Excerpt from "Mindfulness In Motion, Celebrating 40 years of Sifu Ray Hayward's Taiji in Minnesota"

(Some photos missing, for the complete essay get my book at Lulu.com)

Photo Essay. 

By Ray Hayward

“Now you know this solo form. Externally it is ok, but internally a lot of things you have to remember. Externally the postures may be correct, but internally quite incorrect. Something may not be quite right. You must presume you have an opponent in front of you. Some energy must be at the top of your head all the time to suspend it. Also, use intrinsic energy, do not be double-weighted – a lot of things. You have to know how to breathe, at what point do you inhale or exhale, what time to push -a lot of things you have to know.”

-Master T.T. Liang (quote about my solo form from 1981)

Sifu Ray's first Push photo in Lynnfield Mass 1977.

On Labor Day of 1984, I had a set of photos of my Solo Form taken at East River Flats Park. I wanted to see my Solo Form from the outside and make corrections and refinements. I have taken other sets throughout the years, and my Sword Form a few times as well. This year, 2024, I’m taking another set of photos again for corrections, refinement, and something else, to catalogue and witness what 40 years of learning, practicing, and teaching Taiji has done to my form and my body. Of course it’s only the outside you can see, but I can tell you about some of my inner changes. Some of my oldest friends, classmates, and students can address any changes to my personality and temperament. Here is some of what I see from both looking at the outside and knowing myself from the inside.

” Only rebels can get something.”

-Master T.T. Liang

After years of learning, practicing, and teaching, I started to have my own ideas about my form. My experience started to influence how I moved. Studying with Master Liang, he always encouraged me to find my own way, my own Solo Form. He would point out how the Yang’s family and their advanced students all did their forms a little bit differently. The sequences were the same, the principles and the classics were the same, but the execution and flavor became personal.

“Do you still have a black and white T.V.?”

-Grandmaster Wai-lun Choi

When I began to study with Grandmaster Wai-lun Choi, he always taught that I should have my applications fit modern fighting, not the old-fashioned fighting of decades ago. For instance, he told me to adapt the applications for boxing and wrestling, plus Thai Kickboxing leg kicks, which is how most people fight nowadays. Not to teach applications for kung-fu strikes, or Bagua and Taiji attacks. He also encouraged me to investigate sports, health, and breath sciences so I could improve the training methods.

Studying with my two main teachers, I had the wonderful dilemma of having more than one right answer! Both masters, Liang and Choi, had different mechanics for movement, stances, and applications in the Solo Form. For instance, Liang’s methods were more for pushing, whereas Choi’s were more for punching. I blended Master Liang’s “Whole Body as One Unit,” which is mostly for pushing, with Master Choi’s “9 Joint Harmony,” (which I call 9 Joint Unity) mostly for striking.

Master Liang taught that the spine should be plumb erect. Master Choi said I should always be aware of the invisible plumbline of gravity going through my body and stance. I call these plumb spine and plumbline. For Liang, the plumbline and the spine were always together. For Choi, the plumbline and the spine were together when the weight was on the back foot, or you were standing up, otherwise the spine was forward of plumb.  Over the last twenty years I gradually synthesized both master’s methods into my own Solo Form, without violating the classics, the theories, the principles, or my master’s generous teachings.

1984- Looking at my postures, you can see that I was working on getting low, strong stances, gaining a root, and strengthening my legs. Master Liang always complimented me on my low stances and agile footwork. I was kicking high for strength and self-defense. I worked a lot on long power and every aspect of shifting and transferring weight. The other thing I worked on was getting the heights, measurements, angles, counts, and directions correct. My frame was large to medium.   I felt that if I got the externals correct, they would influence my internal and technique as well. Internally I was working on exact breathing patterns to circulate energy and had, and still have, many experiences of the movement of chi, and heat/cold/tingling/rushing sensations throughout my body during the form. I also worked on having the feeling and awareness of the presence of an opponent in front of me while I worked through applications in my mind.

Of the twin foundations of relax and sink, in those early days I was primarily working on sink.

2024- Looking at my postures today, you can see my emphasis is on how the postures feel, as opposed to how they look. I am working on unity, 9 Joint Unity, or whole-body coordination, which leads me to now work mainly on short power. I am not concerned with my spine being plumb, but I am working with the ever-constant plumbline of gravity passing through my body and structure. I’m more forward now, using Master Choi’s simple alignment of having my head over a foot. When I’m front weighted, I’m forward having a foot under my head. When I’m back weighted, I am plumb and have my head, hips, and foot in a vertical line.

I kick high now for flexibility and range of motion. I am working on “under breathing” and letting my natural breath patterns adjust to what they need. I try not to bother, interfere, or manage my breathing, and let my breath do whatever my Solo Form demands.

I have three ways I work my Solo Form, slow, flow, and low. The first decades I mostly worked on going slow, taking up to forty minutes to do the solo form and doing the stances as low as I could. Now I mostly work on flow, and that takes me between twenty to twenty-five minutes for a round. I also used to train holding postures for a long time, but now I hold for a much shorter time. My frame is mostly medium, and some small. Internally I am working on being natural, and letting my spirit guide my body. Witnessing chi movement as opposed to trying to direct or lead where it goes.

Of the twin foundations of relax and sink, these days I ‘m primarily working on relax.

 “Loyalty to a style or form keeps you from making changes for the better.”

-Grandmaster Wai-lun Choi

Raise the Curtain