Teacher Profile: Bizzie Gold

Bizzie Gold: A leap of faith inspires an empowered tribe

BUTI Yoga

“The cure to something hidden or kept secret,” is the translation of the Marathi word “Buti.” This is the name dynamic trainer, fitness maven, and mother of two Bizzie Gold has given to her creative brainchild, Buti Yoga, the invigorating style she and her family practice and share with the world.

Buti takes yoga to another level—a bit of a leap into the air—where Gold embraces yoga as a personal practice and adds a twist that involves integrating tribal dancing and plyometrics into the practice for a fun, invigorating, and empowering take on the yoga we know and love. Gold’s feet are firmly planted in the foundation of yoga: her background is in Anusara, she’s been a student since 2001, and has been a certified yoga teacher now for over 14 years.

Gold knows something about the need to find a cure and the journey of healing. She initially found yoga at a time in her life when she was, as she said, burning the candle at both ends then leaping into a dark abyss, a feeling that may be familiar to many of us. Gold’s career began as a PR exec, founding a company in LA meant she was working around the clock. Yoga became both escape and release. Yet, while bogged down by the stress of an intense professional career, she was diagnosed with lupus, a chronic, autoimmune systemic disease that can damage any part of the body (including the skin, joints, and/or internal organs).

Receiving this diagnosis led to a time of soul-searching and the realization that something needed to change. Her next move was to regroup and retreat on the Hawaiian islands where she immersed herself in teaching yoga and in the practice of healing herself physically and emotionally. She became pregnant, but on day that in many women’s lives is the most joyful—birth—Gold experienced heartache. During a complicated homebirth, Gold’s midwife delivered what Gold refers to as “her dead baby” and placed it on Gold’s lap. Seeing the shock and trauma Gold had endured from the delivery, her then husband began to administer CPR to their baby girl, while Gold was being tended to by a friend. Gold recalls, “After 20 minutes (which seemed like a lifetime) of my baby receiving CPR, she let out a cry and began breathing. Our baby had come back.”

Gold’s infant Sarai was airlifted to a Honolulu hospital, rushed into emergency care, and was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy. She knew that she must take her life back and heal from the inside out—so through a combination of energy work in conjunction with yoga, she found spiritual, emotional, and physical healing, the ability to shed the past in order to be present in the present.

While in Hawaii, Gold taught yoga at Ginger Hill Farm and Yoga Hale in Kailua Kona. It was there that Buti was born. While her students were in malasana (squat) pose, Gold had a revelation, took a leap of faith, and added free-spirited elements of tribal movement to the practice. The students joined in and left wanting more.

What began in a moment has become a movement. Currently, there are over 1,300 certified BUTI yoga teachers worldwide, in 15 countries and 45 states. Gold spent the first three years of the brand criss-crossing the world training all the teachers herself, now she leads 25% of the trainings and has has a group of master teachers certified in the Buti technique teach on her behalf. They teach the trademark methodology of the spiral structure technique (SST), toning the core using a spiral instead of linear movement to address both the large outer muscles that move the body as well as the inner stabilizing muscles. This is combined with strength-building plyometrics and uplifting tribal dance moves. It’s a recipe that encourages students to take a leap of faith and commit to their own empowerment. As Gold describes, “This movement methodology taps into a person’s deep-rooted confidence, allowing for better decision-making, in life,  in relationships, and in nutrition.

Gold has often been coined a hybrid of Jane Fonda meets Chelsea Handler, a crusader with a sense of humor.  She fondly refers to her growing fanfare as her “tribe of women who support each other on their journey of health and happiness.” When considering why the tribe is growing, Gold reflects, “When in the Buti setting, it’s the first time many women look at themselves not from a place of ego but from a place of beauty and confidence. They are surround themselves by other beautiful women, and they all uplift and motivate one another to want to strive for greatness and achieve it. Connecting with other women and allows everyone to elevate each other by boosting each others’ confidence and achieving results collectively.”

While Gold is the go-to trainer for women around the world that she has trained directly, indirectly through her certified teachers, or through her DVD series, close to home, Gold is a celeb trainer known for transforming the bodies of A-list celebs including Julia Roberts and Jennifer Love Hewitt, with whom Gold has used a combination of her signature spiral structure technique and a series of nutritional guidelines to support long, lean muscle.

It’s also a family practice. Gold along with her husband and two children, are committed to an active and healthy lifestyle that includes the practice of Buti Yoga along with an emphasis on nutrition. The family is dairy-free and grain-free; this led to a development and launch of the supplement line, The Golden Ratio, a protein blend consisting of grass-fed collagen, amino acids, organic pea protein, and  sweetened with coconut sugar. Gold is also working on a clothing line as well as a 7,000 square foot fitness women’s social club in Scottdale aptly named the B-Tribe.

As Gold has experienced in her own life and shares with her tribe, “When doing Buti, everything comes into alignment and everything has intention. It’s an experience for the mind, body, and soul.

For more information about Bizzie Gold and Buti Yoga, visit: butiyoga.com; bizziegold.com.

Bizzie is wearing shorts and white and blue long-sleeved shirts by Queen of Hearts Clothing: queenofheartsclothing.com; tops are Bizzie’s own.

Jeff Skeirik’s photography can be found at: rawtographer.com

Mito Aviles

Mito Aviles is a seasoned designer based in West Hollywood with over a decade of design/styling experience. He considers himself an artistic entrepreneur lending his talents to different publications. Instagram: @mistertreat