North Star Martial Arts
In depth discussions of internal martial arts, theatricality, and Daoist ritual emptiness. Original martial arts ideas and Daoist education with a sense of humor and intelligence.
Books: TAI CHI, BAGUAZHANG AND THE GOLDEN ELIXIR, Internal Martial Arts Before the Boxer Uprising. By Scott Park Phillips. Paper ($30.00), Digital ($9.99)
Possible Origins, A Cultural History of Chinese Martial Arts, Theater and Religion, (2016) By Scott Park Phillips. Paper ($18.95), Digital ($9.99)
Watch Video: A Cultural History of Tai Chi
New Eastover Workshop, in Eastern Massachusetts, Italy, and France are in the works.
Daodejing Online - Learn Daoist Meditation through studying Daoism’s most sacred text Laozi’s Daodejing. You can join from anywhere in the world, $50. Email me if you are interesting in joining!
I had been thinking about this issue in my spare time, and lo and behold someone else has written about it. Two Types of Mathematics.
I belong to the spatial-visual-magic school. Not the logic school. Martial arts, especially internal martial arts, is a branch of mathematics. It is a type of thinking. I may have to put this on my business card.
I am doing a lot of work on my next book. A lot of it is about polishing. One of the reasons I have a blog is so that I can put out ideas which are unpolished. Here are some rough ones. Enjoy.
When you perform improv theater in front of an audience that wants you to get better, the audience can see when you listen to your inner critic. The audience will give you instant "we love you," signals, or "we are going to eat you" predatory feed-back—or dead silence. Read Rory Miller's post on killing the inner sensei.
Read MoreYou can blow it up and look at the fine details at the source.
A single lineage can have both Jedi Knights and Sith Lords. A quick way to spot a Sith is the breathing. If you can hear the breathing on the exhale, it is a Sith technique. The internal schools have to be able to separate the breath from the movement or they can not achieve speed. The big confusion happens because Sith are seduced by power.
Read More"Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals" is one of the Chinese Four-Character Sayings which in this case means: Ineffective, or Numerous Underlings. Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals make appearances in numerous Chinese plays, like Journey to the East, which is about the Eight Immortals. But these creatures came to my attention because I have been studying Nezha, who fights shrimps and crabs in Fengshenyanyi (the Canonization of the Gods), which was one of the most popular plays for performance. It was also probably the most important source of the general public's knowledge about Daoism.
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I should be telling you about the upcoming Earth Dog Year which starts on February 15th. But what is there to tell? Train your puppy carefully in the first few months, and it should be a smooth and uneventful year. Loyalty pays off big time in an Earth Dog Year. Make new friends and be bold in relying on old ones. Get plenty of exercise, and learn some new tricks. If you do not have a clear plan for the year already established, there is a danger of getting distracted. So discipline is a must--especially for artists and scientists. Balance more responsibility with more play.
Just wanted to give a shout out to my friends in the French speaking world. My dear friend and Professor of Chinese Anthropology Georges Favraud is working on a Chinese Studies Degree that focuses on the body. He is also giving classes locally that I recommend checking out if you are in the area.
I just did my first awesome podcast with the guys from Deeper Down the Rabbit Hole.
I talk about my book, and the latest research I've been doing. The interviewers are into trance and possession from a cross-cultural point of view so we talked about that too. Enjoy!
Let me know if you think this is a good format for 'going deeper' in general.
I just took the Big Five Personality Test on Jordan B. Peterson’s website and the first thing I learned is that my wife is a saint.
I guess I knew that I had some unusual dimensions to my personality, but I did not know I was extreme in 4 out of 5 categories.
What an interesting mirror to gaze into.
Read MoreThis video shows the links to Lotus Hands from North Indian Classical Dance (Kathak), as well as liuhexinyi.
This next video shows the tight connection between history, Chinese opera, film, and martial arts. Wong Fei Hung was real person who is credited with ending opium addiction in South China, among other things, he became a mythic kungfu hero. Numerous films have been made about him. And to top it all off, his wife, his real wife, is doing kungfu in the video below, in an opera costume on a movie set. Hat Tip to Practical Hung Kyun
A place to train and learn about traditional Chinese martial arts, which are a form of religious theater combined with martial skills.
