Student of the Month - Tory Schmitz
It just makes sense that Tory, whose 41-year career in nursing included six years in patient safety, would align herself with Iyengar yoga: all that precision and attention to detail is a perfect match for her careful and dedicated nature.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Tory and her family moved to the Netherlands when she was four because of her father’s job with Shell Oil. A shy and introverted child, she was enrolled in a Montessori school, surrounded by Dutch-speaking children. Her mother, observing Tory’s struggle to fit in, offered this challenge: “My mom knew how much I wanted a birthday party, so she said that if I was able to communicate well enough in Dutch to invite my school friends to celebrate my birthday, I could have a party.” Tory rose to the occasion and accomplished her goal. “I’m pretty determined, once I make up my mind to do something!”
Two years later, her dad’s job again dictated a move, this time to the San Francisco Bay area of California. During the decade the family lived there, Tory and her two siblings discovered competitive swimming, at which Tory excelled. She still likes to swim, although she admits there’s nothing like swimming outdoors with all that California sunshine. With a laugh, Tory shared another example of her shyness: “In second grade, as a new student, the teacher introduced me to the class as Cory. I was too bashful to correct her, so I lived with that pseudonym until the first parent meeting.”
After her freshman year in high school, another job transfer for her dad brought the family across the country to Connecticut; competitive swimming was not a fun option, and Tory channeled her energy into art. Drawing and painting became a focus, an interest that drew her to attend Oberlin College because of its Liberal Arts program and its social activism. “It was the late 60s, and I became involved in protests against the Viet Nam war and the other social movements of my generation.”
Call it a symptom of those unsettled times, but Tory chose to leave Oberlin and return home, which now was in Houston, Texas. “I felt a bit lost at the time, trying to figure out what I wanted to do, so I took a job in a hospital, scheduling surgeries.” After a year, she followed her then-boyfriend to Boston, and began work at Massachusetts General Hospital. Three years later, travel again called to her, and she moved to Houston…and wait for it…stayed there for the next 40 years! “The weather was hot and miserably humid, and I didn’t think I’d stay, but I found a unit clerk job at a small rehab hospital that was part of the Texas Medical Center.” She realized she felt at home in a hospital setting, and decided to pursue a career in nursing. “I was always a good student. I liked science, and I like being challenged to learn new things.” Tory completed a 4-year nursing program at Texas Women’s University, and earned her degree.
“Although I’m an introvert, I found that I enjoyed the one-to-one connecting with people that a nurse experiences. Throughout my career, I worked in direct patient care, nursing education, and eventually management. In all those positions, I understood that a big part of my job was to interpret information to people, whether they were patients, family, or staff. That was the thread in all the hospital roles that I performed.” Much to her surprise, her favorite job was in management. “I became a critical care director at a Magnet Hospital, with 100 great people reporting to me.” The Magnet hospital program gives healthcare organizations the opportunity to meet standards of excellence in a number of areas related to the quality of patient care. Due to its ability to “magnetically” attract and retain highly-qualified professional nurses, the Magnet hospital designation, which only six percent of American hospitals have earned, increases excellence for the hospital, its nursing team and, in turn, its patients.
Outside of her challenging jobs, her personal life was in full bloom, too: by the time she finished her Masters program in nursing education, Tory was married with two kids. When her husband Mike retired in 2008, they began to consider relocating. Her parents had moved to Durham, and Tory and Mike had visited Asheville a few times. They finally made the big move in 2012, but Tory was not ready to retire. “I found a job at Mission Hospital as a Patient Safety Nurse Specialist, part of a team creating a new department from the ground up. The goal was to develop processes that standardize practice, minimize opportunity for errors, and enhance quality of care. This job felt in many ways like the culmination of so many of my previous jobs in healthcare. “
Consistent with Tory’s propensity to have a plan, she did what she calls a “slow taper,” and retired gradually in 2018. “This helped the department figure out how to cover the work I was doing, and gave me a chance to discover what life without a demanding job was all about.”
So where in all this busy life did yoga find its way in? “Back in Houston, about 12 years ago, a friend took me to an alignment-based yoga class in our neighborhood and I really enjoyed it. The teacher recommended that we all take a 3-month level 1 series of classes at the Houston Iyengar Yoga Studio. I did, and I was soon hooked.” Tory was thrilled to discover so many excellent Iyengar teachers in AsheviIle and dove right in. “I really like the clear instructions and the focus on taking care of yourself, and not doing asana in a fast and sloppy way where injury can happen. The precision of placing your attention on your big toe or your inner knee is a huge benefit for me—it gets me out of my head and into my body, into the present moment. And as I age, I feel the increasing importance of posture, balance, flexibility, strength, and a quiet mind.”
Recently Tory has rediscovered her enjoyment of expressing herself in artistic ways: she’s started to do some embroidery, developing her own designs. The precision of embroidery suits her, and she’s excited to explore her creative side.
Tory is full of surprises. She’s still an avid swimmer and she loves to hike. Who knows? She might brush up on her Dutch. This friendly and caring yogini is open to try new things: Just don’t call her Cory.