Katya and Dani met in an ashram in South India. Both had a very similar vision and share the same values and practice yoga as a way of life. They enjoy being able to share their practice with everyone who comes to the house.
With much love and attention they make Casa Cuadrau a space where all are welcome.
Co-director of Casa Cuadrau, Dani is a yoga and meditation instructor and mountain guide, as well as an ecological builder. From a young age Dani felt deeply connected to the mountains and it was in the Pyrenees and the Himalayans where he discovered hiking to be a powerful meditation practice and a way of deepening his connection with nature. Having studied technical architecture in Barcelona, Dani worked in the construction and theatre industries, and also as a yoga instructor.
He was introduced to Butoh Dance, Body Weather and other movement- based practices under the guidance of Carme Torrent and Andrés Corchero, among other teachers. Following several consecutive trips to India, he completed his yoga teacher training with Bharat Shetty (RYT 500) and he continues deepening his yoga asana practice with Matthew Sweeney. Dani’s meditation practice is based on Buddhist teachings received fromThich Nhat Hanh (Zen) and S.N. Goenka (Vipassana). He has also developed his own open meditation practice with Open Dharma.
In 2009, Dani moved to Vió to realise the dream he had been harbouring since 2006 of rebuilding and restoring a traditional Pyrenean building and turning it into a Yoga, Art and Nature retreat centre. A place where the practices he is passionate about can be shared.
Co-director of Casa Cuadrau, Katya found in Yoga a way of life, a system for self exploration providing her with constant support on her path. When she arrived in Vio she rediscovered her love and devotion for nature, as well as a path on which she can continuously learn from her and be in tune with her.
Katya was born in Mexico City. She has a background in business management and marketing and has worked in advertising and marketing in Mexico, France and Argentina. When she was in Buenos Aires she immersed herself in the practice of Yoga and meditation which completely changed her interests.
In January 2009 she got her teachers’ training certificate from the International Sivananda Vedanta Organization. She decided to deepen into the path of yoga and spent the next 3 years as a resident volunteer between the Buenos Aires yoga center, the Quebec ashram and the Toronto yoga center of the same organization. In 2012 she finished the 500 hours of training from the same school in Kerala, India.
In early 2014 Katya finished a 300 hour yoga teacher’s training with Bharath Shetty (Hatha-Yoga, Vinyasa and Therapeutic Yoga).
In 2018 she practiced with Matthew Sweeney an intensive one month course in Rishikesh.
In 2020 she got certified as instructor Level 1 of ANIMAL FLOW and studied a postgraduate degree in Barcelona University and Wake Up Schools’ Association “Bringing Mindfulness to Children and Teens“.
In 2023 she finished a YinYoga teacher’s training in Pamplona.
She also has studied with Boris Georgiev, Simon Borg Olivier (Synergy Yoga-online), philosophy with James Boag; and she gets inspiration from the Zen teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and Wu De and from mindfulness and meditation of Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach and Open Dharma.
Katya enjoys teaching beginners and seniors, offering classes for all levels, in which each of them can feel comfortable practicing at their rhythm and condition. She also loves teaching Yoga to children in a holistic way (yoga asanas, telling stories, games, handicrafts, basics of yoga philosophy and universal values.) She was the director assistant and activities facilitator for Yoga Kid’s Camp in Val-Morin, Canada.
Certified by the Anahata Center of Yoga Therapy and Massage in Canada, Katya gives applied yoga therapy sessions and thai yoga massages with much love and mindfulness.
Currently she continues her training as a facilitator of women’s circles with Sophia Style and Gemma Polo. She has a deep interest in leading a more conscious, compassionate, ecological and self-sufficient life.
Our greatest source of inspiration is probably mother nature. Everday she teaches us through the smallest and greatest experiences. We recognize in her a great master who guides life and leads us on our individual paths.
The beings that have had an impact on our spiritual journeys are many and to name them all seems impossible to do. As our practice progresses we continue to meet people who teach and move us, all in their own unique ways.
Here’s some of the ones that inspired us most along the path: Patanjali, Buddha, Jesus, Rumi, Tagore, Swami Sivananda, Ramana Maharshi, Ananda Mayi, Swami Vivekananda, Krishnamurti, Shunryu Suzuki, Swami Vishnudevananda, Thich Nhat Hanh, Amritananda Mayi, Abuela Margarita, Eckhart Tolle, Leunig…
Gladys discovered her love of nature early on. Born in a neighborhood at the foot of the Tibidabo mountain in Barcelona, she attended summer camps from the time she was four years old. As a teenager she joined a scout group and, for the next 14 years, had numerous opportunities to experience life in contact with nature and in community, to volunteer, and to take on leadership roles. It was during these years that she developed core values around commitment, responsibility, and service to others.
Her interest in the healing arts developed while working as a journalist in the UK. A series of sedentary office jobs took a toll on her back leaving her in severe pain. This awakened in her a strong need to care for her body and a desire for wellbeing. Thus, in 2006, Pilates came into her life. In 2009 she completed her first teacher training in London and became a Pilates instructor.
This marked the beginning of a path of exploration and self-discovery that took Gladys through various movement and meditation practices including contemporary dance, contact improvisation, Feldenkrais, Yoga and Mindfulness meditation. In the 12 years before joining Casa Cuadrau, Gladys shared her growing knowledge and passion for conscious movement practices by teaching classes, organizing workshops and retreats, and through the creation of her own personal brand.
Her professional ambition focuses on building bridges between the practice of conscious movement and mindfulness meditation in order to help others achieve a fuller life and a more conscious and capable way of moving through it.
For Gladys, the role of Manager at Casa Cuadrau is one more step on her professional path. It is also a chance to return to her roots and reconnect with nature in its purest form. She feels happy to live in a community setting and be part of a heartfelt, conscious project into which she can pour all of her passion and commitment, always with joy and humility.
Eeva grew up in Finland, surrounded by the Nordic landscapes, picking blueberries, swimming in wild waters, running in evergreen forests, and building snow castles, connected with the changes of the seasons in nature, from cold and dark winter to the midnight sun of the summer. Daily relaxation in the sauna, cold plunges, walks and play in the forest, and cottage life surrounded by the lakes and forests built the foundation for honoring nature and wellbeing.
She has lived the majority of her adult life in the north of the Nordic countries but she has also had the privilege of traveling in the world- learning about empowered living and self-discovery, various healing modalities and indigenous traditions, different cultures and languages, permaculture, outdoor activities, camping and exploring, and in general of the beauty and the magic of the world.
In nature, especially in the mountains, Eeva has always felt a deep peace and connection to herself and the Oneness. She believes that being in nature is an essential part of being fully alive since humans are part of nature and the nature outside of our human minds is always in the present moment, where all the magic lies.
Eeva is a wilderness guide, mountain leader, yoga teacher, breath work instructor, Reiki healer, hiker, climber, skier, and student of the Earth and the frequencies of the creation. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social sciences and a master’s degree in sports and health sciences. Parallel to the University programs, she has been working and studying around Europe, South and Central America, and Africa. After years of nomadic lifestyle, Eeva finally feels that she has found her home in the Pyrenees mountains.
Devoted to experiencing the pure potential of a human being, Eeva is inspired to hold space to discover our True Nature through meditative walks, deep listening, and being consciously present in the wilderness, embracing the wonders and the cycles of the natural world. We are very happy to have Eeva as a mountain guide of Casa Cuadrau.
Paqui was born in Madrid, but has lived in many places around the world, having a nomadic and adventurous spirit. The last few years she lived in Andalusia.
She is self-taught in the art of healthy and delicious cooking. Paqui studied and practiced Macrobiotics and Ayurveda, although her base is hygienist and Mediterranean cooking. Shee likes to stay up to date on new trends in nutrition and food based on the health needs of people who attend retreats to improve their lives. She understands that food is one more element in the process of growth and healing.
She has taught vegetarian and vegan cooking workshops, from the most basic to advanced courses, from the simplest to the most complex in terms of nutrition and preparation.
Paqui came to Casa Cuadrau willing to know and enrich herself with other experiences and places. She is very creative and innovative, as well as having a loving personality. At Casa Cuadrau she gives us that energy of the mother that cares for and nourishes through her food, her smiles and her conversations.
Silvia was born in 1992, in Barcelona and grew up outside of the city, in the heart of the Collserola Natural Park. Shortly after graduating she moved to Dublin, where she worked in an adtech company and learnt how to live with the rain.
In Celtic lands she also found yoga as a way of living, discovering a practice that not only makes her feel good but also promotes a philosophy and values that resonate with her. With time, the asana and meditation practices have opened up the doors to other questions and ways of living: conscious eating, our impact on the environment and minimalism as a lifestyle, to name a few.
Silvia came to Casa Cuadrau in 2018 and fell in love with the project. During 2019, she helped boost and improve the operations. Now she explores new ways to grow the project so it can reach more people. She is in charge of the communication with facilitators who want to hire the space Casa Cuadrau for their own retreats.
Her passions are cooking, photography and spending time in nature.
Author and teacher Wu De is a true Chajin (tea person). He has been a practitioner of Cha Dao (The Way of Tea) for over 20 years, and he has reached over 100,000 people through his writings, classes, workshops, seminars and interviews.
Born Aaron Daniel Fisher in rural Ohio, Wu De knew from an early age that his interests lay to the East. His martial arts practice began at an early age, and led him to discover the wisdom locked inside tea leaves when he was a teenager.
Upon graduating from university with a degree in anthropology and philosophy, he moved to India, where he lived and worked in a meditation center for some years. During this time, he prepared tea daily as fuel for his intensive meditation practice, and he laid the groundwork for his later work with tea as a spiritual vehicle.
Wu De then left India to study meditation in Burma, Thailand and eventually Japan. Working closely with a Zen teacher who often used tea ceremonies as a way of conveying Zen wisdom, his insights into The Way of Tea and the ability of tea to convey deep peace were strengthened.
After being ordained in the Soto Zen tradition, he began studying gongfu tea under Master Lin Ping Xiang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Master Lin taught Wu De about how to serve tea with more skill and focus.
For the last decade, Wu De has been teaching the ancient practice of serving tea from a Zen and tea center in Taiwan, known as Tea Sage Hut. In the last three years, the center’s monthly magazine and organic tea mailing, Global Tea Hut has swelled to connect hundreds of tea lovers and spiritual seekers in over 30 countries.
Since mid 2019, Tea Sage Hut has had to close its doors. Wu De and his students are organising tea workshops and seminars all over the world to raise funds for Light Meets Life, his upcoming free tea retreat centre in Taiwan, which will host hundreds of guests every year, sharing the Way of Tea and a more connected way of living and being with each and every person who joins a tea session there.
Webs: globalteahut.org and lightmeetslife.org/about
Physiotherapist (E.U. Gimbernat , 2013) and Cook (self-taught).
Trained in physiotherapy and specialized in Urogynaecology, She combines her work with cooking. She has always been passionate about cooking and and good food. Presently she lives in a house in Baix Empordà, that has a large kitchen where she can experiment with and investigate food. She shares her knowledge in the form of workshops, in Verges , Barcelona and Vió. Her culinary research is premised on the use of local, organic and fresh products, easy to find and that everyone can easily have in their kitchen. She is interested in simple preparations and practical in the making, that are tasty and have a creative touch. Seeks to make everyday acts, moments of pleasure.
She studied and worked in the field of architecture.
With relation to movement and dance, a big part of her experiencecomes from the Body Weather Laboratory, a dance practice developed by the Japanese dancer Min Tanaka, with whom she studied in Japan during several years and with whom she collaborated in various occasions.
At the same time, she has developed the exploration and deep listening in body tactility through the regular practice of seitai (katsugen-undo and yuki), education in shiatsu and movement, as well as through regular meet-ups with Akinobu Kishi (seiki).
Touched by Cachemira’s Yoga, she immersed herself in this practice which originated in Tantric Shivaism, with Eric Baret.
Manu was born in Argentine Patagonia in 1984, in a coastal town called Rada Tilly.
At 18 when he finished high school, not knowing what to study at university, he decided to take a gap year to think it over and do some work. That first job was in a pizzeria where his passion for cooking was born, which he would later study for 4 years. During those first years of cooking he discovered yoga by seeing a group of people who practiced it right in front of that pizzeria. Yoga powerfully caught his attention and was love at first sight. After finishing his cooking degree, he moved to Buenos Aires for professional experience and decided that he would also study yoga for 2 years. Thus, since he was 24 years old, Manu distributes his life teaching yoga and cooking.
With a nomadic spirit and a passion for cultures, he has traveled extensively in search of new flavors and has worked in six countries working in hotels, restaurants, yoga centers and as a private cook for 18 years.
In 2017 he moved to Spain and changed his lifestyle towards veganism, a decision that turned his heart completely into his gastronomy and that led him to reinterpret classic dishes and create signature dishes with all the immense variety of products that Mother Earth gave us. gives. He is Casa Cuadrau’s chef.
Juan Carlos Escanciano is the creator of Navetierra, a project of communicating and spreading science, with a focus on astronomy and space exploration, and its potential impact on the human mind and in society.
His passion for the mountains, science and spiritual traditions impulsed him from the beginning to search for something that is aligned with his true vocation.
He studied to become a Shiatsu therapist and psychologist. He was particularly interested in humanist psychology, mind-body connection (bioenergy), meditation and transpersonal psychology.
During the last few years he completed his Postgraduate in Asthrophysics at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. His passion for discovering the Universe that surrounds us was solidified and became rigorous at this point. In any case, his interest in science didn’t stop here and he continue learning and self-teaching himself on biology, Earth history, evolution theory and anthropology, among other disciplines.
Finally, he created the Navetierra project, with the goal of sharing, in a light and inspiring way, the different knowledge and experiences that he has gathered during his life, from an integrative and holistic vision, exploring the connection between Science and Conscience, Mind and Cosmos, etc. He is convinced of the underlying Unity in all layers of Reality, only divided in appearanceby the limited analytical brain, in front of the complexity and diversity of phenomena.
Web: navetierra.es
James Boag is originally from Yorkshire, England, James teaches yoga and applied yoga philosophy globally.
James is known for his inspiring, inclusive and engaging teaching style and his holistic approach, which weaves together multiple mutually complementary elements. These include live storytelling, a principle-based, practical and inclusive style of asana/natural movement work, meditations and kirtan, all informed by years of practical exploration and dedicated study of Sanskrit and traditional yoga texts.
James has been teaching for over twenty years, teaching yoga since 2003 and leading integrated programs on applied yoga philosophy around the world since 2009. When he was still teaching English at university in Thailand, James began studying Sanskrit. Since then he has spent many seasons in Mysore, South India, where he completed his Sanskrit MA in 2012 and where he regularly leads courses on the Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Sutra-s, working from the original Sanskrit texts, and Indian Mythology.
Whether you are brand new to yoga or have been practising for decades, James’ classes, workshops and retreats are a great way to deepen your understanding of the bigger picture of yoga and how yoga principles can enhance our work with different yoga techniques and support us in all aspects of our lives.
Web: jamesboagyoga.com
Lean was born in 1987 in Argentina, in Comodoro Rivadavia, Patagonia, and when he was five, he moved to Spain with his family and spent his childhood in Burgos.
He loves travelling, meeting people, climbing mountains and being in nature… and he had been climbing and hiking for long time, until one day he realised that all he wanted was to live in nature and follow his passion, sharing his love for the mountains with others, so he decided to leave Burgos and came to live in the Pyrenees. He has a training as a mountain guide. He is also a kid’s counsellor for holiday camps and he continues to learn and train…
Lean is one of the mountain guides on the meditative walks and hikes at Casa Cuadrau and he shares with great passion his knowledge of the flora and fauna, the environment, the traditions of the Pyrenean villages…
Besides enjoying the mountains, Lean likes to capture special places, and to share his view of nature with people, he has created this project: Largos KMS
She has been drawn to the sounds of nature all her life, as well as instruments that can create suspended sounds. In 2012 she attended the “Gong Ritual” Sound and Trance training by Dr. Peter Hess, where she was able to deepen and expand experiences through his receptive music therapy model.
She likes exploring the vibration that sound leaves in the body and the space where it is created, enjoying the expanded states of consciousness. Some of the instruments that she uses are the symphonic gong, monocordio, bowls, didgeridoo, drums, shruti, voice, etc.
In her experience as a human being, she would like to experience herself in balance in all the possible dimensions with this body. The sound and the silence are her great teachers in this trip, to improve and grow her perception, and to keep adding experiences to a more active intelligence.
They are both directors of the Yogacenter Ganesha in Vienna, since 2000. Boris has practiced yoga since he was a child and has taught for over 20 years. Renée has studied Indiology and Philosophy at the University of Vienne and considers that the Yoga practice is essential to understand Indian philosophy. Together they share a passion for singing Mantras and, together with their daughters, make the practice of Yoga and Kirtan a family one.
Boris, having practiced and studied yoga all his life, embodies the teachings that he has learn to love since he was a kid.
During his teenage years he practiced with Venzislav Eftimoff. Later, in Vienna, he continued with the integral Sivananda Yoga method. Then, in an ashram in India, he met Lino Miele, who inspired him to start his Ashtanga-Vinyasa practice. Since 1995, this method started to become more and more important in his practice andso he has continued to study with Michel Besnard and Andrea Morava.
In 2000, Boris founded the Yogacenter Ganesha, where he mainly teaches Ashtanga Yoga and Acroyoga.
Since 1999, Boris has studied Ashtanga with Pattabhi Jois and Sharath (India), V. Shashadri (India), Lino Miele (Italy), Nancy Gilgoff (Maui), Andrew Eppler (Oklahoma), Cliff Barber (Creta), Danny Paradise (Molokai) and others. A part from his personal years of practice, his teachings are also supported by the four years of studies around individual psychological conscience, Spiraldynamic® anatomy, AcroYoga® – a symbiosis of Yoga, Acrobacy and Nuad (Thai massage).
Web: ashtanga.at
Yogini, singer, composer and mother.
Renée Sunbird was introduced to yoga for the first time by her father. Several years later, she studied Indiology (Sanskrit) and Philosophy at the University of Vienna and started to practice Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. She travelled to India several times to deepen her yog apractice and to study Indian music, singing Mantras and Bhajan. Mantras are the sounds of the Universe. Some say that they’ve always existed and that we can hear them when we begin to listen to the Silence. When we start to sing Mantras, we can enter a deep state of meditation and feel who we truly are. During many years, Renée and her husband Boris have led yoga retreats and kirtans in Europe.
Web: reneesunbird.com