Damaris first got involved in crime when he was around 12 years old. He was living on a council estate in Wandsworth, South London with his mum and no dad. The only people to look up to were the ‘olders’ on the estate, who he saw selling drugs and getting in trouble with the law.
The first time Damaris was arrested was at 13 years old – he egged someone’s car and the police were called. He tried to run, but was arrested and given a Section Five (of the Public Order Act):
"This was a bit of a turning point for me – and not in a good way. I didn’t really care at the time and felt quite cool. I knew I would just get a slap on the wrist."
To avoid the law, Damaris learnt to stay away from his own doorstep and instead would rob bikes in other areas of London, making a day of it and coming back to his estate to smoke and drink afterwards – it became a regular routine.
He knew a guy who would buy the bikes, and Damaris would then use the money to feed his addiction, as he’d started smoking weed heavily by then. This then led to Damaris and his friends robbing children coming home from schools as a way of getting income for ‘draw’ and alcohol.
"We then progressed to robbing a shop and, afterwards – all hyped up with alcohol in our systems – a man on the street started giving us some lip, which led to one of my friends beating him up and us all joining in to give him blows."
The police were there in a matter of minutes, but Damaris and his friends were gone in seconds. They kept moving and it was frightening, as they heard the man was badly hurt. He was arrested afterwards, at school (who subsequently expelled him), for Actual Bodily Harm (ABH), which was a big jump from Damaris’ minor first arrest.
"The prosecutor told me this as I was handed over to the care of the Youth Offending Team in Blackshaw Road for twice weekly support work – essentially, the last option before being sent to prison."
At Blackshaw Road, Damaris would see others he knew from the world of crime. Even during this time, he had a few more minor arrests for stealing bikes. Damaris had also been dealing drugs for a couple of months at this point. One of the older lads dropped Damaris and his friends off just off the North End Road Estate with the drugs in the morning and they needed to have sold them all by the end of the day.
Damaris was going to the Youth Court in Balham such a lot that, one time, his solicitor suggested he bring an overnight bag “just in case”, but he didn’t take it seriously. It turns out Damaris should have done, as – that day – he was sentenced to 8-12 months in Feltham Young Offenders Institute.
“It was awful in the court and my mum was screaming. I knew five other people outside the courtroom waiting for their sentencing – it was like a Youth Club! It was such a shock when I was sentenced and handcuffed by a huge security guard – a really eerie feeling with his massive shadow looming over me. I didn’t have the opportunity to register being taken downstairs to wait for the van to take me to Feltham.”
Damaris was not taken away in the van but instead brought back upstairs and re-sentenced that very same day to twelve months on a curfew of 7am to 6pm each day with an electronic tag, which he completed successfully.
He then experienced one of the biggest turning points in his life, when his first child was born in June 2012. The birth of his little girl did mean that Damaris needed to leave college two months into his second year to go out and make some money to support her and her mother. There was no longer any thought of crime going through his mind and he was applying for any and everything, including apprenticeships.
Damaris applied for lots of jobs and saw a scheme called Spearhead that helped young people improve their chances of employment through interview skills training, CV formatting and customer service skills. Even though he needed to apply for jobs throughout this scheme, he didn’t get one, but Damaris showed a lot of enthusiasm and was always getting involved and putting himself forward. Two weeks before the end of this scheme, Spearhead picked Damaris for a week’s work experience at a law firm to build up his CV. Athis time, a vacancy opened up in the law firm for a Trademark Assistant and, after two interviews, Damaris was offered the job.
“I was so relieved, as I was down to my last £150 of savings!”
Damaris worked at the law firm for a number of years. He was making good money and had also started going to the gym, was eating healthily and taking the stairs instead of the lift. This was so effective that he then needed to increase the weights at the gym to put muscle on! Damaris was also going to the Training Resource Centre. It was here that he met Zara, who taught yoga to a group of them for free. Damaris was still going to the gym at this point, but he started to see huge improvements from the yoga – in terms of his flexibility, mental state and weight. He was also looking on the web and seeing cool, strong yoga guys doing headstands, so he began to increase his yoga and reduce gym sessions.
The yoga studio where Zara worked, The House of Yoga, offered a scheme where you get reduced class rates for working there.
"I loved going to that place, which was very community-orientated and felt like my second home – although I must have looked a bit out of place there as a young black guy with lots of tattoos!"
Damaris started doing more yoga and, after a year of his practice getting stronger, he mentioned to Zara that he wanted to become a teacher. He did 200 hours of Yoga Teacher Training over six months at weekends, which consisted of very long days.
Eventually, Damaris started teaching classes for staff at the law firm where he worked. This was initially once a week and then it increased as employers started to recognise the importance of mindfulness and wellbeing. He had also gone to the Head of HR to ask for an advance on his wages, after some money troubles, and she instead paid Damaris for one-to-one yoga sessions – his first private yoga client!
Damaris was getting so much in touch with yoga that he decided to teach yoga full-time. One of the partners at the law firm offered Damaris a choice: improve his performance through a formal Performance Improvement Plan or take half a year’s salary and follow his dream of becoming a full-time yoga teacher. Whilst this was the offer of a lifetime, it was a hard decision for Damaris as he had a family to support and needed the job.
Damaris’ flatmate helped open his eyes and he took the money, paying his landlord several months in advance and have been teaching yoga ever since. He teaches at a number of local studios and gyms. Damaris has lived with his current partner for nearly five years and they have a little boy who will be two in May.
"My advice to others who find themselves involved in crime and drugs from a young age, like I did, is to seek the hope. Hope looks different to everyone, but it is there if you look for it. As clichéd as it may sound, never give up on hope."
