A graduate in Philosophy with the University of Barcelona (1983), she worked as an Editor for reference encyclopaedias for over 15 years (1989-2005).

From the very moment she began her yoga asana practice at the local sports centre, she became greatly interested in deepening her knowledge and studies of Yoga; immediately understanding the discipline as a way of comprehending life, which she found enormously inspiring, and very close to her own personal vision.

Practice and Study

In 2004 she began to further her practice, inspired by teachers in different styles of Hatha Vinyasa Yoga, such as Twee Merrigan, Simon Park and the teacher of both, Shiva Rea, from whom she connected to the beauty and softness of their flow; almost liquid practice. Petri Räisänen shared his strength of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga; Yiannis Andritsos, Sylvie Trembley and Amitai Cohen, their willingness to stay loyal to the tradition.

Since 2006, the year she was fortunate enough to meet Sri Dharma Mittra and Andrei Ram Om, she has continued to study and practice their tradition of Hatha Raja Yoga. In 2014 she received the direct blessing from Andrei Ram Om (with the spiritual name Daya Ma Om), having practiced and studied consistently in his tradition, and at his side, in gatherings and immersions throughout the year.

In 2010 she certified as a yoga teacher in the Dharma Yoga Life Of A Yogi Teacher Training (200h), and in the same year received recognition from the Catalan Regional Government (Generalitat de Catalunya - REP 013705) in their Professional Validation Programme (Programa Qualifica't de la de validació de l'experiència laboral) as a yoga teacher.

In 2011-12 she completed Barcelona’s Yoga One Teacher Training in Barcelona (200h) and later went onto become a trainer for the same programme.

In 2011 she became certified in Antigravity Yoga with Christopher Harrison, founder of the aerial discipline, and during the same period completed her training in Pilates, organised by Centros DIR in Barcelona.

About teaching

Encouraged very early on by her first teachers, she began to work as a yoga teacher in 2005 in well-known sports centres and yoga studios in her home city, Barcelona.

In May 2013 she became one of the founding partners of Yogaia (www.yogaiabcn.org) where she has been sharing her life and love of yoga on a daily basis, teaching the Hatha Raja practice.

She is one of the driving forces and codirector of the Yogaia Yoga Teacher Training course. Its first edition was in 2016 (January to December - 24 students), the second during 2017-18 (from October to July - 22 students), and the third in 2019 (January to December - 26 students).

In 2018 she has been a teacher of the Yoga Professionalism Certificate of the Joviat School (offered by Generalitat de Catalunya, the Catalan Autonomous Government).

Yogaia is now four years old, and has become a referential centre for the study and practice of yoga in Barcelona, regularly visited by students and teachers from other yoga studios, as well as practitioners from many countries around the world. Mariona usually guides an average of ten sessions a week, including every aspect of the practice, as well the twice-monthly Yogaia Maha Sadhana on Sundays.