Finding true love in the mountains

“I chose love,” said Aimee Scherbak both gently and emphatically, explaining quite simply how she ended up in Alpine County. She folded her hands on her lap and smiled. She has found joy in the little enclaves of Woodfords and Markleeville, in this rugged Sierra Nevada landscape, by following her heart.

When Aimee met Bill Scherbak at a mutual friend’s house, she was running her own studio, Pleasure Point Yoga in Santa Cruz. She spent most of the time that first evening with Bill’s daughter Devin and son Zak. “They were confident and easy to talk with,” said Aimee. Impressed with both his children and with him, the path to falling in love was an easy one.

Bill grew up in San Diego and had moved to Lake Tahoe back in 1988. An avid rock-climber, he worked construction, and then became a contractor, running his own business. Finding Markleeville a better place to raise the children, he moved there in the nineties.

Aimee and Bill kept a long-distance relationship for several years, seeing each other once or twice a month. In a certain sense, it was the best of both worlds. When Bill tried spending more time in Santa Cruz though, “It was like caging him: he needed to be back in the wild,” reported Aimee, “You can’t take the mountain out of a mountain man!” They were married in December of 2022 on the Courthouse steps in Markleeville amidst the gently falling flakes of a morning snowstorm.

Aimee’s natural character is open, not guarded. A middle child, raised by dedicated parents, she said it was a “lucky setting” for growing up. Along with a foundation of consistent caring, her parents offered her a sense of knowledge about the complexities of the world.

“I have enough to focus on for my own self work, I don’t need to judge others.” she commented.

Confidence in outdoor activities came from summer camps and ski trips to Tahoe. She garnered a strong work ethic, was a good student, and had resilient personal and social values. She became an anthropology major, went to Kenya to study abroad, and graduated from UC Santa Barbara.

Happy to be “out in the world,” she worked hard to put away money as a wire operator and receptionist in an investment firm. Aimee saved to go on six month journey, returning to Africa. “It was a spiritually rich place: alive, friendly, sincere, vibrant, but there was also a great deal of material poverty. The paradox was that when I came back from these experiences, a lot of my values had changed.”

A true “seeker,” she was always looking “for a little more.” She went out into the trenches of life, experiencing other jobs, including running camping excursions into the Pacific Northwest for three week sessions. She “felt alive,” but was open to other new experiences.

She moved to Boulder, Colo. by herself in 1999. At that time, Aimee enjoyed running, but had never tried yoga. “I thought it was too hippy,” she laughed. But while working at a natural foods restaurant, she discovered Hot Yoga, practicing a very specific set of asanas in the same order in a room with the temperature set at 105 degrees. She completed the teacher training intensive and found it transformational. She became smitten with all forms of yoga. Now she offers her own special blend, pulling her teaching from Ashtanga, Bikram, Ivengar, Vinyasa, Hatha, Yin, and Restorative Yoga.

Passing her “Series 7 exam” to become a financial planner made her want to do yoga even more. Aimee said, “Yoga is a place where you come to be with yourself in a clear open channel of awareness. As we take care of our bodies and minds, we can embrace humility, and experience compassion. The more you feel awake and conscious, the more you can look at your suffering as the sandpaper that shapes you.”

At 29 years old, with another teacher, she started a studio in Vermont, instructing there for two years. That led to joining a partnership back home in Santa Cruz called Village Yoga and opening two different studios. She had found the thing she was going to do for the rest of her life. “I was in my happy place.” said Aimee, “I always wanted to do something that was really helpful to other people, and this was it!”

It has been a busy time creating the new space designed for mountain people already living an active lifestyle. “It is a place meant to be soothing and restorative, where the simplicity of yoga can heal. You can ‘come home’ to be in your body, listening to its needs with lightness and compassion, using techniques and tools for easing physical and mental demands.”

No stranger to chronic pain, Aimee had neck surgery in 2019. She has also dealt with the depths of grief, losing her father in 2021. “It felt like all the wheels were falling off,” says Aimee, “But practicing yoga is where I have found peace.”

Choosing from different traditions, Aimee has put together an experience that is both spacious and eclectic. An avid student, she did four different retreats with the well-known teacher Ram Dass. “Grace is not earned or deserved, but true grace can and does happen,” reports Aimee. “Yoga peels back all the layers, allowing you to throw yourself into the fires of practice. We can drop the titles or definitions of who we think we are. You cannot think your way through your whole practice. You have to ultimately drop thinking and open up to trusting and being. The yoga I am teaching gives students a chance to experience moments of this, in their own body with their own breath.”

Jumping in with both feet and figuring out how to swim, Aimee is excited about the interchange that can develop around a vibrant studio space. “It is a ‘feel-good’ place,” says Aimee, “I am here wholeheartedly and passionately. I want to share these yoga and meditation tools so people can find healthy relief from stress, anxiety, and depression. The solitude in the Sierra can be delicious, but we naturally crave connection. This space can be whatever it needs to be for people to find joy and healing.”

Yoga Sierra offers classes and a gallery. Go to www.yogasierra.com for current Monday-Friday schedules or @yoga.sierra.108 on Instagram, or call at 831 212-5660. Aimee will also offer pop-up art shows, outdoor yoga, events, retreats, private and group classes by appointment, and visiting instructors.

Bill has been running Scherbak Construction, serving El Dorado and Alpine Counties as a licensed contractor for over 20 years now. He does all aspects of construction, is meticulous and attentive to detail, and easy to work with. Contact him directly at 530 308-4635.

Both Aimee and Bill, in their own unique ways, are catalyst and conduit for a more conscious, connected, and stable Alpine community.