About Us
Active Balance Yoga is a training provider that offers a 200 hour yoga teacher training programme and children’s yoga teacher training as well as a range of CPD courses in yoga, meditation and mindfulness.
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Stefan Cunnington, the founder of Active Balance Yoga, has been teaching yoga for more than 20 years, both in the UK and overseas. His mission is to inspire the next generation of yoga teachers by providing exceptional training opportunities based on a modern understanding of traditional wisdom and practices.
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Active Balance Yoga is accredited with Yoga Alliance US, the Independent Yoga Network, and the Complementary Medical Association. The standards of the School promote high quality, safe, accessible, and equitable yoga teaching and training. Students and graduates of Active Balance Yoga benefit from membership with reputable professional bodies, access to industry relevant insurance, and professional advice and mentoring throughout the duration of their training programme and beyond.
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We are delighted to support each one of our students and graduates on their journey to becoming a yoga teacher. We believe that our in-person model of programme delivery equips our graduates with the knowledge, skills, and experience to safely and confidently share their passion for yoga and its wonderful benefits with anyone and everyone no matter their age or ability. We know how invaluable practical experience is in this process. Therefore, from day one, our students gain in-person teaching experience within a safe and nurturing environment with the guidance of highly trained and experienced teachers.
Active Balance Yoga's purpose is to effect long lasting positive change, one student at a time, by building a community of compassionate yoga teachers.
Meet the Team
Principal and Programme Leader
Stefan Cunnington E-RYT 500, YACEP, Dip.Med. Teacher
In 2003, Stefan relocated to England with his wife, Teodora. Since then, he has promoted the knowledge and practice of yoga among the ever growing community of yoga practitioners in the East Midlands.
An advocate for self-development, in the UK, he has trained with Sun Power Yoga (200 Hour, Power Yoga style) and with Yoga London School (500 Hour, Ashtanga Vinyasa style). Stefan has a keen interest in the evidence-based anatomy applications for yoga teaching and movement science. He has completed qualifications with a number of reputable schools, including Anatomy Studies For Yoga Teachers (ASFYT) with Jason Ray Brown, YogaAnatomy with Lesley Kaminof, the Yoga Anatomy Academy with Ariele Foster, and Yoganatomy with David Keil, to name just a few.
Stefan’s experience in teaching also extends to Sports Massage and Holistic Therapies. Over the years, he has taught in a local Further Education College and local private training centres such as UKHolistics.
Stefan's yoga teaching practice is underpinned by his knowledge of human anatomy and physiology as well as a deep understanding of yoga philosophy and energy systems. In addition to the Active Balance Teacher Training programme and CPD opportunities, Stefan has established popular yoga classes, and organises workshops and charity events in the East Midlands. He conducts yoga and meditation sessions in a challenging and fun way, and he is truly dedicated to supporting others to achieve their full potential.
Stefan's yoga journey began more than twenty years ago in his country of origin, Romania, where he first trained in integral yoga. Stefan trained intensively for eleven years, in which time he gained extensive knowledge and experience of teaching a variety of styles of yoga including Swara Yoga, Laya Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Kundalini Hatha Yoga, Yantra Yoga, Raja Yoga, Tantra Yoga, Karma Yoga, Ayurveda, and Kashmir Shaivism.
ABY Senior Teacher Trainer
Sue Hix
Sue is an experienced teacher and therapist. She has dedicated her life to the study of Yoga, Meditation and Holistic Therapies.
She began her yoga journey many moons ago, in 1984 enjoying hatha yoga classes. Sue began teaching local yoga classes since 1992. Sue met Stefan Cunnington in 2004 and has continued to study Raja Yoga and Laya Yoga with him over the years.
Some of the highlights in her yoga career are the practice of Oki Yoga in 1988, Bikram Yoga classes and Vinyasa flow in 2015, lots of authentic yoga practices in the winter of 2018 in Goa, Ashtanga Vinyasa in the summer of 2019. She teaches regular yoga and therapeutic workshops offering insightful training and opportunity for growth and development. She enjoyed teaching workshops at the IYN Festival in Norfolk in 2018.
Sue is passionate about the understanding of how the subtle energy can influence our health, wellbeing and personality. Her first shiatsu experiences were in the North East of England with Paul Lambeth, a macrobiotic counsellor and shiatsu practitioner. Shiatsu training led her to Switzerland where she worked with Saul Goodman from USA and Ray Ridolfi from London. The school in Switzerland is famous as a centre of macrobiotic learning, which fuelled Sue's particular interest in the wider aspects of health fitting recommendations to individual needs.
In the late 90’s she began equine shiatsu with Pamela Hannay, since then there have been many influences on her work, most recently she worked closely with Michael Cullingworth who trained directly with Ryokyu Endo of Tao Shiatsu
Sue is the owner of Rosewell Centre, and teaches Yoga, Tai Chi, Breathwork and Meditation classes. She also teaches Accredited Shiatsu Practitioner and Equine Shiatsu Practitioner courses in the UK.
ABC Teacher Trainer
Claudine Fignon
Claudine began practising yoga many years ago to help relieve mental health problems and found it hugely beneficial for managing her symptoms. She realised building a yoga practice into her daily life was a powerful tool to relax and calm the body and mind. Claudine has been practising yoga and meditation for over 20 years and has a wealth of knowledge to offer, particularly in mental health. She is passionate about sharing the many benefits of yoga, meditation and mindfulness to people of all ages, particularly children!
Claudine has completed children’s, teens and adult yoga teacher training as well as specialist training for children with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) and ADHD (Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder). Her classes are wide and varied, including teaching yoga and mindfulness both in schools and colleges and outside of the education setting for children, teens and families, as well as adults.
Claudine’s son has ASD and ADHD, as do many of her students, so she is particularly knowledgeable in this area. She has written a book of meditations and she is an Angelic Reiki Master as well as a trained Sound Therapist.
Claudine’s classes incorporate yoga postures, yoga sequences, mindfulness, meditation, sound and mantra work, and yoga games. This ensures that students are highly engaged and the children she teaches have a full and varied experience.
Conscious that we are all forever students of this wonderful ancient practice, Claudine is always furthering her knowledge. Other training she has undertaken recently includes Advanced Adjustments, with Craig Nadashakti Norris and Yoga in Healthcare, with Heather Mason, (Head of the Minded Institute) and Paul Fox, (ex-head of the British Wheel of Yoga).
Aqua Yoga Teacher Trainer
Brendan Murphy
Brendan is an experienced Yoga teacher (ERYT-500 with Yoga Alliance). He has been teaching Yoga since 2013, and Aqua Yoga since 2017.
Brendan came to Yoga as a result of knee injuries that prevented him from playing football. He wanted to find relief from the pain that this caused, and to be able to stay fit and healthy.
Gradually, Brendan realised that there was much more to this practice than just physical benefits – and he fell in love with the mental and emotion release and relief that he found.
The psychological benefits that Brendan found (in terms of the reduction in stress and anxiety) fascinated him so much that he is now doing a Psychology degree alongside teaching Yoga, with the intention of becoming a Sport and Exercise Psychologist, specialising in the crossover between the use of psychological coping mechanisms and the practice of Yoga. Brendan works with several football and rugby squads to help them do some ‘prehab’ and Yoga for injury prevention – as well as working with them on mindset and club culture.
Brendan also teaches Chair Yoga for people who have limited mobility, as well as other disabilities, and he is passionate about working with people of all abilities. His focus is on helping people find more strength and mobility, as well as a sense of contentedness, through Yoga in all it’s forms.