Stuff in my Mind

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I am interested in definitions of “the mind.” Here is mine: The mind is a constantly updating 3D sensual-picture of the the world.

One thing I sort of dread about the coming of Summer (a problem I never had in San Francisco cause it is always foggy) is that my mind shuts down complex and abstract thinking when the temperature gets above 75F/24C. Has anyone invented a device that regulates the temperature of your head? One that keeps it at the perfect temperature for thinking? Maybe the solution is to reverse the clock, so that most of my working time is at night or before sunrise?

What is the relationship between tonic postures and the freeze? Tonic postures are ones that use a frame, like the Waltz. I don’t mean structure in the sense of transferring force to the ground, I just mean well integrated shapes that resist change from outside forces. Here is the idea. Certain types of movement may have evolved to work with the freeze, and the freeze itself might be a way to make the body more tonic for fighting or fleeing. The popular/conventional explanation of the freeze is that it makes you invisible (or undesirable) to predators. But as an evolutionary survival mechanism I think it would have to integrate with the other two (or three if you include dispassionate sex). [This is an update to 4 F’s theory: freeze, fight, flight, sex.]

Here is the classic Maya Deren film: Divine Horseman, the Living Gods of Haiti. Everyone should see it. It’s like 10 Stars, or whatever.

I guess what happened is that there was a Kathak Festival planned in New York for this Spring. When the shutdown happened they decided to do a version of it online. Because of that it is uneven. Kathak is notoriously difficult to mic. I suspect some of these performers are much better than they appear. I like them all. Unfortunately, I think video has the potential to degrade our performance capacities by 90%. Fortunately some people are adapting, they have better floors and equipment for this type of performance. In this context two of the performers stand out as extraordinary.
Pallavi Degwekar Shaikh begins at 01:38:30 and is followed by Shivangi Dake Robert.

The Chinese Perception of Jainism 耆那教


This article was fascinating, it is from a book which I will have to order when things get a little more opened up. “Yoga and Sex What is the Purpose of Vajrolīmudrā?” by James Mallison, from the book Yoga in Transformation, 2018. (Academia.edu)

I was interviewed by Journey to the West Podcast

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This was a super fun interview.

Journey to the West: The Podcast has been going through the book one chapter at a time. It is a great project and a great way to learn, study and enjoy. Here is how they wrote me up:


Special Guest: Scott Park Phillips, Master Martial Artist and Dancer!

This week we rest our weary cloud-trodding feet and take a deep dive with Scott Park Phillips into the Tao of Journey to the West. Learn how classic Chinese stories were used in theatre, war, and religious rituals. Uncover some of the martial arts' greatest secrets. If you thought you understood the Monkey King and his travel buddies, think again!

We even got a bit into cannibalism.
Here is a direct link to the download. But I encourage you to check out the whole project.

(if you prefer to watch the video, it is up on on Patreon for $10 subscribers.)

Towards a Workable Future

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Greetings Everyone! I am adapting to a future I cannot see. It may be a long time before I can do the kind of in-person tactile teaching I excel at. I was in the process of scheduling four international workshops for later this year, all of which are on hold indefinitely. My excitement about teaching close to home is also on hold. Instead, I have thrown myself into the world of online teaching. As you know, my work is utterly unique and I will do everything I can to make it easy for people to study with me and support my work over the coming months. Here is what I have so far. (Suggestions welcome.)

Patreon Supporter $10, for this you get some unique video lessons, blog commentaries and dialog. You also support my ongoing public interviews with thinkers, creators, and teachers.

Patreon $50 Supporters get direct online feedback sessions plus this month I am teaching the Unstoppable Super Chop.  Watch the Video:

I am creating a library of single lesson videos. The two I have up already are selling well. $15 each.

Private lessons online $85. I have been doing this for a while and it works. (email me: gongfuguy@gmail.com)

  • Daoyin

  • Tai Chi, Baguazhang, Liuhe Xinyi

  • Qigong (absolutely any style)

  • Golden Elixir training and other Daoist one-on-one studies. This requires a significant personal commitment but it is do-able.

Daodejing and Daoist Meditation Study Group. This group has been going for 2.5 years, students commit to an hour a day of meditation and we meet once a month for two hours on Zoom to study the Daodejing. $50. (email me: gongfuguy@gmail.com)

New Idea: Zoom lectures for students at your martial arts school. I would be happy to talk about any of the subjects in my books in depth with a group. $150. Unlimited follow up questions!

Also please buy my books for yourself and your friends. Many people read my first book but haven’t had time to read my second book yet. I assure you it will knock your socks off!

Finally, I am very pro-commerce. If you are in the same boat, creating new home-based micro-businesses, I invite you to please post your links in the comments and share this.

Five Emissaries of Epidemics

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Five Emissaries of Epidemics

I believe these shenmo (god-demons) known as the Five Emissaries of Epidemics were invoked and embodied during certain martial arts rituals. Martial rituals are the part of traditional Chinese martial arts which were discarded at the beginning of the 20th Century. This is a possible origin for the arts of Xingyi and xinyi, but this is a subject that needs a lot more investigation. I hope to do a video on it in the next couple of months.

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Is Learning a Martial Art like Learning a Language?

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Last night my Ghanaian Dance group got an infusion of new dancers at the same time as two master drummers returned to the group. The new dancers were from Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Brazil. They are attending an interpreters educational immersion school here in Boulder. The group is spectacularly fun, energetic, positive, and deep.

It got me thinking, I am a kind of dance-movement interpreter. Learning a new culture’s movement system, whether we dub it dance or martial art, is like learning a new language. 

Just like cross-training is a good idea for anyone who uses their body a lot, cross-cultural training is a good idea for anyone who uses their mind-body a lot.

I became a dancer because it was the hardest thing I ever tried to do, emotionally, physically, intellectually. Part of the reason I lump martial arts in with dance is because it covers the same realms of depth in all the cultures of movement I have studied. 

Should Chinese martial-artists study some kind of African dance? Is it the antidote to nearly every problem? Let’s list them, okay?

  • Lack of whole body unity

  • Slow footwork

  • Power-generation oriented shenfa (torso movement)

  • Poor facility with Rhythm and Entrainment

  • Inward focus of attention

  • Lack of facility moving the center of mass quickly

  • Fear of looking beautiful

  • Fear of looking silly

  • Seriousness to the point of damaging the spirit

  • Obsession with applications

  • Obsession with social dominance

  • Adherence to a culturally poor narrative of creation

Alright, let’s sketch this out.

Picking up a single African dance movement begins with trying to get the feet to step in the right place, in rhythm. Usually this is followed by figuring out how the torso movement supports this pattern. At this point everything else must fall into place or you don’t get it: 1) The emptiness of the arms, 2) entrainment and counter-entrainment with the drumming, 3) the pattern of the center of mass moving over the feet, 4) a pulse or pattern around which the movement organizes, and initiates, which “fits” inside the polyrhythms the drums are producing in space. The next movement, which has all the same requirements in a new form, will be cued by a drum call, which you have to hear and feel in order to make the transition.

All that is impossible to achieve without whole body unity, so it is a prerequisite of most African dance.

Simply moving the feet quickly is good, but the capacity to move the feet quickly between different floor patterns and rhythms is better and, as a skill, is infinitely more adaptable to the chaos of fighting.

One of the biggest problems I see in Chinese martial arts is the use of the torso to generate outward power. (Sometimes people even advocate using the spine to generate power, terrible.) Over the longterm this error causes structural injury and loss of mobility. Rather than increasing power, it limits it. Superior fighting uses 100% of our mass. African dance movements use 100% of our mass too, and usually control it with movement of the torso oriented in rhythmic spatial-patterns. That also fixes the problem of being inwardly focussed. Chinese martial artists sometimes become inwardly focussed because they lack a performance orientation or because they are searching for power inside their bodies.

The other points should be obvious. Let me jump to the last one. 

My biggest complaint about Chinese martial arts has been the loss of connection to its own roots in mythology and enriching theatrical narratives. Cross-cultural movement studies might be a quick way to solve this. When you find yourself doing an abstract form of whole-body mime embedded in a narrative-ritual from a culture not your own, and then notice that is is pretty much exactly like a martial arts technique you know, things fall apart. What falls apart? Adherence to a culturally limiting narrative of creation, utility, and purpose.

NOKOKO #KUSUN THE is an extraordinary group of musicians and dancers based in Ghana, West Africa. Founded by Nii Tettey Tetteh, the group includes past memb...