Welcome to MA•NA! Bienvenidos a MA•NA!

We are Miklos & Alessandra, proud co-owners of MA•NA YOGA LOFT! We are so happy to call MA•NA a home, a temple, a safe space for all of you to meet-up, practice, create community, transform physically and mentally.

We want to use this blog entry, to introduce ourselves, and share with you our stories and our vision for MA•NA as a couple.

All photographs from this blog are by our talented friends – LADICHOSA FOTOGRAFIA

HELLO, I’m ALESSANDRA! HOLA, SOy MIKLOS!

My full name is Alessandra Barbara Suzanne Monteseña Oram, hence why my instagram profile name is @ABSMO (my initials). I am English/Kiwi/Filipina, born in Hong Kong, educated in England and with my heart stolen whilst on holiday in Barcelona!

Soy Miklos Selva von Koszta-Rab, Aleman/Hungaro/Español. Nacido y criado en Barcelona, y con mi robaron el corazón un verano en Barcelona.

Alessandra: We moved to Barcelona in February 2017. I arrived having completed my first ever teacher training in Navakarana Vinyasa, from my Guru – Dario Calvaruso in Hong Kong. Miklos and I had been living in Hong Kong for over 7 years and with an eagerness to move to Barcelona and start a new chapter of our lives after our wedding in 2016. I decided to do the teacher training before leaving Hong Kong, because I had a special connection with my Guru, and I knew I was leaving something special and I didn’t want to lose that. So I did the training for myself, to have a strong self-practice. But of course, in the back of my mind, there was always A DREAM of becoming a yoga teacher…. a MAYBE… a big WHAT IF! I left it up to the universe.

Miklos: Nos mudamos a Barcelona desde Hong Kong en 2017. Llegue con un interés en el desarrollo personal a través de la Meditación. Aproveche los nuevos inicios para desarrollar y aprender a fondo las técnicas que me han servido y que he ido enseñando por mi a fan de ayudar a los de más. Seguir el curso natural guiado por el universo.

Alessandra: Arrival to Barcelona, Feb 2017, I found a job in a small Architectural Firm in the city, but I found this job with the idea of working part-time in order to have time for myself to explore opportunities as a Navakarana Vinyasa Teacher. I had my afternoons always free! AND I loved it! It was an amazing way to transition from one world into another.
This part-time schedule gave me energy, and time to study the sequences and work on sharing my practice. Student by student, word started to spread, and I started to build a small whatsapp group of students.

I then slowly transitioned into being “AUTONOMA” a freelancer, and decided to work less and less on Architecture and more and more dedicated to helping others through Navakarana. 🙂

Miklos: Siempre he tenido un interés en lo audio visual, y por ello me dedique estos años a la fotografía y al video. Esto me permitió poder iniciar un proyecto con Alessandra y trabajar juntos en todo lo que hacemos. Y pude hacer la transicion a AUTONAMO a traves de colaboraciones con marcas que vieron el trabajo realizado a traves de nuestros publicaciones en los RRSS. Iniciar un proyecto es dificil y es importante tener el apoyo de un equipo y tener una idea clara hacia donde queremos ir juntos.

Alessandra: Since arriving to Barcelona, I also had a goal to travel around Spain , through sharing my practice… and I did just that! Before opening MA•NA Yoga Loft, I travelled to Asturias, Madrid, La Rioja, Tarragona, Pamplona, Valencia, Cadiz, Costa Brava, all for the first time, and all from organised workshops! I really enjoyed travelling Spain and meeting the yoga community + allowing them to find out more about the magical practice of Navakarana. 🙂

Miklos: Al irme a vivir fuera desde los 24 anos, a penas explore mi propio pais. Al llegar de Barcelona, Alessandra me dijo, “te voy a llevar a discubrir nuevos lugares”.

“BABE, I’m going to take you places”

Alessandra Oram

Alessandra: It got to a point where, my Yoga classes at home were doing really well, and we saw that I couldn’t squeeze any more students into our little living room, hehe… so Miklos and I decided to take the NEXT BIG STEP, and we started to look for spaces in the area of Sant Just Desvern, just out of curiosity! To see if this dream could become a reality!

I believe that the universe urged us to look for properties on the internet that day! And we saw fotos of this Mechanic’s Workshop, and we fell in love, and knew it had so much potential for a transformation into a YOGA LOFT! We were quick to act, and followed our HEARTS!

Miklos: Siempre había soñado con un espacio como MA•NA. Y al estar buscando locales para abrir nuestro estudio de yoga en Sant Just, vi la anuncio, y no podría creérmelo. Llamé esa misma tarde, lo teníamos muy claro.

Alessandra: This brings me to present day! Writing this blog, from my office upstairs inside MANA. So amazed at what MANA has become in just 1 year of being open. Despite the destruction and sadness COVID has brought, it has also brought a lot of beauty in humanity. It has challenged many to reflect and to explore methods of Meditation and Yoga. We have crossed paths with so many incredible people this last year. And the connection people have had with Miklos and I has been extremely moving. We have built a strong TEAM at MANA, with now 4 other teachers joining us and the navakaraṇa community has become family.

Miklos: Hoy estamos viviendo un sueño. Y estamos muy agradecidos cada día, de tener este estilo de vida, en el que nos dedicamos a ayudar a los de mas. Tener un espacio, con energía especial y que inspira a crear.

Our vision for MA•NA

We chose the name while we were in my parent’s home in NEW ZEALAND. We found the Maori word > MA•NA < A word, that embodies everything that we wanted this new space of ours to BECOME.

MA•NA {muh nuh}
Māori Spiritual Power

• the type that comes fron one’s ancestors
• recognition for one’s good deeds and actions
• from the mana of your tribe, family or community

MA•NA is also solely dedicated to sharing the practice and methodology of Navakarana Vinyasa. From talking closely with Dario before we opened, we discussed about not opening a typical YOGA STUDIO structure. And instead create an Academy of Navakaraṇa Vinyāsa, where people can learn, study, not just practice, see progress from week to week, month to month and learn the progression to self-transform. Navakaraṇa is a powerful, transformative method and we want the physical space of MA•NA to embody that essence and be a unique space for people to gather.

MA•NA has also started to provide opportunity to those that want to dive deeper into the method, through workshops and trainings. There has already been so much transformation in our students and teachers (including myself) in the last year. From the guidance of Dario Calvuruso and from all that we share together as a community!

Thank you MANA community for all your energy, love and dedication to this house of Spritiual Power (mana).