The Team
Casa Cuadrau
Founders
Katya and Dani met in an ashram in South India. Both had a very similar vision and share the same values, the yoga and mindfulness practice as a way of life. They enjoy sharing their practice and the teachings that inspire them the most with all those who visit the house.
They are delighted to offer a space of love and honesty so that each person experiences a transformation during their stay.
Daniel Benito Po
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.
Katya Ríos Chávez (Kalyani)
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 obtained her first certification as a yoga instructor in Brazil. Since then, she teaches and continues to train continuously in various areas: Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa, Therapeutic Yoga, Yin Yoga, Applied Yoga Therapy, Thai Massage, Mindfulness, Meditation, Animal Flow. She also completed a postgraduate degree with the University of Barcelona and the Asociación Escuelas Despiertas in the Mindfulness Intervention Program with Children and Teenagers and a training of women’s circles with Sophia Style and Gemma Polo.
She has studied with Bharath Shetty, Boris Georgiev, Mathew Sweeney, Simon Borg Olivier (Synergy Yoga – online); philosophy with James Boag; and is greatly inspired by the Zen teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and Wu De; mindfulness and meditation by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach.
Katya really enjoys introducing beginners to yoga and meditation, and offers classes for all levels in which each one can work comfortably at their own pace and condition. In addition, she is passionate about teaching yoga and mindfulness to children in a holistic way and currently volunteers a weekly Yoga, Mindfulness and Art program at the Ainsa cultural center.
She has a deep interest in leading a more mindful, compassionate, ecological and self-sufficient life.
Our Inspiration
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…
Collaborators
Amaia Villaverde
Out of curiosity and a deep desire to know more, she has been learning different tools and dynamics to bring us closer to each other as human beings and to what surrounds us.
Amaia has discovered that beyond verbal language there is a body language that is understood and transmitted naturally wherever we go. That is why she loves to share herself in a group through dynamics that make us connect with the body, emotions and joy. In addition to the body, another language that connects her greatly is music and she loves to explore through it.
Her deep curiosity and desire to learn have led her to train and acquire knowledge from different branches and in different places. She began studying project management, entrepreneurship and innovation. During this time she realized that she wanted to create projects but with a social awareness. That is why she trained as a social integrator, to be able to assist from this perspective and since then be part of projects that have coherence and generate a positive impact in the place where we live. She is currently training as a group facilitator, a training that is providing her with new perspectives and endless reflections on how we inhabit groups and the importance of community and common sharing.
Amaia collaborated for the first time with Casa Cuadrau in 2019 as a volunteer and thus, she never left completely. She came to live in this valley a few years ago and is currently the Manager and coordinator of the Karma Yoga program, bringing order, improvements in communication, freshness and joy to the Casa.
Mateo Malato
Born in Santa Fe (Argentina), he grew up in a working-class family. Son of a puppeteer and human rights activist and a Peronist political activist. He studied Fine Arts at a technical school where he specialized in audiovisual arts. His passion was always music, and pursuing the desire to make a living from it, at the age of 18 he moved to Cordoba to study Afro-Latin percussion. It was there that he met many valuable music teachers.
Already back in Santa Fe, he began to live in a rural area where he began as a bio house-builder and settled as a luthier of percussion instruments. Two careers from which he lives and train in a self-taught manner for already 20 years.
For 5 years he has lived between two continents, nourished by what each one brings him. He takes discontinuous practices of shamanic journeys with drums, capoeira from Angola and Andean music circles.
Mateo currently works at Casa Cuadrau as a kitchen assistant, maintenance and gardening, bringing to the house an energy of serenity and a strong sense of collaboration; a lot of rhythm and connection with the land.
Paqui García Reyes
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.
Silvia Sampere Navarro
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.
Regular facilitators
Wu De (Aaron Fisher)
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 organize 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
Carme Torrent
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.
Lean Sancholuz
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
Your project is: Largos KMS
Web: largoskms.com
Agustina Valerga
I feel amazed by nature in connection with the human experience, the mind, the body, the emotions and the way these aspects interrelate. This led me to seek resources in different disciplines, especially Yoga, Californian Massage and Music.
At some point in my journey, the disciplines I was studying and practicing went from being an activity to a life tool; the change was powerful. I am especially motivated to be able to share this with those who are in search of personal development, freedom and fulfillment.
Anna Carboneras Girgas
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.
Mariam Lanuza
Mariam is passionate about yoga, nature, good conversations and grateful for life.
She fell in love with yoga from the first class she attended and after several years as a student with different teachers, she immersed herself in the study of this valuable discipline. After a few years, she trained as a Yoga Instructor (AFDA0311) and obtained the Professional Certificate of Yoga. With great enthusiasm and effort, she reoriented her professional life and opened her own center, Senda Yoga, a space in which to teach and honor this valuable science and philosophy of life.
Today, she continues to enrich her spirit with the training of Yoga Coach Shri Vivek. Yoga teaches her to live in coherence with herself and with others. It helps her achieve a connection with the deepest part of her being and with the universal source. Yoga teaches her to enjoy every moment of life.
Hatha yoga, restorative yoga and aerial yoga are the types of yoga that she currently teaches at Senda Yoga, because each person needs a rhythm. When students leave class satisfied and grateful, it fills her with happiness and that gives her enormous energy to continue learning and sharing the keys and techniques for self-knowledge, personal evolution and well-being.
James Boag
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
Boris Georgiev and Renée Sunbird
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 Georgiev
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
Renée Sunbird
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