Gonçalo Luz
Facilitator, Co-Founder of Sacred Grounds
Gonçalo Luz is the owner and co-founder of Sacred Grounds CNX, as well as a Wellness Consultant. He is a Hatha Yoga teacher, retreat leader, and facilitator of personal development whose work is rooted in a deep commitment to self-exploration, embodied practice, and deeper connection.
Gonçalo began a serious exploration of Yoga, meditation, and non-dual lineage traditions in 2011. What started initially as a personal search for meaning, gradually became his path and way of life. Over the years, he immersed himself in the study and practice of classical Hatha Yoga, also known as Kundalini Hatha Yoga, and the non-dual philosophy of Trika Shaivism.
Seeking a deeper understanding far beyond western studio Yoga culture, Gonçalo was initiated in 2018 by a direct student of Swami Satyananda and Lungtok Tenpai Nyima, and spent nine continuous months in traditional Hatha Yoga retreat and advanced study with his teacher. Rooted in the teachings of classical Hatha Yoga and the lineage of Swami Satyananda, this intensive period of practice became a deeply defining chapter in his life and continues to shape his teaching today.
His training also includes internationally recognized teacher certifications with Akasha Yoga, and Mark Whitwell's Heart of Yoga, a direct student of Krishmanacharya and his son T.K.V. Desikashar.
Before dedicating his life to Yoga and transformational work, Gonçalo spent almost twenty years in the film industry as a filmmaker and film teacher. He directed fiction and commercial films for television, while teaching directing, production, and film grammar for two decades.
In 2010 however, although his professional career was successful, an increasing sense of emptiness and a longing for depth led him onto his present path.
Since 2019, Gonçalo has facilitated circles, workshops, and retreats, creating spaces where participants can reconnect within in a more honest and meaningful way.
His work combines the discipline of Yoga with practices that encourage self-reflection, presence, personal responsibility, and authentic connection.
He is also known for his unique men’s motorcycle retreats in the Indian Himalayas. These journeys combine adventure, Yoga, meditation, men's work, and cultural immersion, inviting participants into both an outer journey through extraordinary landscapes and an inner journey of self-discovery.
Alongside his Yoga training, Gonçalo has explored a wide range of approaches to personal growth, embodiment, communication, and relational development.
His studies have included Jungian psychology, and several experiential methods that support emotional awareness, self-exploration, embodiment, and deeper intimacy. For nearly a decade, he also worked professionally in body-based approaches to intimacy, relationship, and embodied awareness, gaining valuable insight into the ways people open up to themselves and one another on a deeper level.
While this work now belongs to an earlier chapter of his life, its influence continues to inform the safe, grounded, and compassionate way he facilitates groups and workshops today.
His work is guided by a simple conviction: transformation becomes possible when we open to meet ourselves fully, cultivating presence, exercising self-awareness and engaging with oneself and others from a place of openness and radical honesty.
Whether teaching a Yoga class, facilitating a workshop, leading a retreat, or hosting a circle, Gonçalo's approach remains consistent: practical, grounded, and rooted in direct experience. Rather than offering quick answers or fixed beliefs, he invites people into a process of exploration, one that encourages greater responsibility on the path, deeper awareness, and a more intimate relationship with life.