Ex-criminal says trendy exercise classes reformed him

A REFORMED hood has told how yoga helped turn his life around.

Andy Lannigan was involved in crime and gang violence from an early age.

And after his best friend was murdered when they were both 17, he descended into drug addiction.

He was in the grip of heroin, cocaine and street valium for almost three decades and spent time in jail.

But 18 months ago, Andy, from Easterhouse, Glasgow, stopped taking drugs and tried to finally put the past behind him.

While he was in a rehab centre, he was introduced BY SARAH WARD to hot yoga classes and found it helped him deal with his past trauma.

Father-of-three Andy said: “I never noticed anyone else in the class and that helped me to learn how to focus.

“My head slowed down really quickly because of yoga.”

Andy was staying at the Phoenix House rehab centre in Glasgow when yoga teacher Dr Lou Prendergast helped him beat his demons.

Now he is preparing to teach his first yoga class, having trained in Yoga of 12-Step Recovery, taught at BodyMind Studio in Charing Cross.

He added: “I trained because I know what I get out of it so thought it would be good if other people could get something, too.

“I was in fight mode for 27 years. When I started to learn how to breathe, that’s when I started to feel better.”

Andy was just eight when he got involved in gang violence on the streets of Easterhouse.

Aged 14, he left school and started shoplifting and selling drugs before moving on to armed robbery and later addiction.