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
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