Wellness Classes Return to Vancouver Campus!

Starting on October 18, in-person Wellness Classes will once again be offered out of the SFU Vancouver Wellness Studio! SFU’s Vancouver campus prioritizes wellness programming and aims to improve the health and well-being of students, staff, and faculty through a variety of free events, workshops, and classes.

Wellness programming began in 2013 with the goal of providing the Vancouver campus community with access to free, convenient, and fun class options that would also positively influence physical and mental health. Claudia Wang, Director of Campus Administration, says: “Since unlike the Burnaby campus, we do not have a large gym or swimming pool at the Vancouver campus, we saw a need and an opportunity to provide health and wellness programming options for our students, staff, and faculty.

“We not only wanted to provide a means to improve physical and mental well-being, we also wanted to create opportunities for our community members to come together and connect. We wanted to bring people out of the classroom or office to meet one another, catch up and have a conversation, share a laugh—all while getting some movement in!

“We started yoga and Zumba classes in Harbour Centre 2910, before it was renovated into the current Gerontology Multi-Purpose Lab. We had also used spaces from the UM level of Harbour Centre to the 17th floor of the Harbour Centre Tower, before the current space became available. Athletics and Recreation and Health and Counselling Services partnered with our office on the design and build of the Wellness Studio.”

The first classes offered back in 2013 were Yoga and Zumba, and since then, we’ve offered a wide variety of classes including: Flow and Power Flow Yoga, Active Stretch, Vinyasa Yoga, Hatha/Yin Yoga, Mindfulness Meditation, Hatha/Core Yoga, Yogalates, Barre Ballet Body, Zumba, and Gentle Yoga/Yoga for 55+. Classes have primarily been offered over the lunch hour and during the COVID-19 pandemic, we shifted and ran many of these classes online.

We’re thrilled to introduce a new class offering this semester with Tai Chi! Participants will learn the basic stances of Tai Chi and will leave the session feeling reinvigorated, with better focus and balance. This class is for absolute beginners, with no experience in Tai Chi.

Our other beginner-friendly class offering is Hatha Yoga. A combination of flexibility, strength, balance, movement, and stillness will be used throughout the class. Participants will leave feeling more grounded, energized, and balanced between body and mind.

Classes run from October 18-November 30 on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 12:30-1:15pm. All classes take place in the SFU Vancouver Wellness Studio, located at Harbour Centre, room 2530, and are free and open to SFU students, staff, and faculty. All participants must fill out an Athletics & Recreation Waiver once per academic year (September-August).

Visit our Wellness Classes webpage for more information and to see the full class schedule!