BEHIND THE SCENES
It was 7+ years ago now that Jackie and I had sought out the instruction and guidance of Tony Sanchez, a renown and humble disciple of Bikram Choudhury from the 70’s. Tony had recently sold his yoga studio of 20 years in San Francisco and moved to Baja in order to cultivate his personal practice and vision of the future of the Ghosh Yoga Lineage. Tony’s approach to this influential lineage of yoga made intuitive sense to me. After only a few days with him I realized how his approach to Hatha Yoga was balanced, sustainable, aligned and therapeutic. He was like no other teacher that I had worked with in the greater Ghosh community. Needless to say those few weeks planted seeds in me and inspired me to learn and grow. At the time I had no idea how much I would grow.
As it turned out soon after my time with Tony my growth was stunted with a life changing back injury, via a snowmobile. The back injury twisted and turned my life upside down and challenged me to no end. I spent countless hours and many years working with yoga teachers, physical therapists, osteopaths, physiatrists, acupuncturists, massage therapists, pain experts and many more struggling to find a way back into a pain free practice. After 5 years of intense personal study and recovery my practice began to emerge.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING
During this whole time Jackie and I continued to operate our Bikram Studio, often in a tumultuous and challenging environment. Bikram claimed ownership via a copyright of his beginner yoga class. No one could teach the class if they were not certified by him. Every teacher was instructed to teach his dialogue. The short of it is that Jackie and I were not able to effectively implement Tony’s or for that matter any other teacher’s more sustainable and more balanced approach.
FAST FORWARD A FEW YEARS
I attended Tony’s first teacher training and continued to find great relief to my debilitating back injury. He spent a lot of time with me insisting that I improve my approach and alignment. After previously working with many yoga teachers of other lineages, physical therapists and doctors to help my back I began to see how both Tony’s approach and theirs were aligned. There was no way I would go back to a misaligned and unsustainable practice draped in dogma. I was ready to let science lead the way and let go of any one teacher. Tony was the individual catalyst for me, he not only helped me through my pain but also encouraged me to learn from all my teachers in order to find a healthier path. He paved the way for me to implement more aligned practices in our studio.
Soon after, Bikram lost a pivotal lawsuit and the U.S. Copyright and patent office claimed that he did not have a copyright on yoga. The fact that Bikram did not own the beginner class and the fact that I knew there was a safer approach to the Ghosh practice, simply gave us permission to grow.
The time has arrived for us to move onward and upwards. Now we have expanded and remodeled offering a variety of classes from the Ghosh’s Traditional 84 asanas and more great classes of different styles of yoga.
Mountain Yoga is honored to be a mentoring studio for Tony Sanchez’s teacher training. In addition I am truly humbled to be an Ambassador for Tony Sanchez Yoga and look forward to continuing to assist and learn at his teacher trainings.
Both Jackie and I are thankful for the path we have taken. We would not change a thing. We have learned so much from our influential teachers and would not be where we are today without them.
The future is upon us at Mountain Yoga. We will continue to expand and learn from all teachers and from all lineages that come our way. We are free to teach what we know will truly help you, our yoga community, and we welcome all of you with open arms.
Peace and Love to all,
Alex & Jackie
