Erin Kelly Ashworth

The centre is managed by Erin Kelly Ashworth, RYT 500. Erin is a yoga teacher certified with Yoga Alliance. Erin has been practicing yoga for 17 years and teaching for 10 years. Erin has completed training in Hatha and Vinyasa Flow with Frog Lotus International, her advanced Ashtanga yoga teacher training with Yogacharya Lalit Kumar of Himalaya Valley Yoga, Restorative Yoga with Judith Hanson Lasater and Yin Yoga with Bernie Clark. She also specialises in Yoga & Mindfulness for Children, Yoga for people with Learning Difficulties, ADHD and Autism Spectrum, and Prenatal Yoga for Conscious and Sacred Birthing. She has also completed a Professional Qualification in the Therapeutic Use of Mindfulness accredited by the Irish Mindfulness Institute and is an accredited HypnoBirthing Educator.  Her advanced yoga teacher training has provided her with the knowledge to use yoga to manage symptoms associated with various conditions.

“After participating in aerobic sports for many years, I started practicing yoga and became instantly intrigued with my improved endurance, balance, flexibility and strength. I found it helpful in managing stress and used it as a holistic remedy for inflammation. My work led to courses in disabilities studies and mental health and I became aware of mindfulness. After seven years of practicing yoga, I decided I wanted to share the benefits of yoga as a qualified instructor.”
-Erin Kelly Ashworth, Life Balance Yoga Founder & Certified Yoga Instructor

Erin previously worked in a yoga studio in America and holds classes in Co. Cork and Co. Kerry. 

Stephanie Horton

My name is Stephanie Louisa Horton and I am currently a restorative and hatha yoga practitioner. I am interested sharing the fun and joy that regular yoga practice can inspire, as well as the deep relaxation and sense of well-being it promotes. It can also be a practical, supportive practice in the face of some of the challenges life brings. I was introduced to Hatha yoga by my mother, who taught informal classes during my childhood in Devon. I was a graduate in Human Science from UCL London with a special interest in Neurology and then trained in traditional acupuncture at International College of Oriental Medicine from 1987-1990. From 1990 until 2014 my primary professional experience has been in preventative and health care as an acupuncturist and therapeutic massage practitioner and have worked in the UK and in Ireland. I also received special training in China. My passion for yoga was reawakened whilst visiting Vancouver in 2008 on holiday. I took a program at Vancouver Film School where we had regular movement and dance classes. I then took part in a Lululemon dance competition and won a month’s yoga classes and yoga vest as my prize for joining in enthusiastically! So began my current journey exploring the fascinating world of yoga in its many different forms. In 2012 I chose to return to Vancouver to train formally as a hatha and vinyasa flow yoga practitioner at the well-known international training school Semperviva Yoga  school, run by the inspiring Gloria Latham. I then trained in Pre-natal Khalsa Way yoga with the celebrated Kundalini teacher, Gurmukh. In 2014 I returned to Semperviva to study Restorative yoga with another exceptional teacher, Tianne Allan. Earlier this year I completed an advanced training in Restorative Yoga at CamYoga, Cambridge, UK. and participated in Gloria Latham’s Kundalini yoga “Crystallise your Vision” on-line course.

I find Hatha yoga classes are great to  improve energy flow and flexibility, as well as exercise many parts of my mind and body. It is also my experience that restorative yoga, which is a gentle, passive and more meditative practice, can be deeply restful and nourishing. It also invites self enquiry and reflection. I feel this form of practice, when practiced regularly, has the potential to help people of all ages and capacities to find a sense of ease, whilst negotiating some of the stresses of modern life.

Rose Rooney

Chani Wates

Chani is passionate about physical, social and environmental well being. She studied philosophy and French at degree level, which laid the foundation for an interest in philosophy and spiritual enquiry. After an introduction to yoga by yoga enthusiasts in West Cork she began to practice yoga seriously in 2010 while working in the environmental sector in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Regular practice brought inner calm and the ability to face life’s challenges with equanimity and strength. She was inspired by weekly classes with an Ashtanga / Vinyasa Yoga teacher and maintained a regular home practice.

In 2012 she returned to Ireland to have her son. In 2013 she took workshops with David Curtis in Vinyasa Yoga which maintained an emphasis on alignment in asanas and was a strong, physical practice, but also introduced somatic movement as a balancing practice. Somatic movement is a gentle movement practice where the focus of the practitioner is inward and internal. In November 2014, inspired to share the wonderful benefits of yoga with others, she trained to become a yoga teacher with Esther Ekhart of ekhartyoga.com in Hatha Flow Yoga. Meditation and pranayama practice were central to the training and helped to shape her personal practice and classes.

Training: Hatha Flow Yoga, Esther Ekhart / Ekhart Yoga, November 2014 – March 2015

Keeley Harrington

After trying and practicing various styles of yoga, in 2011 I took my first Kundalini Yoga class and from that very first class I knew I had found my style of yoga. The energy and awareness that Kundalini yoga offers the student was unlike anything I had felt before. I began taking weekly classes and developed my own practice. I spent a year completing my 200 hour training in Cork with the Jivan Mukta training academy to become a certified Kundalini Yoga teacher.

Fiona Ashley

Fiona Ashley has been practising Yoga for over 30 years, studying with many great teachers in the Hatha, Iyengar, Ashtanga and Vinyasa traditions since her University days. In 1991 she trained to teach with Maitri Yoga Centre in Southampton, and taught for a couple of years before moving to Ireland. Life took different directions but yoga remained a constant. In 2011, Fiona took further RYT  training in the  Vinyasa style, with Carol Murphy of Green Lotus Yoga, and has been teaching fulltime throughout West Cork since then. Her teaching style is encouraging, precise and playful, with a strong focus on building core strength, stability, and centredness, and helping her students to fully realise their true potential, on all levels. She is particularly fond of being upside down…

Fiona is also one of only 3 certified Acroyoga teachers in Ireland. She discovered Acroyoga in 2010 and immediately fell in love with the blend of yoga, partner acrobatics and Thai massage, and the strong connections this practice offered.  She teaches Acroyoga in Cork, leads Acroyoga workshops throughout the country, and is delighted to be bringing this truly joyous practice to Life Balance Studio in Bantry!

Betty O’Toole

Former midwife and a yoga teacher with 25 years experience, Betty is empowering women in their prenatal yoga practice.

Tara Mestre