Our Instructors
The Tacoma Tai Chi and Qigong Wellness Center was founded in 1993 by a student of Master Lin Mogen, who was widely known for his skill in push hands.
The Center offers the traditional Yang family Tai Chi pattern under the auspices of Master Lin Mogen, a fifth generation exponent of Yang family Tai Chi. Master Lin learned from Master Li Yaxuan who learned from Yang Chengfu, who learned from Yang Jian Hou, and who in turn, learned from Yang Lu Chan the founder of Yang style Tai Chi.
This lineage is known for its fluid and relaxed movement in Yang style Tai Chi, and for its grounding in healing arts.
Bryan Smith - Lead Instructor
Bryan Smith is trained in Standard Chinese Tai Chi Chuan and the Traditional Yang Family Style Tai Chi Chuan. He began studying under Sifu Lily Qin in 1996 and was named, by her, as Lead Instructor of the Tai Chi and Qigong Wellness Center in 2008.
Bryan, while at the Center, has also trained with Bill Mc Cabe a master of a hard-style art based on animal movements and a Martial Arts polymath.
When teaching, Bryan likes to focus on the details his teachers shared with him while incorporating descriptions of the feeling of flow that accompanies good Tai Chi. He is technically minded and enjoys teaching both beginners as well as those with more experience and skill.
Sid Olufs
Sid Olufs first studied Tai Chi with Lily Qin beginning in 2002 and has continued his studies with Master Xie Bingcan, noted for his skill at push hands, knowledge of the healing arts, and his self-defense teaching. Sid, while at the Center, has also had the opportunity to train with Bill Mc Cabe, a master of an eclectic martial arts tradition taking insight from the close observation and study of animal instincts and movements.
One other significant influence on Sid is the somatic meditation teachings of Reggie Ray and Callista Brown. Body awareness in meditation is a significant part of Tai Chi. This combination of soft and relatively hard approaches enlarges our possibilities with Tai Chi. Some of us may be interested in better balance and more resilient joints and tendons, and other health benefits. Some of us may wish to develop self-defense skills. There are many possible ways to make Tai Chi part of one’s life.
Kat Wood
Kat Wood (she/her) first learned Tai Chi while studying abroad in Ireland in 2001 and has been practicing at the Tacoma Tai Chi and Qigong Wellness Center since 2005. She learned the Yang Style Long Form from Master Lily Qin and apprenticed to teach the 24 forms under Carrie Washburn. Kat owes her skills as a teacher and her love of teaching tai chi to Carrie’s loving mentorship.
Kat has been teaching the 24 forms for many years at the center and loves this form for its brevity and its accessibility to beginners and returning students alike. Tai chi is the first form of meditation that Kat studied and still feels that this moving meditation has something to offer everyone such as relaxation, balance, and focus.
Bobbi Youtcheff
Bobbi has been honored to study Tai Chi with both Lily Qin and Bill Mc Cabe over many years. She has also trained in Okinawa, Japan for the Japanese sword.
Most recently, she has been teaching Senior Fitness and Tai Chi Movement for Better Balance. Her approach to teaching is broad and comes through a sense of light-heartedness and play.
Bill Mc Cabe
Bill is a lifetime student and researcher of the Eastern Arts, and the metaphysics underpinning them. His history includes a four decades long program centered in Tacoma, some of whose participants have become masters in their own right. In mid-life he committed to further explorations of the internal arts and how they informed all varieties of movement. A full detail of his background and experience can be viewed/downloaded at this link: https://ironcrane.com/html/ic_lineage.html
Abrian Curington
Abrian learned tai chi from the ground up with self-study, starting with the Yang 10 Form. She then studied various tai chi forms with Bobbi Youtcheff, Bill Mc Cabe, Sid Olufs and Bryan Smith, all the while studying and self-teaching other forms via translated books. Though she began teaching Tai Chi at the Wellness Center in 2019, her interest lies in Baguazhang, which she started teaching in 2025. She teaches from a perspective of chronic pain and hypermobility, straying from common internal martial arts language and direction that may lead to body misalignment.
Jeffrey Daniel
Jeffrey has been a devoted student of Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong for over 18 years and is interested in helpin active adults with body pain and chronic health issues stay active and gain more stability, balance, vitality, and ease with stationary and moving meditative practices. He offers his students a new perspective to relearn their movement and reconnect them with their body and mind. Combining his many years of knowledge and study as a Tai Chi player with his training as a Certified Reiki Master Teacher, his unique approach folds in intuitive holistic healing and allows his students to become more aware of themselves and gain a deeper sense of well-being and harmony in their everyday life.
Members of the Board
Sid Olufs
Shelley Skinner
Chee Tung
Jane Trancho
Melissa McGinnis
Janel Krilich
Rob Roy
Kat Wood