Yoga Offers a Renaissance of Rehabilitation

“What’s beautiful about yoga is that there’s a way to escape,” says Yogi Brian Buturla, who teaches at in Westport and at his own studio in Norwalk. “Yoga is that missing piece.”

Buturla teaches in the Dharma style, which is designed for those who possess “a sincere desire to learn and improve.” Physical, mental, and spiritual exercises are integrated and provide practitioners a means of exploring the question, “what is my real calling?”

“It starts with realizing who you are,” Buturla explains. “That’s how you find your bliss.”

His two-hour Dharma yoga class, which meets Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays from 12-2 p.m. at Kaia Yoga, begins with breathing, relaxation, and meditation. Buturla then leads students through one hour of Vinyasa (‘flowing’) Yoga followed by half an hour of intermediate and advanced poses. Deep relaxation and chanting end the class as it begins, evoking the meaning of the word yoga, which is “union.”

“It’s about the totality of experiences,” Buturla explains. “Dharma Yoga is not a religion, but it is about becoming spiritually connected, the union of self, society, and God.”

Buturla himself discovered its transformative power by accident. Literally. When a mountain biking crash left him with a broken clavicle, the then personal trainer turned to yoga to rehabilitate from his injuries.

“Yoga rehabilitated me physically,” he remembers. “But it also rehabbed me mentally and spiritually.”

His classes offer students a similar renaissance. When Cheryl, a dancer who asked to be identified by her first name only, sustained serious injuries in a series of car accidents, a friend recommended Buturla’s classes.

“Everything shifted,” marvels Cheryl. “Physical well-being changes with the breathing and chanting. It teaches you to be in the moment and not rush through things. If something chaotic is going on around you, you know how to step back.”

Two months into the class, Cheryl invited her mother, Darryl, to join her, and now “My 63-year old mother can stand on her head,” Cheryl adds.

Darryl drives down from Litchfield once a week for the class and to share the day with her daughter.

“I felt rickety, old,” Darryl says. “I feel like I hit the fountain of youth.”

Buturla teaches classes at Kaia Yoga, located at 1200 Post Road East, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays from 12-2 for Intermediate and Advanced levels. For more information about Kaia Yoga, call (203) 532-0660 or visit www.kaiayoga.com.

Buturla also offers group and private instruction at his studio in Norwalk. For more information, call (203) 838-9644 or visit www.yogibrian.com.