for about five to seven minutes! I would never have planned to do something like this with her but I see that spontaneity piques her interest. I can only imagine what this looked like from a distance…
Reading these replies put me in mind of ‘theatresports’ where people are given a random theme and improvise around it, relating each new moment to the moment that went before it.
I used to play this with friends in the summer as a kid totally naturally to wile away summer afternoons.
What Parelli calls the ‘arrows in our quiver’ and what Carolyn is teaching us must become unconsious ways of responding the the horse of the moment.
This is what is so hard to explain for people just starting out who are still so wedded to their ‘story’ for the horse (ie. the ‘sport’ they want to do with their horse).
It is the ‘letting go’ of the ‘story’ and the willingness to listen to the horse that allows the water to become the glass.
The word harmony comes to mind when I read this post – harmony basically meaning agreement. My dressage instructor, who is truly a horseman, mentions being in harmony with your horse more than any particular movement one might want to learn at the time. It seems all of the masters must understand this – I wonder if the people who struggle the most with horses are not basically in agreement with the horse and whatever they might offer at the time. More of a fighting with than going with. Anyway, thanks for this post, it is my favorite so far!
Plans used to make me feel safe because they’d trick me into thinking i had predicted the outcome of a session. So when things didn’t go to plan, i’d feel even more unsafe! A vision is different from a plan. I’m a writer (trying!) and it’s the same. If i have a vision of a story, i just have to write in a stream of conciousness, and as i do, connections start to happen in my story, the unpredictable happens and i work with it, and normally when i finish, i realsie that it is not just a load of garbal, a thread has been created. If i planned a story, i’d never find these surprising threads, and never have anything to pull out, re-work and weave into my finished peice…and sometimes by this point, even my vision has changed. It’s that water thing again!
Fanatstic post Carolyn
Becky
I think its called “enjoying the process” –
Carolyn, I am proud of you and grateful that you are modeling the behavior of a true teacher. Its like the philosophy of teaching a starving person how to grow food rather than just giving him or her money to buy it.
Carolyn how absolutely true and thank you for pointing this out. You are absolutely right because I have discovered since doing the Rituals that it has stopped me trying to ‘achieve’ and get it right. By far the best times I have had with my boy are when I just go with the flow and no goals in mind. In addition to losing the trying to achieve something I have also lost any feeling of failure! In addition to this if we are to think like horses then it is important we understand the ‘for the moment’ feeling. Thanks again for your wisdom!
Wow Carolyn, I was just blown away by this. As always syncronicity happens.
I have been listening to Stillness Speaks by Ekart Tolle and The 4 Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz and trying to relate thoses principles to my life in general and my relationship with horses specifically.
What I see is people have a “story” in their mind regarding the horse. They believe they can apply this story in every situation. (technique) Rather than being in the moment and being pro-active, they are in the future or the past and prepared to react.
The story gets in the way of what is happening NOW.
It is absolutely imperative to know how to react when it is necessary, but if you don’t hold the horse (or human) to the story you have made up about them, it gives them space to act in a new way and for you to respond differently.
Dear Anne,
Thank you for responding.
Dear Carolyn, I am sorry I didn’t explain myself well. I re-read your article and I commend you for making this observation that agenda and rules keep us stuck, and in them we cannot ‘become the water’, the flow. If the water becomes the cup, it is also so much more than the cup, and when the water is gone the cup still is a cup. But the water is still the water but has changed in process.
It feels like B Lees analogy is very much like your teachings, in that there is so much more to our relationships with the horses, a much deeper, more magical connection than we can ‘know’ in words sometimes.
What struck me in your blog, that i was referring to, was that even in this unknown place, it is still unknown. It felt to me that something was missing, and that even in the flow, it isn’t always what we want. Maybe I am trying to say that in this dance/conversation there is room for the horse to be also. And that is what you are saying also. Thanks!
I’ve been playing Parelli with my horses for about four years now. I was instructed to never go out without a plan. Fine. I’d watch my dvds, have a plan, today we are going to go to the play pen and do stick to me, and sideways. Hawk would meet me at the play pen, halter and lead in his mouth, snakey neck and bolt to the gate where we usually take our trail walks. That’s the day I started asking my horses what they wanted to do.
This does so remind me of playing in the waves! I used to live in Encinitas, and my girl friends and I would meet at Swami’s or D street every day and body surf. I will always remember the day, we were outside waiting for waves (outside is past where the waves break) and my friends eyes got really big. She said, Deb! and I turned around and there was giant of a wave building. I was not in a place where I was going to be able to go under the wave, I had to take it. It’s the first time I rode in the green room, totally tubed, surrounded by a cool green tornado, and just as calm as the eye of the storm. I’ll never forget it. When you are in the water, there is freedom, dolphins! and sometimes, like in Hawaii, sharks that also ride the waves with you.
Listen guys, we all know the risks. We take them every day in our cars. The whr’s give us the opportunity to build a magical relationship with a very large animal. Trust, companionship, and play is our reward.
Nope, we don’t always ride the wave. That makes it so much sweeter when we do.
I’m 56 years old, and I am still riding waves, thanks to my horses. I think if I stopped this lifestyle, I’d get old. Here’s to big waves, magical rides, and to horses!!!
i feel most comfortable when the water is turbulent and out of control…i love the thrill of life!!! maybe this is why i do not mind the times when the horses get out of sorts with themselves or their surroundings.
Hi Carolyn,
Thank you so much for this wonderfully insightful post..I love it and I love your level of awareness, compassion and ease at which you handle yourself.
This is one area I struggle with when being with my horses…it’s those unexpected moments that occur, that make them spook or get very excited, they forget I am next to them.
I have the big guys—and when they are excited, they get even bigger and I become very small.
It’s funny, when I was younger (I am 52 now), I flowed well with unexpected behavior…I even welcomed the excitement of the moment and rode that wave laughing.
Now, I am more cautious and much less confident, which I think inhibits me.
Through your coaching though, I feel I will overcome and be able to ride those waves once again.
On another note, the very philosophy mentioned is exactly how I am with my students in the classroom online—I teach computer art to gaming students..and find myself working with them as one would in herd of horses or with only one….it’s pretty cool.
Bless you
Kim
I have also heard the term “defend yourself with looseness”. Is this sort of the same thing?
Excuse this comment, I forgot to press notify of followup comments but will do so now! I so enjoy hearing all of your responses and followup to the post.
Great Post, Carolyn!
If anything, I’d like to learn most of all what you mention in this quote:
“I believe my greatest asset is how comfortable I am when I haven’t a clue what I am going to do next.”
This is so important and so true! I’m on this path more and more every day and it makes my life as a whole so much more ‘vibrant’ (is that the right word?) with energy. Thank you Carolyn!
My husband is a great Bruce Lee fan and a judo black belt, but he’s not interested in my horses at all. But now…thank you Carolyn! — you have at last found a way for me to connect our two passions!!
Dear Anne,
I hope I am a help to you at other times! On this one I do not thing you got my point. I am talking on how to respond, protect, create, direct and stay safe from developing your leadership skill in handling unpredictable behavior of horses. I could have done a better job at writing it I can see. Sorry about that.
Could you explain your point more so I could explain to you better what I trully wanting to say?
The point is that we look at the horse and hold him at fault for their behavior when we should instead develop your leadership skills to handle the horse in a more affective way.
Stina, you are down right profound.
Very interessting.
Stina
No one can see their reflection in running water.
It is only in still water that we can see.
The only thing wrong, and i hate to use this word, maybe left out, is better, of your deductions is: the surfer does not always ride the wave. The wave sometimes rides the surfer, the surfer becomes the water, and sometimes the water wins, the surfer does not always survive.
So being in the moment, and in the flow is always important, but not always enough. To hone our animal instincts and to allow our reactions before our brains can even begin to respond is more in the moment. No matter our tools, we have to be aware and awake as a lot of horses are. Not all horses, not all people and not all experiences are what we want or expect. I have found that there always is a silver lining, or the making of lemonade out of the lemon of the experience.
I also have found that being with the horses, and in riding it is about doing and being NOT about thinking…..anne.
Funny I use the term “flow like water” with my students from time to time. And one of my favorite things, is not knowing what I’m going to do when I come to my horse…