With more than two decades of teaching experience, Sam brings a huge amount of knowledge to the room – but he’s never been one to take himself too seriously. His own education has never really stopped. He competed in regional and national yoga championships in 2006 and 2007 and has spent the years since continuing to learn through advanced trainings, judging clinics, and studies across Original Hot Yoga, Vinyasa, 26+ variations, Yoga Sculpt, Yoga Nidra, meditation, martial arts, and other movement practices. He is Level Three with the Original Hot Yoga Association and has also taken yoga well beyond the studio walls, teaching everywhere from sobriety facilities and retirement communities to corporate wellness events and Girl Scout programs.

His classes are unmistakably Sam: quirky, full of stories, sprinkled with jokes (some land better than others), and always uniquely his. Underneath all of that personality is an experienced teacher who knows that all bodies are different. He’s especially good at helping students modify when something isn’t working and finding a way to keep them moving without forcing their bodies somewhere they don’t need to go. In fact, one of Sam’s biggest lessons is often to stop working so hard. Yoga doesn’t have to be about pushing further, going deeper, or doing the hardest version of a posture. He encourages students to leave ego and expectations at the door, give themselves permission to rest, and focus on smarter, not harder.

And yoga isn't the only way Sam has helped shape HYA. In November 2017, he brought Inferno Hot Pilates to Worcester County, teaching the area's first class. He is now Level Two IHP and has participated in six trainings (and counting) with Inferno Hot Pilates creator Gabi Walters. It’s a pretty good example of the way Sam operates: keep learning, stay curious, and don't be afraid to try something new.

Outside the hot room, Sam’s brain rarely stops working on HYA. He’s constantly thinking about what could be different, better, or next –and he’s never short on ideas. Some are gems. Some need a little work. And some are introduced by Sam himself as his “next bad idea.” But that willingness to keep questioning, experimenting, and trying something new has been a big part of HYA’s evolution over the past 20 years. He’s never been interested in keeping things the same simply because that’s the way they’ve always been done.

When he’s not dreaming up his next idea for the studio, Sam is an amateur musician who can happily spend hours a day playing guitar – and is equally happy sharing those sessions on social media with anyone willing to listen. He’s a little unconventional, completely himself, and still just as committed to the practice and the people of HYA as he was when he took that sight-unseen leap back in 2006.