Bliss Yoga Studio

As you climb the stairs leading up to Bliss Yoga Studio, you can feel your body and mind shed the worries of your hectic day. That’s the same feeling co-owners Jelena Duma and Havovi Mehta Belaire experienced when they first began practicing the ancient meditative art. Jelena and Havovi come from opposite sides of the world – Serbia and India – but together they have created a studio that transcends culture, time and space, and brings together a community of individuals who have found inner peace through yoga.

Born in Serbia, Jelena began taking yoga classes from a retired ballerina who had visited India and brought back the ancient meditative practice, teaching it in the basement of her home. “At that time, Serbia was former Yugoslavia. It was a communist country, and yoga was considered a cult,” says Jelena. Upon immigrating to Canada, Jelena began experimenting with all styles of yoga – from Ashtanga to Kundalini, Hatha and Flow. Although she had a successful career in software engineering , she felt happiest when on the mat. So, in 2005, she left her corporate job and decided to open a yoga studio.

Havovi tells a slightly different tale. Born in India, the birthplace of yoga, Havovi was introduced to yoga by guru BKS Iyengar at the age of 10, but as a child, didn’t take it very seriously. When she moved to Canada, she encountered Ashtanga–Vinyasa yoga and fell in love with the practice. When her husband passed away of cancer, the yoga mat was where Havovi found peace. “Yoga has been the most healing thing for me,” she says. Following her passion she began teaching at Bliss Yoga Studio and in 2010, joined Jelena as co-owner of the studio.