The Team

Co-founder · Teaching since 2010

Rui Pascoal — Mahā Dev

He came to Yoga in 2006, as an Architecture student at ESAP, looking for a practice that was body and mind at once. He joined Āshram Porto of the Confederação Portuguesa do Yoga, and in 2014, together with Sónia Passos, opened Āshram Gaya in Vila Nova de Gaia.

Over the years the work has expanded into very different contexts. A teacher specialised in Yoga for children aged 3 to 12, with regular classes in schools since 2012. A teacher of Yoga for seniors and reduced mobility in day-centre and care-home settings since 2018, notably at Centro Social de Vilar do Paraíso. Teacher of Yoga, Stress and Emotional Management for high-performance athletes at the Centro de Alto Rendimento de Gaia, contracted by the Portuguese Table Tennis Federation (2019–2025). In a mental-health context, collaboration with the Psychiatry department of Hospital de Gaia through Liga dos Amigos do Hospital de Gaia — regular classes with patients under psychiatric care and in oncological recovery.

Participant in Yoga retreats and congresses since 2010. Co-organiser of Yoga retreats with Sónia Passos since 2020.

Since 2020, deepening the study of Meditation with Prof. Bhogal Ji at the Kaivalyadhama Yoga Institute, founded in 1924. In 2021, received initiation from Swami Samarpanananda Ji — of Rishikesh, the Himalayas — as a Sanyasin, taking the name Mahā Dev. Swamiji has visited the Āshram in 2023 and 2024. He is today the main reference for Vedānta, Tantra Sādhanā and Kriyā Yoga at the Āshram.

In 2024–2025, advanced training in YogaTerapia and Yoga for Stress and Burnout with Gonçalo Correia Yoga Pros (Yoga Alliance Professionals UK). Member of the Indian Yoga Association since 2021. Senior Teacher with Yoga Pros (Yoga Alliance Professionals UK) in 2026.

Father of a neurodivergent daughter — an experience that shaped his work with neurodivergent children and their families.

Co-founder · Teaching since 2013

Sónia Passos

Sónia Passos has been a Yoga teacher and co-founder of Āshram Gaya, in Vila Nova de Gaia, since 2014. Her professional background is in clinical secretarial work in the public sector — experience that gave her a careful eye for care and for accompanying people. Over the years she has also studied theatre, body expression and music, paths that deepened her relationship with the body, the voice and presence. She maintains an ongoing study of philosophy.

She began her Yoga training in 2013 at the Confederação Portuguesa do Yoga — six years, around 6,500 hours. Specialisations in Yoga for Children, Yoga in school settings and Yoga for Pregnancy. In 2020 she completed training in Baby Yoga at Sunshine Yoga. She teaches at Fundação Couto, with babies and children, and at Āshram Gaya. Mother of a neurodivergent daughter.

Yoga and Pilates Teacher since 2018

Isabel Henriques

Isabel Henriques comes from classical dance and ballet, and teaches History at secondary-school level. That artistic and pedagogical background gave her a fine awareness of the body in movement, of rhythm and of form — which now also runs through her Yoga practice.

She found a second home at Āshram Gaya. She began practising with Rui Pascoal and, in 2018, completed Yoga teacher training at the Confederação Portuguesa do Yoga. In 2024 she completed YogaTerapia training with Gonçalo Correia, and in 2025 specialised in Yoga for Stress and Burnout. She also completed further training in Pilates, which she naturally integrates with Yoga.