Laura Schmalzl, PhD
Laura Schmalzl is a clinical neuropsychologist, cognitive neuroscientist and yoga therapist. For the past decade, Laura has been combining her background in psychology and neuroscience, with her passion for yoga as a healing modality. She believes that western science and eastern wisdom traditions beautifully complement each other in their perspectives on how we function as human beings, and that combined they provide a powerful integrative toolbox for healing and personal development.
In her career as a researcher, Laura was primarily interested in understanding the mechanisms through which yoga-based practices impact body awareness, emotional self-regulation and cognitive functioning. As an educator, she implemented yoga as an experiential learning tool within the neuroscience curriculum for medical students. Laura also served as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Yoga Therapy for six years, and has been part of the contemplative faculty for the Mind & Life Institute for three years.
Laura’s vocational trajectory took a turn, largely influenced by the experience of assisting her mother in her journey of dying from cancer, and by how her own yoga practice helped her through that process. After two decades in academia and several years of being a yoga instructor, she decided to devote herself to further clinical training in yoga therapy with a particular interest in assisting individuals as they navigate major life transitions. This led Laura to her current vocation as an integrative mind-body therapist and she never looked back.
In her work with clients, privately and on retreats, Laura’s purpose is to empower individuals to take an active part in their healing journey and find renewed purpose in their lives through psychological counseling, life coaching and specifically targeted yoga practices. The practices are informed by a neuroscience and yoga therapy framework, and aimed at restoring balance within the physical, mental and emotional “layers” of the human system.
Laura is also a faculty member and mentor for YogaX, a yoga certification program for healthcare professionals at Stanford School of Medicine (https://www.yogaxteam.com), as well the Optimal State Yoga Therapy School (https://theoptimalstate.com).
For more information see: https://www.lauraschmalzl.com
Laura provided instruction and guidance on our first Moving through Grief retreat.
Offerings
Laura Schmalzl’s work combines clinical experience, western science and eastern wisdom traditions, giving her a very broad perspective and rich toolset for working with people from all walks of life.
Laura offers an integrative approach to healing and personal development informed by psychology, neuroscience and yoga therapy that addresses the five layers of the human system – physical, energetic, mental, emotional and spiritual. Her goal is to help clients regulate their nervous system so that they can regain resilience and navigate life transitions while experiencing stability through change.
With every client Laura perform a detailed intake and assessment from a yoga therapy perspective based on the five layers of the human system. She then offers personalized therapeutic sessions that involve dialogue and reflection as well as movement, breathwork and attention regulation. The sessions are supported by a program of daily home practices that allow clients to become an active agent in their healing and personal development journey.
Laura’s purpose is to help her clients “come home” to themselves, and to empower them to create the life they want to experience.
Single 90 minute session: $250
For information about session packages see: https://www.lauraschmalzl.com