A practice built
by breath, water,
and creativity.
About
FOUNDED
Toronto · 2020
FOUNDER
Jeyda Deyna
LANGUAGES
English · Français
Sailor. Artist.
Breath practitioner.
— The Founder
Toronto Breathwork is led by Jeyda Deyna - a multidisciplinary practitioner whose work draws on twenty years across professional sailing, communication design, visual art, and the science of breath.
Jeyda began sailing in 2008 as an instructor and quickly moved into competition — racing internationally and training with the all-women's Canadian Olympic Match Race team. The decade on the water taught her, before any breathwork certification did, what calm under pressure actually looks like.
A graduate with honours from the RTA School of Media at Toronto Metropolitan University, she moved through architecture and design collaboration in Toronto, then spent three years in France - painting, selling artwork, and reconnecting to making things by hand. That arc - from race tactician to designer to artist - is the studio's spine.
"I connect with breathwork through my inner wisdom and physical experience first — and then I make sense of it with my mind."
In 2020 she integrated breathwork into her creative practice and the project that became Calliope Journey - earning recognition from CBC Radio-Canada for the approach. She subsequently completed YOGABODY®'s science-based breathwork certification in the United States, and has been guiding individuals, teams, and brands ever since.
Multilingual and fluent in French, Jeyda works with leaders, athletes, artists, and entire teams - and is the founder of Creative Clarity Convos, a podcast on flow, breath, and the long arc of a creative life. The studio is small and deliberate, and the work is held close.
Practice at Home
Want to experience breathwork before your first session? Jeyda leads free guided meditations on our YouTube channel - a gentle way to begin.
Creative Clarity Podcast
This is where artists, makers, and visionaries share their process - then experience a live breathwork session and reflect on what shifts.
A short history.
— Timeline
2002 /
2008
The foundations were laid here: teaching sailing, competing internationally, and training with Canada's all-women's Olympic Match Racing team. More than twenty years of coaching, facilitation, and life on the water would follow.
Discovered Sailing &
Started Coaching.
Bachelor of Communication and Design from Toronto Metropolitan University (then Ryerson), with honours. The design lens that still shapes every workshop, retreat, and brand collaboration today.
Honours Graduates from RTA School of Media. English Minor.
2010
Competed in the Shark Worlds Switzerland & Trained for Olympic Match Racing in Chicago.
Competing internationally and training within Canada's Olympic Match Racing pathway provided a deep education in teamwork, leadership, adaptability, and performance under pressure. The racecourse became an early classroom and have developed into skills that now inform both the sailing and breathwork.
Three years in France, painting, selling artwork, and exploring web design. The making-by-hand chapter that became the seed of what is now the Create pillar.
France, painting, reconnecting.
2016 - 2019
Two years working alongside architects and designers across the city, developing an eye for space, flow, and human experience that would later shape the practice.
Designing Human Experience
2014 - 2016
Completes the science-based breathwork certification with YOGABODY® in the United States. Toronto Breathwork takes its current shape - creative, embodied, evidence-informed.
Breathwork journey evolves. YOGABODY® certification.
2020 - 2021
Breathwork joins the creative practice as the project that would become Calliope Journey. Recognized by CBC Radio-Canada - twice - for the integrative approach to flow, breath, and creative practice on the Toronto Islands.
Calliope Journey takes shape. CBC takes notice.
2022
2023
Invitations from design brands, creative agencies, and cultural organizations begin to shape a new chapter. Corporate facilitation, brand collaborations, and team experiences evolve from occasional requests into a deliberate area of practice.
Brand collaborations begin.
2026
Three pillars, international retreats, corporate programs, a podcast, and a small community of practitioners across art, design, music, sailing, and film. Still answering most emails personally.
Where you find us today.
Press &
recognition.
—RADIO · FRENCH
CBC Radio-Canada
Featured twice in interviews en français on the integrative approach to creative retreats and breath practice on the Toronto Islands.
—PODCAST · HOSTED
Creative Clarity Convos
Jeyda's podcast on flow, breath, and the long arc of a creative life. Conversations with artists, athletes, founders, and the people who shape how we think.
—TRAINING · OLYMPIC
Olympic Match Race Team
Trained with the all-women's Canadian Olympic Match Race team. The performance-under-pressure work that became the spine of every program
SAILING SINCE 2002
—CERTIFICATION
YOGABODY® Certified
Science-based breathwork certification, completed in the United States. Honours graduate of the RTA School of Media, Toronto Metropolitan University.
EVIDENCE-INFORMED PRACTICE
What we hold to, quietly and consistently.
Functional before theatrical.
If we can't tell you why a practice works, we don't run it. The work is grounded in physiology, real coaching, and lived experience - not in atmospherics.
i.
Small, on purpose.
This could be larger. By design, it isn't. Smaller groups, fewer events, a calendar held close - so the work stays close to the person doing it.
ii.
Access is a design problem.
Pay-what-you-can community sessions every month - never marketed as charity, never gated. The premium programs fund the open ones, by design.
iii.
Slow partnerships, always.
We work with brands rarely and only when the values align. We have turned down more partnerships than we have accepted. We will keep doing this.
iv.
The boat is real.
When the practice goes on water, it's with certified charter partners - Transport Canada inspected vessels, licensed skippers, real seamanship. The standards on the water are not adjacent to the wellness work - they are the wellness work.
v.
We answer our own emails.
You almost always reach Jeyda directly. That is, and intends to remain, the through-line of how this studio operates - at every stage of growth.
vi.
"Jeyda is so full of good vibes and positivity - such an enlightened soul. She is definitely making this world better."
— Davide Chicco, Community session
— Continue reading
The journal: Field Notes.
A periodic record of writing, photographs, and reflections from the practice — published as we go.
— Discover
Come find the practice.
A public session, a private enquiry, or just a hello from across the water.