Yoga Bhavana is a small studio full of intimacy and gentleness located in Villeray, Montreal. Since 2012, Marie-Daphné Roy and her team have been teaching several types of yoga such as restorative, postural, therapeutic, prenatal, postnatal and gentle yoga as well as Feldenkrais.
In 2020, the studio evolved and added to its offer online classes and trainings presented on its new online platform enligne.yoga-bhavana.com.
At Yoga Bhavana, no matter your level, you will find quality classes and trainings covering different types of practices that will meet your needs and expectations.
Our team
Marie-Daphné Roy
Founder
A certified Yoga Therapist and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Marie-Daphné is known for her expertise in Restorative Yoga, Yin Yoga, Yoga Therapy and Yoga for Women. She teaches yoga since 1999 and is a certified massage therapist. She’s been training Yoga Teachers and leading Yoga Retreats locally and internationally for over 12 years.
A graduate in Religious Studies with a specialization in Hinduism, Marie-Daphné visited India twice to study Hindu pilgrimages. She studied Contemporary Yoga during graduate studies in Sociology and recently completed a Mental Health Certificate. She now pursues studies in Sexology and in Somatic therapy.
Marie-Daphné invites you to a practice in which the felt-sense of your body and breath are paramount. She emphasizes the subtlety of alignment, the intelligence of restorative postures and the sensitivity of therapeutic yoga.
Deeply grateful, Marie-Daphné studied with dedicated teachers. She studied Kripalu Yoga under the supervision of Yoganand Michael Carroll, including a two years residency. She studied for 12 years with Hart Lazer, a teacher trained in the Iyengar Method, and is also inspired by Ramanand Patel. She started training in Yin Yoga in 2003 with Sarah Powers and Paul Grilley and continues to this day.
Marie-Daphne is on a sabbatical from teaching regular classes for the year 2022. Join her workshops and trainings.
Kim Zombik
Kim, who is also a jazz singer, is certified in both Kripalu and Iyengar-inspired Yoga. Her quest for stability in a wiggly world lead her to the rich and intense tradition of yoga asana her first month in college, in 1986. And after obtaining her teaching certificate from Kriplau Center in 2007, she began to teach. Once arriving in Montreal, she completed 4 trainings with Hart Lazer at United Yoga Montreal, and additional training in Restorative and Yin yoga with Marie-Daphnée Roy. Now she is pursuing studies in yoga philosophy with Robin Golt, and studies in Naad yoga (the yoga of sound) with Niloy Ahsan. In offering her BIPOC classes, Kim is grateful for the mentorship and support of Ryumon Zenji, and Violette Najat.
Year after year, she deepens her practice by allowing more simplicity. Cultivating patience, trust and ease is at the center of her practice right now. In her classes, emphasis is put on moving with precision, presence with a nice dose of humour. When those qualities are woven together, we create stability in the body, resilience in the mind, compassion in the heart.
Her practice is inspired by many wonderful teachers: the lyricism of dance, the power of the martial arts, the wisdom of the I Ching, the precision of BKS Iyengar, the vibratory healing of the classical Hindustani music of Dhrupad, as well as the transformations found through Somatic Experiencing.
Mondays 9 am Vinyasa and Yin
Mondays 12 pm Restorative and Yin
Tuesdays 5:45 pm Vinyasa et Yin
Tuesdays 7:30 pm Restorative et Meditation
Wednesdays 7 am Morning Yoga
Patricia Garcia
Patricia is a certified yoga teacher who teaches in English, French and Spanish. Charismatic and jovial, she is a dedicated practitioner who guides her classes with precision and thoughtfully organized sequencing. Intrigued by the workings of asana, Patricia encourages her students to remain open to what each posture offers and to practice with integrity and truthfulness. Patricia considers respectful and patient observation of the body and mind a key ingredient for the practice to unfold. For her, approaching the practice with curiosity and attention reveals the unique experience of each breath on the mat.
Mondays 7:30 pm Postural Hatha 1
Tuesdays 7 am Morning Yoga
Tuesdays 9 am Therapeutic Yoga - for the back
Fridays 9 am Postural Hatha
Saturdays 11 am Therapeutic Yoga – for the back
Marielle Bertin
Marielle is a certified Hatha yoga teacher inspired by the Ashtanga style of the AYM studio in Montreal. A dynamique approach focussed on the balance between effort of movement and personal potential.
This training introduced her to the discipline of daily practice and was the start of a relationship that has lasted for over 15 years.
For her yoga is the optimal challenge of everyday living. Exploring the tensions between effort and ease, comfort and discomfort and the sense of self within turbulence. Simplicity and movement. With a background in Massage Therapy, Horticulture and Garden Design she is currently completing the Professional Yoga Therapist Program at Naadayoga.
Mondays 5:45 pm Postural Vinyasa
Thursdays 9 am Postural Vinyasa
Saturdays 9 am Postural Vinyasa
Brigitte Vaillancourt
Brigitte Vaillancourt divides her time between writing and yoga, a happy balance which allows her to create space in her mind as well as her body. She has been practicing yoga for over 20 years. In 2015, she decided to deepen her knowledge by enrolling in a 500-hour yoga teacher training at Naada Yoga. The diverse curriculum allowed her to explore Restorative yoga and meditation, practices that she has a particular fondness for. In her approach to practice and to teaching, she cultivates mindful slowness: a precious tool with which to perceive the subtle and shifting sensations of the body.
Wednesdays 5:45 pm Hatha flow
Fridays 12 pm Restorative and Yin
Julien Gagnon
Julien has been growing in the world of Yoga and spirituality for nearly 10 years. The practice of meditation first gave him the ethical foundation of his practice. Julien appreciates strength, rigor and concentration, three qualities that enable the practice of Yoga and that he wishes to teach with respect and humor.
As a dancer, Julien explored different approaches such as Anusara Yoga as well as Sivananda and Iyengar Yoga. By learning to move and soften the body in a heathly and balanced fashion, the Yoga complimented his dance training at the National Ballet School of Canada. It is in Toronto, in the Yoga Sanctuary and Downward Dog Yoga Center studios that Julien discovered Ashtanga Yoga, the type that suits him best. Back in Montreal, Julien broadens his studies at Ashtanga Yoga Montreal with Allison Ulan, Eugene Poku and Jessie Goldberg.
As a certified teacher gifted with great polyvalence, Julien gives a variety of classes ranging from Astanga to Restorative Yoga as well as Athletic and Acrobatic Yoga. In his eyes, Yoga promotes optimal alignment and is a natural method to regenerate the organism’s vital functions. In the training of high-level athletes such as marathoners, triathaloners, swimmers, professional dancers or circus artists, Julien uses the athletic strength of Ashtanga Yoga to respectfully bring the body to the maximum of its capacities.
Thursdays 5:45 pm Postural Hatha 2
Thursdays 7:30 pm Restorative and Breath
Alexandrine Lebeau
Creative and colourful, Alexandrine is passionate by conscious and organic mouvement. Through her teaching style she combines elements of therapeutic yoga, Pilates and somatic mouvement. Her intuitive sequences aim to make room for self-compassion while guiding the focus toward breathing and subtle inner sensations.
Following numerous years of self practice during her teens and early 20's, after completing her first teacher training in Hatha Yoga, she began teaching Yoga in 2011. Soon after, she pursued Pilates and Barre training followed by studies in kinesiology, including functional training. Meanwhile, her passion for yoga brought her to expand her practice and teachings into Ashtanga and dynamic Vinyasa/Flow. Since the last few years her focus has deepened into therapeutic Yoga, Yin and Restorative. Alongside her advanced studies in yoga, as a certified massage therapist, she has the ability to convey a deeper knowledge of anatomy and physiology. She is currently studying acupuncture.
Wednesdays 7:30 pm Postural Vinyasa, level 2
Thursdays 6 pm Vinyasa and Yin (Jarry Park)
Saturdays 11:30 am Vinyasa and Yin (Jarry Park)
Sundays 5:30 pm Therapeutic and Restorative
Nadia Genois
I am a human, curious and I guide other humans to develop a better self-awareness to live more freely and open their horizons. Passionate about movement and self-discovery, always enthusiastic to learn and acquire new skills, I have an eclectic background which enriches my practice. Through the latter, I have always sought to combine movement, emotion and psychology, which first led me to studies in osteopathy (2015) and finally to the Feldenkrais® method of somatic education. I received my certification at the Feldenkrais Institute of New York, and have been a Feldenkrais practitioner since 2019.
I also graduated (1994) in contemporary dance at the École de Danse de Québec. In addition to having worked in psycho-social intervention for a long time, I have more than 15 years of experience in teaching different forms of movement, pole dance, gymnastics, dance, flexibility/mobility, floorwork.
For me the body is much more than a vessel but a friend and guide that accompanies us throughout life. I define myself as a movement optimist and I believe in the autonomy and the potential of each one. I work in groups and individually with anyone curious to learn. Here are some topics of particular interest: anxiety, creativity, athletic performance, chronic pain.
Wednesdays noon
Gabriel Genest
Saxophonist and composer, it was music that led Gabriel to become interested in mindfulness meditation, which he has been practicing daily for the past 10 years. Drawing on his rich background as a music educator, he has been teaching meditation since 2020, when he obtained his level 2 certification with Unified Mindfulness (UM). He is currently completing the Compass Advanced Certification (UM), an in-depth meditation teacher training.
Gabriel regularly attends retreats in the Theravada Buddhist tradition with renowned masters including Shinzen Young, Nikki Mirghafori, Sayadaw U Jagara and S.N Goenka. He has also completed the Dedicated Practitioner Program with The Mind Illuminated and the Programme court de 2e cycle en méditation theravada et processus de création at UQAM.
Curious by nature, he is interested in various contemporary Buddhist movements, secular approaches to meditation, and research in contemplative neuroscience. Appreciated for his warm presence and attentive listening, Gabriel teaches with the Unified Mindfulness system, recognized as a clear, precise and complete approach to meditation that integrates the spirit of science with contemplative practice.
Lundis 21 h 05 Foundations of Mindfulness Meditation
Elena Bracco
The Feldenkrais Method helped me with healing from a herniated disc in my teenage years. Since then, I have continued to deepen the practice of the Feldenkrais Method by focusing on the issues of movement, proprioception and learning. Throughout my training path, I was motivated by the desire to understand how we can learn to move without hurting ourselves and thus use the experience of movement to adapt and flourish in the physical and relational space.
Here are my trainings:
- Master's and post-master's degree in teaching / learning processes (University of Turin),
- Teaching certification for the Bones for Life program focused on skeletal proprioception and bone density regeneration.
- Graduate diploma specializing in Somatic Education (Department of Dance of UQAM)
- Advanced certification in Feldenkrais (Quebec School of Training in Somatic Education)
Elena subs Feldenkrais classes regularly, you can also find her on our online platform of recorded sessions.
Julie Drouin
Julie began her career in the field of biology where she completed a master's degree in behavioral ecology. Her interest in living things then shifted to the study of human movement. She has been teaching Pilates since 2008 and has been a somatic educator since 2012.
Her academic career in science made him discover the elegance of critical thinking and the importance of questioning the foundations of our knowledge. The one in ‘’movement’’ allowed her to acquire a solid experience of different approaches such as Pilates, Yoga, the Feldenkrais method and Gyrotonic / Gyrokinesis.
She sees her practice as a patchwork whose different pieces bear witness to the complexity of human movement. Closer to an exploratory pedagogy, her teaching promotes a dialogue between the sensitive experience that one has and the principles (biomechanical, anatomical, etc.) that organize it. Each person can thus discover what is right for them according to their needs and goals.
Julie subs Feldenkrais classes regularly, you can also find her on our online platform of recorded sessions.
Rija Renaud
Father of two young boys, somatic educator, president of the Feldenkrais Quebec association, co-founder of Bhavana la clinique; these are the roles through which I aspire to participate in the collective and individual well-being.
In the past, I've had to deal with chronic back pain and the stress of working in New York finance. These situations forced me to stop and learn to take care of my posture, my movements, myself.
It is this learning that I want to share in my lessons. By adding elements from my meditative practice, from my studies in philosophy and cognitive sciences, I invite each participant to develop a quality of presence very useful to face the various challenges life brings us.
Rija is on a Teaching Sabbatical for 2022.
Also in the Bhavana family
Bhavana la clinique
Marie-Daphné has long wanted to enrich Yoga Bhavana‘s offer by setting up a place where individual and personalized work would be at the forefront; a place where therapists are committed to supporting you and providing you with the tools to help you take charge of your own health. A therapeutic care clinic adapted to everyone’s needs.
This wish has come true! This project was born from the association of Marie-Daphné with two Yoga Bhavana teachers: Rija Renaud, teacher of Feldenkrais and Sébastien Arcand-Tourigny, yoga teacher and osteopath.
The three friends and colleagues, passionate about somatics, attentive presence and fascinated by the complementarity of health care, created Bhavana la clinique a place to express, with other health practitioners, their vision of a comprehensive and integrated health, always on the move.