About Us

MyBody Studios ® is the North East’s premier venue for holistic exercise, specialising in Pilates, Yoga, BarreConcept and Personal Training.

MyBody Studios is the North East’s premier venue for holistic fitness, specialising in Yoga, Pilates and Barre methods of exercise.  Established in 2001, the business has grown organically from its roots as the first Pilates studio in the North, to embracing other aspects of well being, including mindfulness, meditation and bodywork treatments.

Director, Emma Newham, who has been in the fitness industry for almost three decades, advocates a holistic approach to treating the body as well as the mind.  She has a wealth of industry knowledge and experience to share with the future generation of teachers and has established several approved instructor training schools, including: Union Yoga UK; Pilates Union UK, BarreConcept and Emma Newham Fitness, all of which offer internationally accredited, professional training courses.

With over 30 group classes a week, there is a class to suit everybody, regardless of age or ability.   If you cannot get to your chosen class, then login online, and take part virtually, in our live sessions, from the comfort of your home.  For those who cannot attend their class of choice at the scheduled time, then opt for our Video on Demand library of pre-recorded classes, which you can access on a monthly subscription basis.  If group classes are not for you, we offer a bespoke one to one personal training with sessions tailored to your needs.

Clients have included Sunderland AFC, Durham County Cricket Club, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital London, London Business School, Royal Air Force Museum, Barnet NHS Hospital, Nuffield Hospital and private schools.  There is a reason that many sports stars including footballer, Niall Quinn; England cricketer, Paul Collingwood and snooker player, Steve Davis, have chosen MyBody Studios as their venue of choice.

Meet our team

Emma Newham

Emma Newham

Having been in the fitness industry for almost 3 decades, Director Emma Newham is one of the longest serving Pilates instructors in the UK.  She has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the fitness industry with qualifications that include various styles of Yoga, Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis, Cardiac Rehabilitation, BarreConcept, Exercise to Music and Personal Training.  She is a qualified Assessor and Internal Quality Assurer (Internal Verifier) and owns five different fitness businesses.  Her companies specialise in online and face to face, internationally accredited instructor training.

Craig Thompson

Craig Thompson

Craig started out his yoga journey as a student of MyBody Studios over a decade ago. His love of yoga eventually lead him to undertake the 200 hour yoga teacher training course in 2015. Craig teaches our male only class – Yoga for Men – for those individuals who prefer to be taught by a man, in a male environment. His Yogalates class is a mixed session for men and women, where he mixes his own unique blend of yoga stretches, with some Pilates core abdominal work – a very popular class. His style is flowing and dynamic, teaching vinyasa yoga sequences with an edge.

Alison Ashman

Alison Ashman

Alison has been practicing yoga for over 20 years and has attended regular classes at MyBodyStudios since 2008. Her long standing love of yoga inevitably inspired her to take the next step and undertake her yoga teacher training. She completed her 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training course with Union Yoga UK. A natural teacher with a good sense of humour, she joins the team, offering a strong style of yoga for students with more experience. Alison is physically gifted, so excels at the Ashtanga and Vinyasa styles of yoga, which she now teaches at the studio. Also a qualified Nurse, Alison lives locally with her family.

Kate Johnston

Kate Johnston

Kate has been a yoga practitioner for many years, studying various styles, including Vinyasa Flow and Aerial yoga. However, it was only since attending regular classes as a student at MyBody Studios in 2015, that she became more invested in her practice. This was largely due to the improvements she felt from injuries she had previously sustained, along with a relief from the general aches and pains she had in her back. She also discovered that yoga is just as good for the mind as it is for my body and that inspired her to take the next step into teacher training. Kate completed her 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training with Union Yoga UK, here at MyBody Studios and began teaching yoga beginners classes in the same year.

Judith Robson

Judith Robson

Judith is a primary school teacher and a long term student of MyBody Studios. Fitness is an integral part of her life, having been a competitive swimmer, gymnast and dancer in her youth. She became interested in holistic fitness after attending regular, weekly classes in Pilates, yoga and barre around six years ago. She joins the team after completing her 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training course with Union Yoga UK. She now teaches beginners yoga, Yin yoga and childrens yoga at the studio. Judith is also a certified Pilates teacher with Pilates Union UK. A keen practitioner of meditation and mindfulness, Judith also teaches yoga and mindfulness in primary schools.

Jacqueline Brooks

Jacqueline Brooks

Jacqueline qualified as a yoga teacher in 2006, having certified in the 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training course at the renowned Sivananda Yoga Ashram, in the Himalayas in India. Mindfulness, meditation and spirituality have remained an integral part of her belief system ever since. Jacqueline is a fully certified Gong Practitioner and has used sound vibrations to heal her own body and now runs the increasingly popular Gong Sound Bath workshops at the studio. Having attended a Kundalini yoga teacher training course in India recently, she has further developed her skills and abilities and wants to inspire others to help heal themselves.

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