MMTCA January Newsletter 2026

 

Splitrock Lighthouse, North Shore, LK Superior

 “I am a lighthouse rather than a lifeboat. I do not rescue, but instead help others to find their way to shore.”

~ Anne Lamott

Happy New Year! I hope 2026 is a spectacular year for us all! Speaking of new year, Chinese New Year, the Year of the Horse, falls on a Tuesday, February 17^th. I’m planning on celebrating two days earlier on Sunday the 15^th. I’ll have more info for you in the next newsletter, but mark down the 15^th for our annual demo, ceremony, and banquet.

Our curriculum stays the same until after Chinese New Year, then we will be changing a few things. We will continue with section 3 of Sanshou, and then teach/review sections 1 and 2. Our Pushing Hands will focus on Willow #4, bring your notebooks! We’ll start Wudang Fencing, and continue with Double Saber drills until we go outside where we will learn the Double Saber form. Taiji Knife (Saber) with Kerchief, and Left Side Taiji Sword are on the docket. Xingyi will continue with 5 Elements and the Spear, plus Master Choi’s two person sensitivities. Bagua will continue with Swimming Dragon, Bagua sword, and begin two person sensitivities. That should keep us all busy!

Check your Patreon subscription, I’ve changed some of the Tiers. Let me know if you are in any financial hardship, I can always accommodate.

Book Suggestion= Something new! For 2026 I’d like to do something different for books, I’d like us all to read the SAME book, all year long. This year I’d like us to read The Skills & Essence of Yang Style Boxing/Martial Discussions by Huang Wenshu. You can get this from the Paul Brennan website. https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/martial-arts-discussions-by-huang-yuanxiu/

Let’s read from the beginning up to chapter 3, “Understanding How to Practice the Thirteen Dynamics.” As we read, let’s look for new information, confirm past information, look for something we can use in our practice, and what is the takeaway from this part of the book. Let’s see how it goes and try to do a zoom book club next month to discuss.

Li Jinglin, Wudang Sword Grandmaster.

I’m hopeful for another year filled with great health, new skills, deeper understanding, and outside classes! Thank you all!

 

-Sifu Ray

“The more grateful I am, the more beauty I see.”

~ Mary Davis

 

Contact info

my phone- 1-218-341-9894

 

email= skrayhayward@gmail.com

 

my Patreon page= patreon.com/rayhayward

 

 blog= rayhayward.com

 

website= mindfulmotiontaichi.com

 

Facebook= Mindful Motion Tai-Chi Academy

 

                Ray Hayward Enterprises

 

YouTube= Ray Hayward, the Inspired Teacher

 

                 Mindful Motion Tai-Chi Academy

 

 

my books at Lulu= lulu.com/spotlight/Ray_Hayward

 

 

Instagram= Ray Hayward, or, ataoistsufitemplardruidviking

 

School shirts-        https://www.zazzle.com/single_whip_chakra_tee-235016484610969225

 

My address,

5140 W. 102^nd St

#307

Bloomington, MN

55437

 

 

#rayhayward#taiji#taijiquan#taichichuan#bagua#xingyi#sword#qigong#yichuan#wudangsword#qinna#standingmeditation#taoistmeditation#taoistlove#semenretention#masterttliang#wailunchoi#mindfulmotiontaichiacademy#rayhaywardtheinspiredteacher#rayhaywardblog#sanshou#prayingmantis#karambit##pushinghands#fajing#imsak#rosslynchapel#druidry#lulubooksrayhaywardauthor#patreonrayhaywardtheinspiredteacher

 

MMTCA December Newsletter 2025

Grandmaster Wu Jianquan, 4th from left.

 

“Practicing is not only playing your instrument, either by yourself or rehearsing with others - it also includes imagining yourself practicing. Your brain forms the same neural connections and muscle memory whether you are imagining the task or actually doing it.”

~ Yo-Yo Ma

 

Chilly and snowy December greetings! Warm ups, Qigong, Solo Form practice, and cinnamon will help you keep warm.

“Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”

~ Vince Lombardi

 

Classes will continue through to December 23^rd, then we’ll be closed until January 3rd.

“Practice makes improvement, not perfection.”

~ Lauren Bateman

 

I’m looking to hold two painting parties over the break. One to finish the back stairwell, and another to paint the treads. Let me know if you want to party!

 "Practice makes perfect, but nobody's perfect, so why practice?"

~ Kurt Cobain

 

Thanks to two big pains in my backside, I’m now working on a version of the Taiji Cane that mixes using both hands, during the same form. This is not simply switching complete sides, but changing hands at different rows, and then switching hands back again. Seriously, I haven’t been this inspired in quite a while! I’m trying to get it ready for a debut at Chinese New Year, but I still need lots of work. Here is a YouTube clip about working the non-dominant hand, enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVzV0lXNhWY

 

“Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.”

~ Martha Graham 

 

Professor Zheng Manqing, Bend Bow to Shoot the Tiger.

Book Suggestion= Bong Bo by Paul Eng.

 

 

“Practice makes permanent, not perfect.”

~ Bobby Robson

 

Here is another option,

Secrets of Seven Star Praying Mantis by Lee Kam-wing

 

“Practice is how to turn knowledge into skill.”

~ Anders Ericsson

 

Our monthly Zoom Pushing Hands class will be Monday, December 22^nd 630-730PM.

“When you play, make sure you're honest enough to confront your own deficiencies. That's why practicing is a sign of morality in a musician. It means that you're willing to subject yourself to self-scrutiny of the highest order.”

~ Wynton Marsalis

 

Chinese New Year 2026 is February 17^th, the Year of the Horse. I’m looking at celebrating two days earlier on Sunday, February 15^th. If there be no objections, I’ll reserve the church and start making preparations.

“In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.”
~ Yogi Berra

 

 

Paul Brennan translation= Collected Mantis Boxing Articles by Wong Hon-fun

https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/collected-mantis-boxing-articles/

"Habit is persistence in practice."

~Octavia E. Butler

 

I usually write some kind of year end report or thoughts about the school at the close of the year. I’m doing that with this newsletter, I'm reporting on how I see your practice, both in class and on your own, shining through your Taiji and other arts. I'm glad to see you are practicing outside of class, and that some of you are scheduling practices with partners on your own time, bravo! Keep going!

“The goal of practice is always to keep our beginner’s mind.”

~ Jack Kornfield  

 

I thank you all for your continuing support and appreciation. Thank you for a great 2025, let’s make 2026 even more relaxed, sunken deeply, smooth, rooted, flowing, grounded, all in the spirit and joy of learning ... and practicing!

I bow to the ground,

Sifu Ray

 

“Everything we do is practice for something greater than where we currently are.  Practice only makes for improvement.”

~ Les Brown

 

Contact info

my phone- 1-218-341-9894

 

email= skrayhayward@gmail.com

 

my Patreon page= patreon.com/rayhayward

 

 blog= rayhayward.com

 

website= mindfulmotiontaichi.com

 

Facebook= Mindful Motion Tai-Chi Academy

 

                Ray Hayward Enterprises

 

YouTube= Ray Hayward, the Inspired Teacher

 

                 Mindful Motion Tai-Chi Academy

 

 

my books at Lulu= lulu.com/spotlight/Ray_Hayward

 

 

Instagram= Ray Hayward, or, ataoistsufitemplardruidviking

 

School shirts-        https://www.zazzle.com/single_whip_chakra_tee-235016484610969225

 

My address,

5140 W. 102^nd St

#307

Bloomington, MN

55437

#rayhayward#taiji#taijiquan#taichichuan#bagua#xingyi#sword#qigong#yichuan#wudangsword#qinna#northernprayingmantis#southernprayingmantis#standingmeditation#taoistmeditation#taoistlove#semenretention#masterttliang#wailunchoi#mindfulmotiontaichiacademy#rayhaywardtheinspiredteacher#rayhaywardblog#sanshou#tuishou#pushinghands#karambit##pushinghands#fajing#imsak#rosslynchapel#druidry#knightstemplar#freemasonry#lulubooksrayhaywardauthor#patreonrayhaywardtheinspiredteacher#youtubetheinspiredteacher

 

My first Xingyi and Bagua teacher, Master BP Chan, showing perfect balance.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

MMTCA November Newsletter 2025

Prof. Zheng Manqing, showing the perfect foot and navel alignment for Golden Rooster.

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.”

~Richard Bach

 November is upon us, the days grow short and nights are getting longer, and darker. A good time for reading, meditation, and going deep inside yourself with your practice. You are a seed, deep in the Earth…

Thank you to my subs during my Delaware Seminar, I always get good reports back on your teaching, and I’m grateful. Thank you, Margo, Julie, and Fred.

Thursday Hybrid classes start November 6^th. Here is the link and you will find the links regularly on my Patreon Page. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82282055017?pwd=La4FMOBq15lNbKJurldJNKFTUh7JbW.1

 It is with a heavy heart and a grateful spirit that I inform you of the passing of my classmate, brother, friend, and medicine man/shaman, Robert “Bob” Klanderud. Bob used to drive me to St Cloud for class with Master Liang in the early 80’s. Bob was generous in sharing his knowledge about Native American healing and spirituality. I’ll see you on the other side Hoka Hey!

No classes on Thanksgiving, Nov 27^th , but there will be classes Saturday, Nov 29^th.

People have been asking me about astrology and getting their charts read. I recommend Karen Barton, my astrologer for many years. Call Karen and make an appointment to have your chart read, get a deeper understanding of astrology, and find out some amazing things about…YOU! 

Karen Barton 612-819-8943

 

Paul Brennan translation= The Study of Xingyi Quan by Sun Lutang

https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2015/05/01/the-xingyi-manual-of-sun-lutang/

 

 I don’t usually share videos of clips in the newsletter, but this one is pure gold! It gets to the difference between pushing and punching, something we’ll be exploring in Willow #4.This is from Joe Lewis, the pioneer of full contact karate and kick boxing, and a teacher par excellence. Grandmaster Joe Lewis founded American Karate and catalogued his extensive career as a professional fighter in a system that is being taught today, years after his passing. Learn and enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eYK7wtGi2wQ

 

Book suggestion= I’ve recommended this book many times. If you don’t own it, you are in for a treat! If you already have it, take it out and give it another read, you’ll be surprised! My suggestion is,

Tai-Chi Chuan and Meditation by Da Liu

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31353852039&dest=usa&ref_=ps_ggl_18382194370&cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Trade0to10-_-product_id=COM9780805240115USED-_-keyword=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17190383930&gbraid=0AAAAAD3Y6gvl-V55XTS72D_-SBNTc5BKL&gclid=Cj0KCQiAq7HIBhDoARIsAOATDxATLcSPmYGSnyOWpgNy3i6HNcw67fN7hxgdlB0bRzgV41C22xW2W2waAnP8EALw_wcB

 

The monthly Pushing Hands Zoom class begins Monday , November 24^th. I’ll send out an invite closer to the date. If you haven’t been receiving an invite, and want to be included, email or text me.

Niu Chunming, right, student of both Yang Jianhou and Yang Chengfu.

Thank you all for journeying with me on the inward path to relaxation, awareness, and self-discovery, otherwise known as Taiji.

-Sifu Ray

 

“Help us to be ever faithful gardeners of the spirit, who know that without darkness nothing comes to birth, and without light nothing flowers.”

~ May Sarton

 

 

Contact info

my phone- 1-218-341-9894

 

email= skrayhayward@gmail.com

 

my Patreon page= patreon.com/rayhayward

 

 blog= rayhayward.com

 

website= mindfulmotiontaichi.com

 

Facebook= Mindful Motion Tai-Chi Academy

 

                Ray Hayward Enterprises

 

YouTube= Ray Hayward, the Inspired Teacher

 

                 Mindful Motion Tai-Chi Academy

 

 

my books at Lulu= lulu.com/spotlight/Ray_Hayward

 

 

Instagram= Ray Hayward, or, ataoistsufitemplardruidviking

 

School shirts-        https://www.zazzle.com/single_whip_chakra_tee-235016484610969225

 

My address,

5140 W. 102^nd St

#307

Bloomington, MN

55437

 

 

#rayhayward#taiji#taijiquan#taichichuan#bagua#xingyi#sword#qigong#yichuan#wudangsword#qinna#standingmeditation#taoistmeditation#taoistlove#semenretention#masterttliang#wailunchoi#mindfulmotiontaichiacademy#rayhaywardtheinspiredteacher#rayhaywardblog#sanshou#prayingmantis#karambit##pushinghands#fajing#imsak#rosslynchapel#druidry#lulubooksrayhaywardauthor#patreonrayhaywardtheinspiredteacher

Grandmaster Wang Ziping teaching his grand daughter the sword.