MEET THE TEAM
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Sonia
Sonia’s first encounter with yoga happened at the age of 18. After a couple of years exploring different forms of yoga, she soon became passionate about Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and since that day dedicates her life to the exploration of Yoga in all its forms. She left her International Development career and started teaching Yoga in 2014.
Sonia sees Yoga as an embodied practice of self-inquiry and connection to the divine. She is fascinated by the healing potential of Yoga and how it can be a somatic experience. It has been a therapeutic and transformative exploration for her since the very first day and therefore naturally evolved into a lifestyle. She feels deeply grateful to have come across this incredibly grounding practice, that yet conceals endless possibilities of ecstatic experiences. A heartfelt desire has naturally arisen to share Yoga with others to support our collective path of self-transformation and freedom.
She met her first teachers , Linda Munro and Gérald Disse in 2014 at Ashtanga Yoga Paris. They introduced her to Mysore-style practice, helped her grow immensely and taught her how to teach Yoga. During the years she was teaching there, she was lucky to study with experienced guest teachers such as Chuck Miller, Ron Reid & Marla Meenakshi Joy, David Guarrigues and David Swenson. After that, she traveled to Asia and to India between 2017 and 2019 and immersed herself even more into practice and going to the roots of Yoga. She practiced with Rolf Naujokat & Marci in Goa and Prem Carlisi and Radha in Bali during that time.
In the last years, Sonia has been studying with Chuck Miller, Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor, whom she considers her main source of teaching and human inspiration. These beings have profoundly influenced her journey and inspire her to enthusiastically keep going on this never ending journey of blissful exploration.
Aside from Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, Sonia also participated in several Yin Yoga trainings with Biff Mithoefer to combine a more gentle and restorative practice to her Ashtanga classes. She shares this soft practice of letting go and acceptance with her students. She also loves to combine her studies in Yoga philosophy with the study of Ayurveda that she has pursued continuously since 2017 with an Indian Ayurvedic Teacher and Doctor, Padmini Ranganathan.
Being half Brazilian and half French, Sonia enjoys building an international Yoga and Meditation community in Lisbon with her partner Luis. In the last two years, she has been dedicating more time to the practice of Meditation and the study of the Dharma, under the guidance of Luis, friend of the Triratna Buddhist Order.
Getting a glimpse at the impermanent nature of life and the interconnectedness of all beings, the heart opens to a joyful, generous and loving experience of the present moment
Sonia’s first encounter with yoga happened at the age of 18. After a couple of years exploring different forms of yoga, she soon became passionate about Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and since that day dedicates her life to the exploration of Yoga in all its forms. She left her International Development career and started teaching Yoga in 2014. Sonia sees Yoga as an embodied practice of self-inquiry and connection to the divine. She is fascinated by the healing potential of Yoga and how it can be a somatic experience. It has been a therapeutic and transformative exploration for her since the very first day and therefore naturally evolved into a lifestyle. She feels deeply grateful to have come across this incredibly grounding practice, that yet conceals endless possibilities of ecstatic experiences. A heartfelt desire has naturally arisen to share Yoga with others to support our collective path of self-transformation and freedom. She met her first teachers , Linda Munro and Gérald Disse in 2014 at Ashtanga Yoga Paris. They introduced her to Mysore-style practice, helped her grow immensely and taught her how to teach Yoga. During the years she was teaching there, she was lucky to study with experienced guest teachers such as Chuck Miller, Ron Reid & Marla Meenakshi Joy, David Guarrigues and David Swenson. After that, she traveled to Asia and to India between 2017 and 2019 and immersed herself even more into practice and going to the roots of Yoga. She practiced with Rolf Naujokat & Marci in Goa and Prem Carlisi and Radha in Bali during that time.
In the last years, Sonia has been studying with Chuck Miller, Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor, whom she considers her main source of teaching and human inspiration. These beings have profoundly influenced her journey and inspire her to enthusiastically keep going on this never ending journey of blissful exploration. Aside from Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, Sonia also participated in several Yin Yoga trainings with Biff Mithoefer to combine a more gentle and restorative practice to her Ashtanga classes. She shares this soft practice of letting go and acceptance with her students. She also loves to combine her studies in Yoga philosophy with the study of Ayurveda that she has pursued continuously since 2017 with an Indian Ayurvedic Teacher and Doctor, Padmini Ranganathan. Being half Brazilian and half French, Sonia enjoys building an international Yoga and Meditation community in Lisbon with her partner Luis. In the last two years, she has been dedicating more time to the practice of Meditation and the study of the Dharma, under the guidance of Luis, friend of the Triratna Buddhist Order. Getting a glimpse at the impermanent nature of life and the interconnectedness of all beings, the heart opens to a joyful, generous and loving experience of the present moment
Luis has been meditating for 20 years, after having discovered Zen Buddhism in Japan. He worked during 10 years for a French governmental organization in a performance and competition-oriented environment, and thus became very aware of the difficulties, challenges and stresses faced by office workers in the modern world. Thanks to a not-for-profit solidarity organization Luis founded 13 years ago in Colombia, he has been able to cultivate on a daily basis the values of solidarity, generosity and patience.
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He received his training as a meditation teacher from Dh.Vajracaksu (Triratna Buddhist Order) and decided to give a new start to his life by moving to Lisbon and joining Agora. He feels immensely happy to be able to share with students tools that have helped him to transform himself and to positively influence his everyday live, including at work. His main influences are the Zen and Tibetan mindfulness traditions, although he is also greatly inspired by the Sufi tradition that he became familiar with while living in Turkey. He enjoys creating a safe space in Agora where students can learn, share and create while encouraging each other with a sense of community.
Having recently discovered yoga and practicing it regularly, Luis enjoys building bridges between yoga and Zen-Tibetan meditation, cousin traditions that can be immensely supportive of each other.
Marion is a French yoga teacher based in Lisbon, where she teaches Ashtanga Yoga, Vinyasa and Meditation at Agora Lisboa. Yoga entered her life in 2012 while she was studying political science, and gradually became a way of cultivating presence, inner strength, and a deeper connection with herself and her body.
Her professional background in international development in India and the social sector in Paris strongly shaped her relationship to teaching. She first began sharing yoga with migrant women, asylum seekers, and people in social centres, and experienced first-hand how the practice can support both physical and mental wellbeing. In 2021, she decided to dedicate herself fully to Yoga and moved to Lisbon to join the team at Agora Lisboa.
Her own practice is rooted in Ashtanga Yoga, which she first studied with Linda Munro and Gérald Disse at Ashtanga Yoga Paris. She continues to study and practice with teachers including Chuck Miller, Richard Freeman, Mary Taylor, and Ty Landrum, which whom she trains in Black Lotus Yoga. Alongside Yoga, she has a longstanding interest in meditation and Buddhist philosophy and is training as a meditation teacher.
Marion’s teaching is grounded in mindful alignment, presence, and respect for each person’s individual path. She aims to offer clear and accessible guidance while leaving space for curiosity, self-awareness, and exploration. She sees mindfulness practices has a way to meet ourselves and the world more fully and to live our life expansively, with an open heart and a creative mind.
Ada is a yoga practitioner and teacher based in Lisbon, part of the Agora team since 2021. She discovered Ashtanga yoga in her late twenties after several years of exploration through Vinyasa and Hatha. While it was not love at first sight, realizing that Ashtanga also has a non-dogmatic, more inclusive expression allowed her to dive deeper into a regular Mysore practice. Guided by Sonia Ama, founder of Agora, and influenced by many international teachers like Chuck Miller, Richard Freeman & Mary Taylor, Petri Räisänen, she discovered the incredible transformative power of a breath-centered asana practice, one that mirrors and clarifies our mind patterns on the mat. She believes a dedicated practice enables people to be kinder, more generous, and discern more clearly, with authenticity and courage, between the illusion of the mind and the essence of the self. She teaches regular Ashtanga Mysore and led classes, striving to hold a space of acceptance and transformation for every practitioner.
Tati began her Yoga practice in 2014, while attending the final part of her Theatre
degree in Southern Brazil. The investigation of body and mind states was already a
big topic of her studies with performing arts, so the journey with Yoga presented
itself from the beginning as a fertile ground of possibilities to deepen her search for
a more refined presence and a more loving look towards life.
She started by attending Vinyasa Yoga classes and then also tried Hatha Yoga,
Ashtanga and Iyengar in those early years. From 2019 she started her regular
Ashtanga practice in Agora with the guidance of teacher Sonia Ama and found a
path to deepen into a more autonomous practice. With a deep desire to go deep in
Yoga studies, in 2020 back in Brazil (just before the pandemic started), an
opportunity arose to do a 200h course of training in Hatha Yoga with the teacher
Tales Nunes, who always promoted a safe environment for the practice of the
Asanas and much inspiration with the philosophy of Yoga. Besides the contact with
regular classes in these years, she participated in other courses that encompass
the philosophy of Yoga and the anatomy of the body, such as: Shiatsu Massage in
IPN-Lisboa (240h); The Yoga of Baghavad Ghita with Pedro Kupfer; Yoga, Body
and Freedom with Tales Nunes; Ashtanga and Ayurveda Intensive with Sonia
Ama; Pelvic Studies with Florah Mariah, Healing through Movement with Carol
Langowski and Ashtanga Immersion with Chuck Miller.
Tati is fascinated by the connection between ancestral wisdoms. Whether in Yoga
philosophy or indigenous traditions, there is a watchful gaze for vitality, community
building and consideration of all manifestations of life.
For Tati, Yoga is a path and a poetic way of being in the world: more open,
enchanted and attentive. In addition, she sees Yoga as a powerful tool for de-
alienation and questioning of social impositions.
Through Yoga, Tati nurtures the poetry of living and vibrates with the possibility of
sharing this vision.
Carolina began her yoga journey in 2017 during an internship in Chicago, where she first discovered how movement and breath could bring a deep sense of calm and connection. Although she didn’t yet understand why yoga felt so grounding, she knew it made her feel good—and she kept returning to the mat.
During the Covid years, her home practice became a steady ritual. Practicing online allowed her to tune into her breath, feel parts of her body she had never noticed before, and quiet her constantly running mind. She began with Vinyasa Yoga and later completed a 200-hour Vinyasa Teacher Training in Cologne, where she was living at the time.
In 2021, Carolina discovered Ashtanga Yoga at Agora—and immediately fell in love. She was drawn to the rhythm of breath and movement, the focus that comes from repetition, the mental engagement of memorizing the sequence, and the warm, home-like atmosphere of the studio. Through her Mysore practice, she experienced the power of showing up regularly for herself and building a relationship with her teachers and community.
Along this path, Carolina also began to see yoga as a form of quiet revolution—not a practice of constant productivity, but one of deep study: of the mind, the body, and the self. For her, yoga is a way to reconnect inward, and through that, reconnect outward with others. She believes that this kind of inner awareness is what our world needs to become a more compassionate place. Yoga has shifted her perception of herself, of others, and of the world, making her see and feel the simple truth that we are all connected.
Inspired by these transformations, Carolina completed her Ashtanga Teacher Training at Agora in 2023. Since 2024, she has been teaching at the studio, sharing the wisdom and joy of Ashtanga Yoga, as well as Vinyasa and Yin Yoga. She also has a deep passion for crystal singing bowls, and loves balancing the heat and intensity of Ashtanga with the grounding stillness of Yin and soothing sound baths.
Carolina is grateful to keep learning, growing, and contributing to the community that has become her home—Agora.
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Yoga first entered Isabella’s life when she was 15 and in the world of competitive swimming. She began weekly yoga classes to complement her intensive training, and she quickly fell in love with the safe, quiet space it offered her mind and body. From that moment on, she carried the intention of deepening her practice one day.

Around the same time, she encountered the book “The Power of Now”. Reading it gave her a first glimpse into the indescribable feeling of presence. She continued exploring spiritual teachings and developed a keen interest in Buddhism.

Her practice deepened in 2022 during her semester abroad in South Korea, where she practiced yoga regularly and expanded her knowledge of Buddhist philosophy. After several injuries and years of intense training, she felt the need to invite gentle and conscious movement into her body. Alongside these physical needs, she sought a practice that anchored her in the present and supported her mental health. Through daily yoga and meditation, she also began to deepen her spiritual practice, cultivating a sense of presence and connection that extended beyond the mat.

Discovering Ashtanga yoga offered her a rich framework to further deepen her spiritual practice, connecting breath, movement, and mindfulness in a disciplined, flowing structure. She is grateful to have found the 200-hour Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga teacher training at Ágora Lisboa, which allowed her to immerse herself in learning about the body’s wisdom, yogic philosophy, and the art of teaching with presence and care. Since completing her training in 2024, she has continued teaching and sharing the practices that have profoundly shaped her life.

Sharing her passion, witnessing students grow, and holding space for their journeys fills her heart. She is passionate about mindfulness, teaching, and yoga, and now has the joy of weaving them together. Her approach is inclusive and grounding, and she encourages yoga as a practice for cultivating presence. She is grateful to host classes, to be part of the Agora community, and to continue evolving through mindful yoga and meditation.
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Diane Brito received her international diploma in Osteopathy in 2016, after 5 years of study in Paris (Ecole d’ostéopathie de Paris) . She was trained in visceral, digestive, musculoskeletal, fascial and craniosacral techniques.
After her studies, Diane traveled around Asia to learn and train in other techniques.
She is passionate about anatomy and took a course in clinical and surgical anatomy at Paris Descartes (university diploma in anatomy) in 2020 to become an anatomy teacher.
Diane worked for 5 years with physiotherapists in Paris before settling in Lisbon. She also treated football and rugby teams (during games and training). She recently received her first training in Reiki in Portugal to complement her treatments.
Her treatments are based on a comprehensive and painless care of the patient. Attentive listening, empathy and technicality are the key words guiding her practice.
Osteopathy is a holistic medicine, the whole body will therefore be taken care of in a non-invasive way and using painless techniques. It aims to improve health across all body systems ( nervous, circulatory and lymphatic systems) by manipulation. It is a way of detecting, treating and preventing health problems by moving, stretching and massaging a person’s muscles and joints. Osteopathy is based on the principe that the wellbeing of an individual depends on their bones, muscles, ligaments and connective tissues functioning smoothly together.
She uses the patient’s breath a lot to support her techniques.
Diane also practices Yoga and Meditation, she will be delighted to accompany your journey at Agora and discuss with the various teachers to assist you in your practice.
Consultations can be done in English, French, Spanish or Portuguese.
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Erica has been practicing spirituality and healing modalities for the past 18 years. Her main focus between bodywork, conscious touch and shamanic practices inspire her weaving together knowledge from the wisdom of the body with the universal nature of Spirit. She received her practitioner certificate through the Sunshine Network in 2015 and runs her private practice in Lisbon, Portugal since 2017, and has been regularly teaching training courses in this practice in Portugal and across Europe.
