Growing up as a military "brat" from the 50`s thru to the early 70`s and with my father being reassigned to a new base every 2 - 3 years, I had to learn at a very early age how to defend myself, especially being the smallest kid in class from Kinder to Junior High. Every new location meant another test for the pecking order among the young male, military dependents.

Initially I learned my earliest martial skills from my father, who came from a family of boxers and street fighters, in the West Texas & Northern New Mexico area.

Of course like many others of my generation, watchin` films with Sonny Chiba, Bruce Lee, Billy Jack (Tom Laughlin) even that actor David Carradine from the famous "Kung Fu" TV series lured me towards a study of the Asian Martial arts, a desire that shaped my life more than I would have ever imagined.

Theologically, I was raised a Catholic but early on in my life I longed for more than just Sunday mass. After much reading, searching and 20+ years of belonging to various religions and philosophical view points, I found myself back at square 1, with a Buddisht/Christian/Taoist perspective on life that allows spirituality wherever I want, not just in a building designated for this. But I digress...

Enlisting in the USAF during Viet Nam and getting married at 18 plus having two daughters almost immediately, slowed my journey down the more disciplined martial path.

However....

As time went on I was able to study everything from Okinawan/Chinese Tiger Crane Kung Fu to Shaolin Chuan, some Kali Escrima, Jui Jitsu, Aikido and even hung around a couple of years with an ex-Special Forces Gent, a Master of Kai Ki Do. Pile all this on top of a childhood of having more than my share of fights.

While studying, training and or teaching 7 days a week I happened to catch a PBS special on a funny lookin` art called Tai Chi. If my memory serves me right, the show had Robert Klein doing a moving push hands routine which I found intriguing and a l`il strange looking.

Little did I know how much of an effect this public TV broadcast would have on me.

When approaching one of my teachers and asking what he knew about this "Tai Chi stuff," his eyes grew large and asked me where I heard about this art. This was in the early 80`s in El Paso, TX. Tai Chi, although already well known on the East & West coasts, was virtually unheard of in this far west Texas town.

I told him what I saw and he expressed an awe as he told me about high level Tai Chi Masters and their fighting skills that he had seen and met in Asia. I was hooked, my teacher at that time was a very good martial artist and if he felt this way about these Tai Chi Chuan Masters, I had to find me one! The problem was there were few if any Tai Chi teachers in El Paso at that time and you couldn`t find info on them anywhere, not yellow pages, nothing.

One day a fellow worker sent me a copy of the El Paso Times with and article on a local Shaolin Master who supposedly taught a form of Tai Chi...I was there !!! Problem was I had only seen a snippet of that push hands stuff on TV and had no idea what to expect. As time went I spent the next several years learning Shaolin and what I thought was Tai Chi, turns out that wasn`t necessarily the case. At this same time I was reading a book by Master T.T. Liang called "Tai Chi & Health" and I started to realize that much of what he was expressing in his book was not being taught at my Shaolin Master`s school. I was confused. But as the Tao flows, a young woman and fellow student, showed me a piece of paper with something about Tai Chi classes scribbled on it. I called the number listed and was overjoyed when I heard expressions that were echoing Master Liang`s book. I was on the path to being a Tai Chi fighter.....

Now, nearly 20 years later I have had the great fortune to study with many fine Tai Chi teachers, Masters & fellow students - including my own - who continue to inspire me to learn, teach and share an art that not only taught me many new and wonderful physical skills but an ability to help others gain health and power even into old age. As a matter of course, a move that seemed very natural because of the energy work involved in Tai Chi, I`ve become a Reiki Master as well.

Remember, I started this Tai Chi because I wanted to be a better Martial Artist, that was all, but after all the good I saw it do over many years of teaching, I had no recourse but to make it my life`s work.

Don`t get me wrong, I still enjoy the martial side of things, however, being a good fighter is not as rewarding as helping someone walk again, or helping them to overcome various maladies. At the risk of sounding corny, I count myself doubly blessed.

I consider myself a Texan, although I was born in Albuquerque: "Hey! I got here as fast as I could" ....

Thanks for reading and visiting my site, please feel free to contact me if I can be of any help.

Best regards and have a healthy and happy - long life. Ray