About

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Welcome to Breathe Yoga Studio, the award-winning Toronto mainstay that has been offering the city a wide range of yoga classes and workshops for over a decade.  We have built our reputation as a premier yoga studio and training program because of our faculty of some of Toronto’s top yoga instructors as well as the variety of classes and programs available to anyone, at any level in their yoga practise.

Whether you are new to yoga, seeking instructor training, dealing with a personal injury or are looking to yoga to ensure a healthy pregnancy, at Breathe Yoga Studio, we continually strive to provide students with the best possible yoga experience and are honoured to have built an outstanding community of students and instructors, many of whom have practiced with us regularly since we first opened our doors over a decade ago. 

For the Beginner

If you feel intimidated or you are not sure where to begin, just know that usually, people seek out yoga classes, not because they’re already great at doing backbends or handstands, but because they can barely touch their own toes. As a matter of fact, if you can’t touch your toes, you are perfect for yoga! New students to yoga are surprised at how quickly their body adapts to a regular schedule. Before long, you will notice an increase in energy, relief from anxiety, alleviation of pain and muscle tension, and even normalization of your sleep pattern.

Starting a yoga practice can be a little intimidating for many of us. The important thing to keep in mind is that there is a yoga class for every body, at any age, including those of us who think we are highly inflexible, out of shape or weak-muscled.

We have shaped and developed our program with our students in mind. We are continually taking suggestions from our students and listening to feedback from a variety of streams. As such we have developed a specialized program, perfect for beginners and those new to yoga.

We highly recommend you consider enrolling in our Yoga Basics Workshop a 4 week course that covers the foundations of yoga in a progressive, methodical way.  It has been a very popular class because you are only joined by other absolute beginners who are looking to start their yoga experience off on the right foot, but you are returning to the same group each week and building your foundation from the ground up.  We recommend supplementing the Yoga Basics Workshop with at least 1 or 2 drop-in beginner classes per week for the most balanced result.

If your schedule does not allow you to commit to the 4 week course, we recommend that you begin your practice by coming to 1 to 3  drop-in Beginner classes per week until you develop a foundation before moving on to any All Level or Level 1 classes. 

Styles of Yoga: Which are the Most Suitable for You?

At Breathe Yoga Studio we offer classes primarily in Ashtanga, Hatha, Flow, and Iyengar but we have also recently added many special hot and regular classes for athletes, restorative yoga and yoga for men. We also offer a complete pre- and post-natal support program for expectant and new mothers as well as yoga for toddlers, kids, tweens and families. 

We recommend trying different styles of yoga to determine which is most suitable for you; Ashtanga and Hatha Flow yoga are aerobic, fluid classes that build inner heat and cardiovascular energy through a series of strength- and flexibility-building poses, connected through breath work. These yoga classes are dynamic in nature and help to detox the body through the internal heat naturally created by the fluid movements (vinyasas).  These classes differ from a Hot Yoga (Bikrham) or Moksha-style yoga because heat is developed naturally and internally instead of through the use of artificial heating and lighting.

Many of our classes in our Junction Sun Studio use infrared panels installed on the ceiling to slowly heat the room to a naturally hot environment. This alternative to Bikrham or Moksha tends to be preferred because the student has much more control over the heat being generated during the work out instead of being externally bombarded with heat. For more information, please see our section on Infrared Sauna Therapy.

Iyengar-style yoga emphasizes alignment and develops flexibility, strength, balance and endurance. Using blocks, chairs, bolsters, straps and other props, the therapeutic value of Iyengar yoga comes from the ability to adapt the poses to the individual needs of students. This is a more methodical class suitable for students looking to refine their yoga alignment, those who are recovering from injuries and those looking for a more focused pace to their practise.

Join us at Breathe Yoga Studio for excellence in teachers and programs.