XML : Using non-namespaces element names from imported schema?

I have created a schema that imports the XHTML 1.1 Strict schema. Many of my elements leverage the block and inline groups in the XHTML schema.

The problem that I am having is that the XML document I create must use the XHTML namespace in order to successfully validate.

  <example    xmlns="http://example.com/example.xsd"    xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">    <myElement>      <xhtml:p>This is my <xhtml:strong>paragraph</xhtml:strong>.</xhtml:p>    </myElement>  </example>    

What I would like to do instead is not require the use of the XHTML namespace in my XML documents.

  <example xmlns="http://example.com/example.xsd">    <myElement>      <p>This is my <strong>paragraph</strong>.</p>    </myElement>  </example>    

Is something like this possible?