Mountain Yoga Festival in St. Anton am Arlberg

I remember the excitement of that early September day in 2016, when the first yogis arrived in St. Anton. My friend Iris and I were walking down St. Anton’s main street, filled with flower boxes rather than cars due to its car-free “downtown” area, and saw groups of people of all ages wearing the tell-tale yoga leggings or carrying their yoga mats, exploring the town, making new friends. We looked at each other, beaming with excitement and also a tad nervous.

Up until then, I knew St. Anton mainly as a ski resort and the hustle and bustle that is its very nature, but on this sunny late summer morning, we saw yoga mats sticking out of people’s bags and not skis or ski poles.

Later that very first day of the Festival, Karl, a fellow yoga instructor from the US, and I shared a chairlift up the mountain to the Gampen “hut” / restaurant, one of the venues for our yoga classes. I found out that Arizona-born Karl now calls Switzerland his home, so his commute to the Mountain Yoga Festival was a lot shorter than mine coming from New York.

10 yoga teachers from all over the world gathered in St. Anton for the Festival that year, joined by several hiking and nature guides, and experts from fields like nutrition, sports, music, herbology, you name it. Both Karl and I had been teaching yoga for a significant number of years, but being here, in the Austrian Alps, teaching yoga, this felt different and new and exciting, as if unlocking a secret treasure that had been hiding in plain sight. The swinging of the chair and buzzing sound of the chairlift turn-around pulled us right out of our contemplations and here we were, at the Gampen hut, ready to teach our first classes.

Each year, the venues for the classes are carefully sought out, ranging from huts and mountain restaurants to outdoor decks and outdoor spaces, flat mountain meadows or the finishing arena of a world cup ski run, but also include indoor spaces at the Arlberg Wellness Center, the town hall, the local school, and hotels, for when the weather does not cooperate.

The programme allows yogis and wanna-be-yogis of all ages and skill levels to participate and rejuvenate body, mind, and soul. At the festival, I have met and taught people who live and breathe yoga day-in day-out, but also people who step on a yoga mat for the first time – usually brought by a well-meaning friend or spouse – and I have not seen a single one regret it. I have brought my elderly parents several times, and while my Mom loves to participate in the yoga classes, my Dad does everything but yoga. One might conclude that he is forcefully nudged by my Mom to come along. And yet, he has been coming every year. Let me tell you, when a curmudgeon like my Dad says “yeah, that’s something special, there is a really good vibe here.” that means a whole lot! Festival participation is purposely capped at 250 allowing for a community feel – that really good vibe – and sensible class sizes, where you can still expect personal attention from us teachers.

My personal highlight are the yoga hikes, a main part of the programme every year, and that I get to lead them with my dear friend and mountain guide Geli. Geli is a former professional free skier, a state-certified ski instructor and guide who has completed skiing and hiking expeditions in Alaska, Nepal, Greenland, Tibet and beyond. Her courage and passion for the mountain life are contagious, just like the sparkle in her eyes and in her smile. Geli's love for the Arlberg region and her family that has lived here for generations make her one of the most knowledgeable people I know when it comes to the mountains, people, and traditions of the region. Her uncle, octogenarian Franz (Hiesel), is herding bulls high up in the mountains, and his philosophy about taming these beautiful and gigantic beasts, is as yogic as it gets.

On our yoga hikes, we usually head out into the morning, when the sun is burning off the mist of the very early morning hours and nature awakes, we hike and find a good spot for a yoga practice, we rest, we picnic, and we hike some more. I remember a very emotional moment on one of our hikes when we walked through a man-made tunnel that serves as an underpass for a particular unpassable part of the mountain, and we decided to stop and take advantage of the echo in the tunnel and chant a resounding “Ohhmmm”: twentysomething voices accompanied by the howling of our two canine friends that came along for the walk… Pure magic - and some happy tears!

While practicing on sometimes uneven ground has its own set of challenges, it is also a lot of fun. We have had many good laughs trying to balance poses standing on grass, standing on one leg, looking out over the valley, hundreds of feet below us, and up into the mountain range across the valley hundreds of feet above us. Hello there, Vertigo! But somehow, falling becomes part of the practice, somehow the power and majesty of the mountains starts to infuse you if you only let it, and maybe there is this moment of balance, of standing in your power, of time standing still, of being right here right now in this moment without judgement. Mindfulness in action. Until you fall out of your balancing pose again and we laugh it all off and try again.

For me personally, nothing beats resting on your back in Savasana at the end of each yoga practice, the moment when you surrender down onto the ground and feel the wind and the sun and the support of the whole mountain range underneath you, well, that’s the magic of practicing yoga in the mountains.

Evenings roll around, and as we yogis come back from the mountains into the village, I cannot help but smile how the entire village is involved in the Festival. Residents of St. Anton mingle with yogis from all over Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, and many other corners of the world. Evenings at the Mountain Yoga Festival feature artists, music, dance, and seminars.

Note from the editor: the author of this piece, Sigrid Pichler, works for the Austrian Tourist Office in New York City, and, like most New Yorkers, has a successful side hustle. In her case, as a yoga teacher.