Unbreakable: Finding Strength + The Inner Cure Through Buti Movement Medicine

Pain has a way of silencing us, of pulling the strings tighter until we question what our bodies are capable of. REALLY. But in this master trainee's case:  excruciating pain (the kind that keeps you from doing the very thing you love) wasn’t the end of the story— it was an invitation to rewrite it.  For one fierce soul in our Buti MVMNT community, the journey through excruciating, world-shattering back pain + spinal fusion surgery became a testament to resilience, grit, and the boundless intelligence of the human body.

It was the medicine of Buti—the primal, healing energy that reconnects us to our truth—that kept her anchored, believing in her own power to heal, evolve, and rise.

Emery tells the her story below... 

"2022 was a year of highest highs and lowest lows. I started off the year opening my yoga studio. Classes were packed and business was incredible, but there were issues going on behind the scenes with my business partner and I was also dealing with chronic back pain. 

By summer that year, two things were starting to really show up- the partnership wasn't working and my chronic back pain was getting worse. My business partner had moved across the country just a few months after we opened, so that left me doing all of the day to day, teaching 15 classes a week and my back pain was getting worse daily. I had been dealing with chronic back pain stemming from an injury when I was 16, but it was getting unmanageable. 

 

In August 2022 my back went completely out. They say if you don’t make time for rest, your body will do it for you. Full stop. Period. I woke up one morning and stepped out of bed only to fall to the ground. My left leg couldn’t support my body weight and I noticed I had severe foot drop in my left foot. I went and got my first MRI, and in the image you can see where my discs had completely ruptured and were cutting off my spinal cord. VS a photo of healthy discs and spinal cord. I was booked in for a surgery ASAP. 

 

 

 

Here I am before my first surgery. I was stressed. I was bickering with my husband. Unfortunately my anxiety comes out a lot of times as irritability, and I felt totally out of control. It was a small incision- about three inches- to go in and clean up the ruptured disc material from around my spinal cord. Unfortunately just a few days later (even though I didn’t know at the time) my discs re-ruptured and the surgery was unsuccessful. 

I took this photo the same day that happened. I knew I wasn’t feeling right. TMI but I actually could feel the disc leaking into my spinal cord while the feeling in my leg simultaneously was getting worse. I snapped this photo to send to my mom because I felt so out of it and my skin was legit green. I had also noticed now I could no longer feel anything from my thigh down on the left side and I was unable to even wiggle my toes. That was probably the scariest moment of this entire process. In all transparency, my head went to the worst places, stuck on the worst case scenario loop. We called the surgeon and they scheduled a follow up MRI for a couple of days later. 

 

My second MRI showed just how badly my spinal cord was looking. It looked like my disc had been blown up by fireworks and the fragments were just everywhere except where they were suppose to be. I didn’t even get to go home from that visit and they booked me into emergency surgery that day. 

 

So swollen from the copious amount of steroids being pumped into my body, but also trying to find humor in becoming a bionic Barbie 💁🏻‍♀️

 

I had four screws, two rods and false disc put in. The next morning, I had movement in my foot, and that felt like light at the end of the tunnel. Seeing this, I knew the surgery was successful and I was going to gain back feeling and strength. My surgeon was very positive and said it was possible to gain about 90% of the movement and feeling back in my left leg, so the healing process began. 

 

Anyone that has been through an injury knows how isolating, how humbling, how ugly and how messy it can get. It’s true, healing is UGLY. 

The next three months were really a blur. I was basically living on a mattress in my living room floor, using a walker to get to and from the bathroom, all the while trying to figure out a way to get back to my yoga studio. By December, I made the difficult decision to walk away from that business partnership, which meant walking away from my business. I was devastated, but I know now that God needed me to let go, to surrender and to trust. I did, but I was definitely kicking and screaming for a large portion of it. I needed to let go of that to heal my body and staying was only going to prevent me from doing that. 

 

The next 6 months I was in a full cocoon mode. I isolated myself to focus solely on healing. I went to therapy for my mental health and to process all that had happened in such a short time frame. I went to physical therapy 3x a week to heal my body. I went from a walker, to a leg brace and eventually no brace at all. It took the better part of a year to heal from my fusion.

In April of 2023 I started slowly teaching again. This season of my life challenged me in so many ways. For so long I had relied on my physical abilities as a teacher, and now there were so many parts of the physical practice that were no longer accessible to me. It forced me truly to check my ego at the door and sit with where I was. That shit is hard. This season also made me hands down a better teacher. For the first few months I was teaching from a rolling office chair, so my cues had to be precise and effective. It forced me to slow down in so many ways. I became a beginner yoga student again, and that alone changed the game in terms of my teaching. Although the injury was physical, the healing happened on every level.

August 2023, exactly a year after I injured my back, I taught my first Buti class. I cried as soon as I stepped on my mat, proud of how I fought to get back there. It was sad to feel like I was starting over in a lot of ways, but I was grateful to be at that point and once again teaching a movement practice I loved so much. 

 

Probably the biggest blessing to come from all of this was finding out I was pregnant in October of 2023. My husband and I had talked about having a baby for a couple years, but it just never happened. I think God had a few reasons for that; one being I needed to have this spinal fusion to be able to carry and deliver my daughter safely.

 

 

 

By January of 2024 I was feeling great. My body had healed from my fusion. I was teaching consistently and I lead my first Buti training post surgery that month, while 16 weeks pregnant. I even got to have another Buti mama (with a Buti baby in belly) in the training. 

 

 

 

 

 

I taught yoga all the way to 38 weeks pregnant and had my daughter at 42 weeks. So many people have asked how pregnancy was with a fusion. Surprisingly, it was amazing. I am currently pain free, and was my entire pregnancy. I was able to deliver my daughter safely and naturally (though not pain free 😅) and she is healthy, happy and the biggest angel blessing to our family. 

 

 

 

It’s been exactly two years since I was learning to walk again from two back surgeries- two years that broke me and built me back up. So many lessons come from the darkest seasons of our lives. The biggest one for me is simply gratitude- gratitude for my body that continues to carry me, for its resilience both in injury and in motherhood. Gratitude for my family and friends that walked through every ugly step of the healing process with me. And gratitude to continue my lifelong journey of movement, creating, learning and teaching. "

 

 

 

The Buti certification experience isn’t just about learning how to teach; it’s about unlocking the tools to heal, thrive, + MOVE with intention. It builds the foundation for you to reconnect with your body’s unique intelligence, deepening awareness and creating space for transformation. In Buti, we don’t just move—we listen, we feel, and we find our own cure and medicine. We have role models, guides and friends like Emery lighting up the way. 

Ready to take the first step toward your own awakening? 👇🏽

Explore our certification options and discover the path that feels right for YOU.