Sam Hann is here for a reason. He believes he has an obligation to share the practice of yoga with the world. His classes take the physical postures as an entry point into understanding one\u2019s body more deeply and use it as a metaphor for building mental fortitude.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are your body. You are your mind. You are your heart,\u201d Sam said. \u201cThey don\u2019t exist without the other.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"WLTV_SamHann_newphotos_4\"](\"https:\/\/wanderlust.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WLTV_SamHann_newphotos_4.jpg\")
Sam began teaching in Sydney, Australia in 2017. At that time, his teaching focused on the physical aspects of the practice. When his older brother, Blake Hann, passed away in March of 2021, Sam\u2019s life changed forever. He took a couple months off from teaching, and when he was ready to return, his focus as a teacher shifted, too.<\/p>\n
Although Sam found it challenging to return to teaching and share that vulnerability in front of a room full of people, he also found it to be a powerful experience during a time of grief.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew from the moment I started that I was going to be a teacher,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew how the practice made me feel, so, I knew I had an obligation to share that with others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Be Your Truer Self<\/b><\/p>\n
Sam\u2019s reach stretches far off the mat now. His brother was a sniper in the Australian Army and was stationed in Iraq, and Sam does a lot of work with veterans, mental health, and suicide prevention. He said that although his brother didn\u2019t take his own life, he knew that his brother was struggling.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is my hero,\u201d Sam said.<\/p>\n
He reflects on the nature of siblinghood and describes the inherent barrier between older and younger brothers. He saw Blake as bigger and stronger and said that he never told him with words that he was proud of Sam. As a younger brother, Sam said he sought validation, but it wasn\u2019t until Blake\u2019s funeral that Sam realized how proud Blake was of him.<\/p>\n
Blake\u2019s army brothers, as Sam refers to them, approached him at the funeral and said, \u201cYou\u2019re the yoga guy! You\u2019re Sam!\u201d When Sam asked them how they knew who he was, they responded that when they were in Iraq, Blake constantly took his phone out and proudly pointed to a picture and said, \u201cThat\u2019s my younger brother.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"WLTV_SamHann_newphotos_1\"](\"https:\/\/wanderlust.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/WLTV_SamHann_newphotos_1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
As he cried, Sam said, \u201cThat is why I feel I have a duty to be here because I know he was proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every month Sam runs a free men\u2019s only yoga class where anyone, whether they\u2019re a member at the studio or not, can attend and have the chance to meet other men and be in a space where they feel supported and find strength in vulnerability.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make you any less masculine. If anything, it makes you more masculine because you\u2019re not hiding your truer self,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is such a power in vulnerability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moving Through Adversity<\/b><\/p>\n
After his brother\u2019s death, Sam said things were too quiet in his mind. He needed a meditation, but he also needed something more active, so he began running.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt still allowed me to be with my thoughts but not be still,\u201d Sam said.<\/p>\n
He started long distance running in his brother\u2019s honor. In 2021, he ran 36 kilometers, roughly 22 miles, for Blake\u2019s thirty sixth birthday. In 2022, he ran 55 kilometers, or 34 miles.<\/p>\n
Most recently, he ran a half marathon in a speedo and a 22-pound weighted vest for the Weight of War event. The vest symbolized the weight of war, and the speedo symbolized vulnerability. No matter how heavy the vest seemed during the race, the runners knew at the end they could take it off.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhereas veterans who are struggling with PTSD and extend it out to anybody who is suffering with mental health issues, they don\u2019t have the opportunity to just take that vest off,\u201d Sam said. \u201cThey have to live with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The work Sam does allows him to connect with his brother while bringing awareness to the veteran community. It\u2019s about moving through adversity in a constructive way, and the practice of yoga, meditation, and running has helped Sam push through.<\/p>\n
\u201cChoosing to push yourself beyond your limits to discover what\u2019s beneath the surface,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A Conversation with Yourself<\/b><\/p>\n
Sam teaches at Body Mind Life studio in Sydney. In the nearly five years he\u2019s been there, he sees the progression of students from day one. Maybe they start out a little unsure and stay in the back of the room. They keep with it, and Sam describes them now as breaking through the room, chest-open, excited to come to yoga, and chatting about their lives.<\/p>\n
![\"Sam](\"https:\/\/wanderlust.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Sam-Hann-landscape-lower-rez-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is one hundred percent why we as teachers do what we need to do and why it\u2019s so important to continue to do that,\u201d Sam said. \u201cTo allow people to continue their own journeys.\u201d<\/p>\n
You can do that as a teacher, or you can do that as somebody who simply gives someone a hug and lets them\u00a0know that they\u2019re not alone. The journey, Sam says, is about understanding yourself. You have to feel your way into the poses. It\u2019s not about one breath, one movement. For Sam Hann, the work goes much deeper.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time you\u2019re on the mat,\u201d he said, \u201cIt\u2019s a conversation you have with yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam says when you step on your mat, it\u2019s like writing a journal entry. Instead of crumpling those thoughts up in a ball and throwing them away, take note of what comes up. Write it down in your mind, because to be in the struggle, to be with your breath, builds the mental resilience that sustains us.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
![\"cameron](\"https:\/\/wanderlust.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/image.jpeg\")
Cameron Joy Machell is a travel writer and journalist. Her work has been featured in Wanderlust, Far & Wide, The Martha\u2019s Vineyard Times, and the New Hampshire Business Review. She caught the travel bug long ago, and her adventures have led her to chase the Northern Lights across Iceland, camp under the stars in the Sahara Desert, and sip kava with chiefs in Fiji. When she’s not traveling, you can find her at home in New England, practicing yoga and hiking with her Bernese Mountain Dog.<\/div>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wanderlust TV\u2019s Sam Hann opens up about losing his brother, the importance of building mental resilience, and why there\u2019s strength in vulnerability. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2936,"featured_media":319101,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2336],"tags":[4716,4713,307,802,4682,505,2365,4367,4364,51,4715],"class_list":["post-319063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wanderlust-tv","tag-adversity","tag-cameron-joy-machell","tag-grief","tag-practice-2","tag-sam-hann","tag-teachers","tag-wanderlust-tv","tag-wltv","tag-wltv-talent","tag-yoga-practice","tag-yoga-for-grief"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n