Patricia Schneider

    My name is Patricia Schneider, and I am Angela and Victor’s world-wide organizer. I live in Yellow Springs, Ohio and St. John, Virgin Islands.  Chances are if you have attended a Course in Greece, a retreat in Mexico, the Women’s Retreat in Harbin, the UnTrainings in Yellow Springs….or have just been curious about Angela and Victor’s work, we have communicated via phone or email or in person.

      I met Angela and Victor in a 5 day workshop in Florida in 1986.  It was a life-changing experience for me.  I was a new and enthusiastic and hungry-for-knowledge yoga teacher in 1986; having been ‘trained’ and ‘certified’. With my background in nursing, and training in Yoga, I felt pretty good about the course I was on - but something was missing.  While I was a strong practitioner and knew all the postures, there was emptiness in my asana practice and a yearning for truth and the real essence of yoga.  I shed tears of great joy after my first class in that workshop because something deep inside of me was awakening.  I felt like a child who had just been given permission to explore the most amazing landscape!  I gave my body permission to move, my breath permission to be free and my spirit permission to explore.  Finally my body felt connected with the rest of me and I began a journey that continues to this day 

     My husband  Andrew and I were newlyweds at that workshop, our first big yoga workshop together. The wave-like fluidity of Angela and Victor teaching together was awe-inspiring!  We began teaching together several months later at a Whole-Brain Conference, on a beach in Key West.  22 years later we are still teaching together in Yellow Springs, Ohio and the US Virgin Islands where we winter on our sailboat, ‘Here Comes The Sun’.  I also teach classes, workshops and retreats for women.

     A few years later Angela and Victor were looking for someone to step in as their organizer.  I said, “I can do that!” What began as a way to help Angela and Victor connect with students has grown into an awesome job that I love.   How could it be better than that!  Well…..I also assist Angela at various women’s retreats; and  love the connections with the students and the opportunity to serve and share in the process of their discovery.  

     And each year Andrew and I travel to Greece to take one or more of the Courses in Eftalou.  These longer courses give us the opportunity to unwind and let go.  It's an amazing experience, doing yoga for 2 or 3 weeks for 4 1/2 hours a day!  Through Angela and Victor’s teachings, inspiration, and friendship I have discovered much about myself…and I love that the strength, inquiry and joy I feel on my mat also flows into my daily life.  For me that is the essence of yoga.

     I am also the ‘muse’ behind a technology that Andrew invented called  Brainfingers, for severely disabled people to help them communicate via their computer – hands free. We’ve just licensed the technology for video game control which will mean affordable technology for the disabled as well as a very cool way for game players to discover themselves. If you’d like to read more about this, please see our website:  www.brainfingers.com   (Yes, that is where the brainfingers.com  email address comes from!)

     My life is made even more delightful by 4 grandchildren who call me Nana.  Breanna will be a 1st year med student, Allie is 14, Joseph is 8 and Sydney is 6.  Their light and energy are contagious; I laugh a lot with them.  What a joy it is be to be part of their happy lives!   

     I travel frequently, but always stay connected with cell phone and email.  If we haven’t met yet, I look forward to connecting with you soon.

Some pictures and notes from the Yellow Springs workshops.

For a complete schedule of future sessions taught by Angela and Victor, click on workshops.