Katas and "dissolving the principle". Surely that is a good illustration. Of course you aint gonna start doing a kata in a biker bar (why is it always the poor bikers who have to get tested) but you'll find, on reflection, that you used part of a kata (technique,focus, speed etc) in your application. You probably weren't aware of it at the time.
You'd absorbed the principal through ages of training and dissolved it so it spread through you and appeared when you needed it, almost instinctively.
If your trad art doesn't have a technique you feel you need then find it and incorporate it into your arsenal... this is what wise MAists have always done. JKD is just a philosophy of what has always been done by those who are aware of what they need.
Incidentally, review your ideas of kata. What is a phase 4 if it isn't kata? What is shadow boxing if it isn't free-form kata.
See how well I block your punches with my jaw!!
Supporting everyone saying "nuts to cancer"