About Punks Don’t Do Yoga
We’re a small, community-focused yoga practice based in Gateshead. Every week, real people of different shapes, sizes, ages, and ability levels come together for a free chair yoga class.
No mats. No pretentiousness. No dress code.
The name
Yoga has a reputation. You’ve seen it: impossibly flexible people in beautiful studios, holding poses that look more like a magic trick than a workout. That’s not us. And frankly, that’s not most people.
Punks Don’t Do Yoga is a quiet protest against all of that. Against the idea that wellbeing is only for certain people. Against the assumption that if you’re older, less mobile, unfit, or just a bit tired, movement isn’t for you. It absolutely is. We just took the barriers away.
About Dawn
Hi — I’m Dawn. I’m a qualified yoga teacher based in the north east of England, with a background in community engagement, people industries, and education. I’ve spent most of my career helping people connect with things that are good for them, and chair yoga is where that finally clicked for me in a practical, tangible way.
I started running chair yoga sessions in Gateshead because I saw a gap — people in the community who would benefit from movement but who the usual yoga world had quietly written off. Older people. People with limited mobility. People who’d never set foot in a yoga studio and couldn’t imagine starting now.
The sessions are free because I believe access to movement shouldn’t depend on what you can afford, and because a local community organisation agree with me and allow me to use their space for free.
Though we offer some ongoing free sessions, Punks Don’t Do Yoga is funded through project work, partnering with local community organisations, health settings and residential care providers to develop sessions which will support those that they exist to help.
Alongside my yoga teaching qualification, I bring a broad background in digital communications, community development, and health sector engagement — which means I understand both the wellbeing side and how to make it work sustainably within community and commissioning frameworks.
What we believe
- Movement is for everyone, not just people who already move a lot
- Community spaces should feel welcoming, not intimidating
- Wellbeing doesn’t have to be expensive, complicated, or aspirational
Punks Don't Do Yoga 