About Patricia Schmidt and PLS Yoga

PLS YOGA: Pelvic Health and Wellness

I founded PLS Yoga in 2014 to serve people living with pelvic floor dysfunction and disease. I also specialize in working with those living with trauma, chronic pain, cancer, and musculoskeletal considerations related to pelvic health (hip and knee, foot, lower back pain).

PLS YOGA: My Practice

In the late ‘90s, I began studying yoga seriously as an outlet for the stress of graduate school. I loved the athleticism and discipline of a dedicated Astanga practice. The benefits and tradition of Astanga continue to inform all aspects of my relationship with yoga, but I now practice and teach a more fluid style of hatha yoga that is deeply influenced by therapeutic considerations, by embodied, somatic movement practices, and by my own needs on any given day. I practice to find ease in my own body, and I encourage my students to do the same.

Every day, I incorporate elements of SATYA practice (see below), fascial release, asana (yoga postures) and rest, as well as meditation. I incorporate Ayurvedic considerations into my daily schedule, and I encourage my loved ones to do the same as we build a yogic family life.

PLS YOGA: My Backstory

In 2009, I transitioned out of life as a university professor. I began working at a charity in London serving women and children living with HIV. It was immediately apparent to me what yoga offered in terms of a therapeutic and spiritual practice, and this was the first time I began to consider yoga as therapy, as something other than an athletic endeavor. Many of our service members were trauma survivors. This--coupled with my own experiences with fertility and motherhood, my friends' and family members' experiences with pelvic dysfunction, pain and disease--began to direct me toward the pelvis. 

PLS Yoga: My Teachers and Training

I have benefited from over 20 years of yoga study with gifted, knowledgeable, and loving teachers. Some of these wonderful people include Eric Powell, Gingi Lee, Ingrid Lewis, Maritza, and Paul and Suzee Grilley. After returning home to California in 2013, I completed a Yin Yoga immersion with Christy Brown and a formal RYT200 hr teacher training with my beloved guru Nubia Teixeira. Even at this stage, I took an emphasis on yoga to support pelvic floor health.  

I completed Leslie Howard's Pelvic Floor Teacher Training (2014), as well as further advanced pelvic floor training with her in 2016, and hold additional (YA-)certifications in yoga for cancer survivors (Dr. Ingrid Yang; Lorien Neargardner), yoga for hypermobility/deceptive flexibility (Kaya Mindlin), Adaptive Yoga (Lorien Neargardner), and Pelvic Fascia (Eric Franklin). I am also a level 3 certified SATYA teacher, through the Prajna School (Tias and Surya Little): SATYA is an acronym for Somatic Awarenesss Training for Yoga Asana, and includes many floor-based, slide and glide movements that encourage increased levels of proprioception and interoception in the practitioner. This practice forms a significant part of my provision for those working with trauma.

In accordance with the developing Yoga Alliance regulations on yoga therapy, I completed my RYT500 hr YA certification, and a separate Level 1 IAYT Yoga Therapy certification in 2016 under the expert guidance of Robin Gueth and her faculty at The Stress Management Center of Marin (Kaya Mindlin-Svaroopa yoga; Lynn Weinberger-Viniyoga; Simone de Winter-Ayurveda).  In 2017, I was honoured to study pre- and post-natal yoga formally with Jane Austin (Mama Tree Prenatal Yoga certification (Level 1)), and to assist her prenatal partners workshop. I continue to study with Nubia Teixeira (Bhakti traditions and philosophy), Kaya Mindlin (yoga philosophy), Linda Spackman (Sanskrit and chanting), Tias and Surya Little (Prajna/SATYA embodiment practice), and Eric Franklin (pelvic fascia; dynamic movement and imagery). Currently I hold the certifications of C-IAYT, E-RYT500hr and YACEP.