Lascel´s Story  

I first became interested in yoga by accident in 2009.  In 2006, following a vicious unprovoked attack which left me needing several reconstructive facial surgeries and subsequently a constant incurable pain on the right hand side of my face, my life began to spiral downwards. 

Having previously been a happy, confident Music Technology student and general all round winning at life, good egg, I soon became massively depressed and un-focused. I was relocated by the police and then later abandoned by the authorities.  Left to fall deep into a cycle of powerful prescription painkillers, anti-depressants and non government authorised party pills, powders and puff sticks, as escape from the constant pain and confusion that had ensued.  Following an outpatients consultation in late 2009 with my neuro specialist, in which the options for my ongoing treatment consisted of either a very high risk brain surgery, or a continuation of yet another cocktail of drugs that had to this point resulted in a range of adverse traumatic side effects including; night terrors, sleepwalking, sleep paralysis, severe depression, anxiety and panic attacks, I decided that something had to change. One of my now closest friends (a 5ft 4" bat shit crazy former gymnast turned yoga instructor by the name of Rachel Blunt, who I refer to as my "Guru") suggested I try a total detox. Not only a detox, she suggested I take part in a Bikram Yoga 30 day challenge that was coming up in the new year.  Initially I had absolutely no interest, but she was relentless and the next thing I know I spend 30 days as a sweaty, struggling heap in what at the time seemed like a ridiculously unnecessarily roasting hot room above a car park in Leicester.  I think it was about the 4th or 5th class just as I was thinking of quitting, I realised that I had managed to not only do the previously unthinkable and stop all my prescriptions, but I had also managed to redirect my focus from the pain back to the person behind the pain (he was actually still in there). So I kept going. 

Fast forward 2012, the prescriptions were a distant memory and I've managed to get my life back on track. Working part time as a HGV driver I was able able to focus on compiling a case via Tribunal Services against the Criminal Injuries Prevention Authority and Police, both of whom I strongly believe had failed me up to this point. In June 2012 I won my case against the authorities and decided to go to L.A. to train as a "Bikram Yoga" Instructor. I endured the 9 weeks of madness and went on to teach the sequence initially all over the UK before moving back to London and then world wide. I have since retrained with Michelle Pernetta, one of the U.K's most senior and knowledgeable teachers for her own brand of modern multi-style yoga "Fierce Grace". I have continued to work and develop, working very closely with Michele and various senior teachers over the years, between traveling, teaching and sharing my love of all things yoga. It was on an extended trip to India following a trip to Mysore I developed a love for the Ashtanga Yoga primary series. 

So I embarked on another advanced 300hr Teacher Training at an Ashtanga school in South Goa and stayed on at the school for almost a year to practice the new skills I had learned there before going on to teach the primary series in both modern led style and the more traditional Mysore style. During my time at the school I was able to fully immerse myself into both my own Ashtanga practice, and in my teaching of the; Adjustments, Anatomy, Alignment and Teaching Methodology modules of the 200hr and then later 300hr Teacher Trainings.  I have now been teaching yoga full time, for the last five years, traveling the world and sharing my passion for all aspects of Yoga.

My main focus as a teacher is on making yoga accessible to all. My experience both as a dedicated practitioner and a compassionate, dynamic asana teacher is that you never share the same experience twice, so continued learning, dedication to our practice and expanding our knowledge and sharing these wonderful experiences together is really what it's all about. Whether you've found your peace, or found yourself in pieces. there's always space for us to learn from each other and move forward together.    One Love