After more than 30 years living in the Algarve, raising her three daughters and building a career in real estate, health and wellbeing became an increasingly important part of Alison’s life.

For almost two decades, she has explored yoga, nutrition and different approaches to living well. Her love of yoga has taken her to India and across Asia, where she has spent time practising, learning and staying at ashrams and retreats.

In Rishikesh, at the foothills of the Himalayas, she completed a traditional yoga teacher training course. The intention was never to become a teacher, but simply to deepen her own understanding and practice. It gave her the opportunity to explore yoga beyond the physical side, including its philosophy, functional approach, connection to health and its more spiritual traditions.

That experience had a lasting influence on the way she lives and thinks about wellbeing.

Anyone who has known Alison for more than ten minutes will know that conversations with her tend to find their way back to food, health, yoga and how we can feel better in our everyday lives.

For years, she felt that Almancil was missing a place where people could practise yoga or movement, meet like-minded people and then stay on for a coffee or something genuinely healthy afterwards.

That idea first began to take shape with Milla, the healthy food café next door, which she co-founded around a simple philosophy of wholesome ingredients, nourishing food and a relaxed sense of community.

KAYA is the natural continuation of that vision.

More than anything, the hope is that it becomes a warm, unpretentious place where people can move, connect, learn, meet friends and feel good, whether they come for yoga, Pilates, dance, breathwork, meditation, or simply to be part of the community.

After dreaming about a space like this for many years, Alison is incredibly excited to finally see KAYA come to life and to share it with the community she has called home for so long.