Stewart marks ‘Milestone’ as yoga instructor in Wilton

WILTON — Brooke Stewart’s Milestone Yoga takes on added meaning this year, as her practice turns 30.

Stewart did not set out with such potential clever wordplay in mind.

“Milestone started 30 years ago when I was teaching at Ogden House,” Stewart said from her home in north Wilton. “My husband is an old Wilton person, and his family owned a multi-generational garage, called Milestone. (Town historian) Bob Russell writes about the garage in his wonderful book ‘Wilton Connecticut.’ I put the name down on my business application, and it stuck.”

What also stuck was Stewart’s desire to remain a private instructor, providing private and group sessions, mostly on the road.

“I thought about getting a studio,” Stewart said. “At the time I started teaching there were no studios. A friend had a beautiful barn and yoga studio near Cobb’s Mill Inn (in Weston), attached to her house. It was long time until anyone opened another yoga studio. If I opened a yoga studio, I would have to be a super business person.”

Stewart makes use of her time getting to her classes.

“This is more my speed,” she said of traveling around Fairfield County to get to her students. “Some people think I should open a studio, but I would rather be a teacher than a CEO or a studio owner. I don’t want to negotiate a lease. I’ve been able to survive without (a studio), I’ve been able to operate in my home, and I can travel around Wilton, to Westport, Weston, New Canaan, Greenwich and Ridgefield. I teach a class at the Wilton Library. It works better for me to travel. I log some miles, but I work on my lesson plan while I’m driving. I see some amazing houses.”

Stewart is a certified Kripalu Yoga instructor and registered Yoga teacher. She is also a Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist, second-degree Reiki practitioner, a certified reflexologist and founding member of the Kripalu Yoga Teachers Association.

Stewart and her students have appeared on the Discovery Health Channel series FITeam Power Hour. She has been involved with Kripalu Center as a staff member, seminar sponsor and support group leader.

Stewart has taught group and private classes in a variety of settings including private homes, churches, corporations (including GE Capital & Chrysler), public and private schools, YMCA’s and personal growth centers.

She has studied Kripalu, Iyengar, Kundalini and Integral yoga.

“This is my 30th anniversary as Milestone Yoga, so this is good timing,” Stewart said. “I started doing yoga in college when I went to the University of New Mexico. It was actually part of the gym requirement. It felt like something I could keep doing. I came to Connecticut in 1977, and there were not many (yoga) classes around.”

Stewart got her start in the neighboring town to the north.

“I took classes in Weston, and I had a really great teacher,” Stewart said. “She would take us on field trips. She would take us to the Yoga Teacher’s Alliance in Westchester, where there were lots of teachers and guest teachers.”

One of those was from Kripalu — now in Lennox, Massachusetts, but then located in Pennsylvania.

“I studied more yoga than ever there,” Stewart said. “That’s where I took my yoga teacher’s training course. I had thought about teaching in college, and I took a few classes. I taught swimming, and then I taught pottery in Cannon Crossing. I dropped pottery — sometimes literally — and went to yoga.”

While stopping short of calling herself a pioneer, teaching yoga several decades ago was quite a bit more challenging than it is today, when yoga apparel is available in every discount and big box store.

“When you were taking yoga in those days, people thought you were strange,” Stewart said. “I did my teaching gradually. Another classmate taught at Westport Continuing Education, and I taught at Wilton Continuing Education, the YMCA and Ogden House. I got into teaching at corporations. I got up very early to do that.”

Stewart said she found inspiration by going to Kripalu to teach, and getting excellent instruction from the outstanding teachers at the school.

“I teach from beginners to experts,” Stewart said. “I’ve been asked to do kids classes at Wilton Library, and I used to do a kids class at the Montessori School. I’ve done instruction for ages 5 to 95. I have a private student age 95, and I had another Wilton resident, who went into a nursing home in Fairfield, and I worked with her for two years when she was 85. People can do more than they think in their 80s and 90s. I did end up with students in their 80s because they started with me in their 50s.”

Stewart’s sessions are usually 75 minutes ($110), with some an hour long ($95). There are also rates for couples and groups.

“People should have their own mats,” Stewart said. “In the old days we didn’t have mats; we used blankets. Now you can get (mats) anywhere.”

For more information or to book a session, contact Stewart at (203) 762-1297, or at milestoneyoga@msn.com.