Tai Chi is coming to the Student Recreation and Wellness Center.

The class will meet every Wednesday from 1 to 2 p.m. starting Feb. 7 and continuing through March 14.

“The reason that I’m offering it as a six week session is to survey the interest,” said Becky Wilber, SRWC assistant director. “Is it just expressed interest or is it really invested interest?”

Class size is limited to 15 people and spots are filling up fast. E-mail Wilber at [email protected] by Wednesday, Feb. 7 to sign up for the class. Wilber said individuals missing more than one class may be dropped from the roster and replaced by the first person on the waiting list for the class.

“Tai Chi is one of those activities you’re going to benefit more from it the more you take it because it’s progressive learning,” said Wilber. “You start out with some basic poses and then move on to step two and three and progress on.”

The instructor of the class will be Vickie Jacobs, a Tai Chi instructor for the Physical Education department.

“Tai Chi will benefit them in a variety of ways: better circulation, balance, relaxation,” said Jacobs, who has taught Tai Chi at Washburn since 2002. “It’s an internal exercise to strengthen ligaments and tendons. It also helps your mind focus on what you’re doing.”

Jacobs said Tai Chi has been around since before the Ming Dynasty. Tai Chi was practiced by five families, and the specific one Jacobs will focus on is the Yang family style, which is meant for health and longevity.

“What I’ll be teaching in this class is different from what I teach for my Washburn classes,” said Jacobs. “In this class I’ll be teaching a 16-step form the five families just created last year. I went to Canada where the five grandmasters came out of China and I learned it directly from them. I specifically learned the 16-form from the 4th generation Yang Master, Yang Zhen Duo.”