For those of you who know me, I'm sure I would be described as being far from an extroverted, spontaneous, Type A personality. I would say that I am very much the opposite of everything in that first sentence. I am shy, introverted, and always think things through. That's how I am, and I've come to accept it.

I didn't join Muay Thai to only get into shape. I joined because my self-confidence and self-esteem were so low, I didn't think I could do it. I can remember the first time I even attempted to do Thai class. I almost had a panic attack! I could only sit against a wall and watch, all while my husband Doug and Khru Dick were trying to get me to join in, not even having the guts to tell them how nervous I was and that I thought my heart was trying to come out of my chest. Needless to say, that first experience didn't do a whole lot for my confidence! While sitting against that very wall, I made up mind: I WANTED to train and learn Muay Thai, and try to kick this awful habit of giving up before I even give it a go, no matter how uncomfortable it made me. Failure wasn't an option! I was scared to death the first time I actually took a Thai class. I was so intimidated by how good everyone else was! But everyone in class, including whoever was teaching that night and who I was paired up with, reminded me that everyone has to start somewhere. I felt so good after that first class, I can't describe it! So I took the plunge and haven't looked back!

During this "plunge" process, Khru Dick left the gym I was training at, and opened his own place. I didn't immediately follow - I really don't like change; change goes along with the confidence issues and a new place and new people is intimidating! I was torn on where to go, and since my husband was running a class out of this other gym, I stayed there. I kept training though and pushing forward, and eventually passed my Level I test under the Thai Boxing Association. Even more of the shell was beginning to break away. Not quite a year ago, I started going down to SouthEnd to once again train under Khru Dick. It wasn't long until I realized that this is where I belong. Dick Harrell Martial Arts is a place where I can just be. I never feel as if I'm being measured against someone else, only against myself and how hard and how far I can push myself and be pushed. Under the instruction of Khru's Dick, Tim , Janet and Noah, I've finally begun to realize my true potential from passing my Level II test under the Thai Boxing Association and beginning to train for something else: getting into the ring!

That being said, my shell is still there, it's about halfway gone now. However difficult this journey has been, I now truly know what I can and cannot do. I still cannot get up in front of a huge group of people and NOT get nervous, even if I know the people who are watching. I can however, and did, get up in front of a huge group of people and make my debut as an amateur Thai fighter on January 22, 2011. Even though I lost by a very close split decision, I can't tell you enough how proud of myself I am for coming such a long way! Talk about a leap in confidence! I feel like a new person who can do anything and everything! Without the support of everyone at DHMA, my husband, family and a HUGE support network, I don't think it would ever have been possible. I'm pretty sure I made everyone else proud too!

What's next? I can't wait to get back in the ring and fight again! I also can't wait to eventually test for my Apprentice Instructor Level in the Thai Boxing Association, so that one day I can help someone who struggles with the same issues I do. Because in the words of Grandmaster Chai, "I can do, you can do."

Lindsay's Level II Test	After Modern Gladiators Fight in VA Bech, 1/22/2011 L-R: Khru Dick, Lindsay, Khru Janet, Khru Tim

"Dick Harrell has been my Muay Thai Instructor for the past 3 years. I initially looked for a Muay Thai school since I was at a stage in my life where I wanted a functional form of exercise that had a blend of conditioning and movement. When I decided to train with Dick I didn't realize that I would be training with a true Master of the Martial Arts with over 30 years of practice and teaching. After a little research I discovered that Dick comes from an amazing lineage of Martial Arts Legends...Guro Dan Inosanto, Ajarn Chai Sirisute, Larry Hartsell and the list goes on. The list goes on because Dick does not rest on his laurels and continues to seek knowledge in various fighting arts due to his inquisitive nature, passion and lack of ego. Dick's depth of martial arts knowledge is incredible and I consider it a true privilege to be called his student."

"I have known Khun Kru Dick Harrell since the 1970's. I watched him compete in the old Professional Karate Association. I got to know him better in the 1980's when I became his and the late Larry Hartsell's student. Throughout the years, I have observed a good martial artist become a great martial artist and teacher.
Khun Kru Harrell displays complete mastery of several styles of martial arts, including Jeet Kune Do/ Jun Fan Kickboxing, and Kali/Silat, both under the tutelage of the late Guro Larry Hartsell and Guro Dan Inosanto. He also has mastery of Muay Thai/ Thai boxing, under Ajarn Surachai Sirisute, and continues to expand his horizons by studying further in other martial arts.
For someone seeking to learn from the best, one can do no better than to find Khun Kru Dick Harrell. Observing his teaching just one class will make anyone a believer!"

“I have been training under Kru Harrell for over 2 years. His knowledge in Martial Arts is incredible. He has a special gift in transferring knowledge to his students. He is very patient and he can build you up whatever your current level is. The best part about Kru Harrell is that he is always a student himself. He is constantly evolving, and as his students, so will you.”

"I have been training under Guro Dick Harrell for almost 4 years. Guro Harrell has an extensive background in the martial arts that spans more than 30 years and includes many different styles and disciplines. But what keeps me coming back to his classes is his teaching ability. His classes are challenging, informative as well as fun. He encourages everyone to work at their own pace and abilities; and, above all, to train safe. From the 'young guns' to us older students, everyone gets the level of intensity and attention they’re looking for. I would highly recommend Guro Harrell’s classes and seminars to anyone interested in JKD, Kali or Muay Thai."

"I first met Sifu Dick “Dickie” Harrell on April 1, 1989. He was hosting Guro/SiFu Dan Inosanto and his wife Simo Paula Inosanto for a seminar. This seminar change my life, Sifu Dick also introduced me to Ajarn Chai at a seminar later that same year. I have to thank Sifu Dickie for this, because since then I have trained with the Inosanto’s and Ajarn Chai for 20 years now. I also trained with two of Sifu Dick students for 6 years and learned a lot from them. Sifu Dick is a great teacher he is very giving of his time and knowledge. If you get a chance to train with him you are very lucky, in 2005 he give me the honor of making an instructor under him in the arts of Thai Boxing, Filipino Martial Arts and JKD. I’m proud to say Sifu Dick is my friend and one of my teachers."

"Dick Harrell has been my friend, instructor and my senior in JKD, Kali and Muay Thai for nearly 20 years. He has a warm, caring spirit and teaches in way that is understandable to beginners yet challenges the most experienced. His breadth and depth of martial arts knowledge is unequalled in the area. Sifu/Guro Dick embodies the spirit of JKD in his open manner of teaching - helping everyone as an individual to find their own way. I highly and unreservedly recommend anyone to train with him."

"In 1974 I began my instruction in Jeet Kune Do under Guru Larry Hartsell in Charlotte, NC. I was fifteen years old at that time. Larry had returned to Charlotte from California where he had been a top student and friend of Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto. Bruce died in 1973. It is important to note that when Guru Larry brought JKD to Charlotte it was the first migration of Bruce Lee's concepts outside of California. This is significant historically. That small school off Central Ave. was the home of the Eastern Tribe of JKD and from its ranks rose a skilled teacher and a true bearer of the JKD legacy, Sifu Dick Harrell. Now, 36 years later I am back in Charlotte under Sifu Dick ..the unbroken line...remember my friends if your are searching for your future in martial arts and JKD then the way back goes through this man."

Before the term “mixed martial arts” was known by that name, Bruce Lee was teaching it to a relatively small number of eager students.

Some of you know the story of how Lee was challenged to a fight if he did not stop teaching Chinese martial arts to non-Orientals. The confrontation that ensued lasted around two minutes—two minutes that Lee thought was about 118 seconds too long. This event prompted his insatiable appetite for not just knowledge, but master, of any and every fighting discipline he could expose himself to. The result is as fascinating and mesmerizing now as it was in the sixties.

The reason why the result of his passionate studies are still so engaging is not because he developed the perfect fighting system, combination of strikes and holds, or training methods. The reason is because he avoided even applying the term “system,” as its very concept implied a right and wrong way of doing things. More importantly, it wasn’t a style that he came up with as much as it was a philosophy—a philosophy that ended its development at his untimely death in 1973.

We know, however, that his philosophy continues. It continues through the teachings of people like Sifu Inosanto and Sifu Harrell. And it continues in the growth and development of what we now know as “mixed martial arts,” and the unprecedented availability of knowledge of various traditions and schools. In many ways, Bruce Lee embodied what mixed martial arts offers today.

Lee learned an important lesson once when, frustrated and angry on a small boat, he punched the water. It gave way. From this simple act came a seminal teaching that is still part of the JKD way. Lee says it best in his own words:

“Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless—like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle; you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

One aspect of the genius of Lee was that concepts such as this were taught through physical contact. In other words, his students practiced repetitive motions, but they were performing versions of complex philosophy at the same time. Lee knew this. And he knew that some would only learn the moves, while others would move the learning to a higher level.

Personally, what I learned in the early- and mid-80s in Dick’s school was more like philosophy and art lessons. I had just transitioned from a competitive swimming career, so I could focus on technique and concepts without the fatigue from the exercises. Subtle blocks and passes, hooks and side steps became for me lessons and strategies for creative problem-solving. Beliefs about having to confront oncoming forces or challenges were replaced with efficient and self-preserving ideas.

I learned abstract lessons through concrete methods. Mental muscle was conditioned through somatic tissue—a tremendous way for a cocky, reckless 16 year-old boy to have his mind opened to what Bruce Lee was really teaching me through his students.

I am not an expert on Bruce Lee, but I have read several of his works, and I studied his concepts for a few years. I know that he was first and foremost an artist. Self-expression was his greatest passion, not only for himself, but for his students, and, no doubt, for his children.

Art is often thought of as something soft, an activity relegated to canvas and paper. Indeed, Lee used paper a lot, and he was an accomplished fine and figure artist. But his art was much broader than paper and ink. His art was that of self-discovery and self-awareness. The breadth of his teaching and his encouragement toward his students to find their own way of self-expression (again, learning abstract concepts through concrete methods), is his legacy.

His students who teach us today are the new embodiment of his philosophy. The beauty of this truth is that we become and partake of this philosophy as we borrow what we are taught and make it our own. In a way, if Lee had a “style,” it would be whatever each of his students came up with after dedicated study and self-awareness through practice of martial arts.

Now I am a doctor who specializes in the chronically ill and dying, in a new and growing specialty known as Hospice and Palliative Medicine. I am fortunate enough to serve as medical director of a large agency in Asheville, NC, known as CarePartners. I am not exaggerating when I say that I draw on my experiences from Jeet Kune Do training every day, twenty-five or so years later. Developing new strategies to create new partnerships and programs to care for the sick and dying is every bit as challenging as fending-off a punch or kick.

I am learning a lot in my role, too. Right now, a punch is not a punch, and a kick is not a kick. My world is very complicated. But I commit myself, and aspire, to learning my craft to the extent that “a punch is just a punch, and a kick is just a kick,” again.

Be like the water: accept and receive, move and fill the space you are in. And do so with gratitude that you have such teachers as Sifus Inosanto and Harrell. You will have more teachers in years to come, as I have, but today’s lessons will serve you well when you learn to know yourself and can flow like water.