Jaime Stover Schmitt- Founder and Director of Spanda® Yoga Movement Therapy
Dr. Schmitt is a pioneer in the field of yoga therapy, having been in private practice for the past thirty years. Her unique perspective was cultivated by H.H. Sri Swami Rama over several decades. He encouraged her to gather the nectar from her various related studies and apply it to the development and exposition of this approach. Some of the complementary methods in which Dr. Schmitt is certified are: Body-Mind Centering Somatic Education, Laban Movement Analysis, Cranial-Sacral Therapy, Infant Developmental Movement, Alexander Technique, Fitness Training, Ideokinesis, Authentic Movement, and various types of massage. Her doctorate in education is in dance/movement studies.

Dr. Schmitt received further mentorship from Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Ph.D., Spiritual Head of the Himalayan Institute, Rudolph Ballentine, M.D., HI’s former president and clinical director, and Joan Harrigan, Psy.D., former HI faculty clinician, all of who are or were leading teachers in the Himalayan Tradition. Through Dr. Harrigan, Jaime continued study with H.H. Sri Swami Chandrasekharanand Sarasvati, preceptor of the related branch of Traditional Kundalini Science.

Dr. Schmitt now serves on the International Association of Yoga Therapists Accreditation Committee, which evaluates yoga therapy training programs. Having served on the Yoga Alliance’s board of directors and standards committee, Dr. Schmitt participated in writing the standards used worldwide for yoga teacher trainings.

She’s been a contributor to Yoga Journal, Yoga International Magazine, and A Moving Journal, and is the editor-in-chief of The Journal of Authentic Movement and Somatic Inquiry. She’s written Yoga for Pregnancy (HI Press), Yogini’s Kitchen: A Recipe Book of Healthy Vegetarian Cuisine, and Every Woman’s Yoga (Prima/Random House), which has been translated into several languages.