Book Review by John Stitely

 

I write this review as one of Sifu Hayward’s devoted and grateful

students, so a certain bias should be expected. The new book,

Harmony in Motion, is a retrospective of a forty year career of Ray

Hayward teaching Tai Chi Chuan. Forty years is a full career in most

professions, though to my knowledge he intends to continue. This

represents a milestone of one teacher in the eternal process of learning,

developing and passing on skills to a new generation, as has been done

since time immemorial. The acquisition of these skills has always

required a huge amount of time and dedication. As modernity has

advanced the number of people who can teach these skills has shrunk

with each generation. Sifu Hayward is one of the few from the second

half of the 20th Century who have learned those skills from the previous

generation. He has diligently taught the willing to produce another

generation.

 

The bulk of the book consist of essays by his disciples That represent

the Seventh generation of Yang style Tai Chi Chuan. In it they describe

their experience of both his depth and extraordinary quality of teaching,

and that his character and kindness is on par with his skill. His teaching

has been transformative for many more people whose voices appear in

the book. The book itself is the product and inspiration of several of his

disciples who urged the creation of the book and did a very large

amount of the actual work. As such, it is largely a testimonial of his

students in honor of their Teacher.

 

About a third of the book is Sifu Hayward’s comments and a summary of

his system of teaching the skill of pushing hands. One of Sifu

Hayward’s many skills is the rare ability to both perform at a high level

and teach clearly to those who do not have the skill. His section on

push hands is itself remarkable. It does not reveal unknown practices,

but does present those skills in an organized progression. His method is

teach these skills into five progressive stages so that the drills are

learned in a comprehensive and comprehensible fashion. I am

unaware of anyone who has laid out push hands training in this sort of

clear format. This alone may be worth the price of the book for many

serious students of Tai Chi Chuan.

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