She travelled to Thailand in 1988, taking a meditation retreat which included hatha yoga.

Returning to San Francisco, she studied Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga under Larry Schultz, Tim Miller, Danny Paradise and Richard Freeman.

She injured her back while learning Ashtanga's Third Series, and turned towards therapeutic yoga.

[1] Gates ran a studio called The Yoga Garden in San Anselmo, California.

[2] In 2006 she published a book, Yogini, on leading and pioneering women in yoga, including Nischala Joy Devi, Donna Farhi, Angela Farmer, Lilias Folan, Sharon Gannon (co-founder of Jivamukti Yoga), Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, Judith Hanson Lasater, Sarah Powers, Shiva Rea, and Rama Jyoti Vernon.