Meet Sami. Sami began practicing yoga early in life to help manage pain. She was diagnosed with a digestive illness that caused her daily pain & anxiety for years. Yoga completely turned her health around in a matter of weeks. Sami took her certification training with Carrie Tyler of Rasamaya Yoga at 15 years old. She has been a teacher and a student of the yoga practice ever since.
After high school, Sami wanted to deepen her understanding of yoga, meditation, and holistic healing practices. She traveled to 14 countries in five continents, teaching for Yoga Trade at retreat centers, substance abuse recovery centers, and more, working with people in all walk of life. In her travels, she was fortunate to learn from local indigenous healers and wise elders.
Sami’s education includes an B.Sc. and a Master’s degree in Alternative Medicine - holistic systems for healing the whole body - from the American College of Health Sciences.
Sami discovered her love for Buti yoga & dance in 2016.
She realized her vinyasa practice was not bringing her the same inspiration that it once did. She noticed her healing had stagnated because the practice was no longer pushing her out of her comfort zone. Enter: Buti yoga. Buti completely transformed her relationship to her body, spirit, and community. Buti and dance was less about the individual’s practice and more about being part of something bigger.
Sami opened her first studio in 2017. Her Newburyport location won Best of the North Shore in two categories and was truly the first of its kind. She closed her studio in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Meet Ben. Ben was a collegiate hockey player and pre-season Rookie-of-the-Year at Hamilton College until a hit to the head in a scrimmage caused a stroke and paralysis of his left side.
Using masterful mindfulness techniques, Ben began an intensive healing process and eventually regained the use of his left side. The experience left him dedicated to the principles of discipline, will, and self-healing, and in reverence to the power of the body.
In previous ‘lives’, Ben was a 100-ton boat captain and saxophone player for an internationally touring band.
His current band, Red Tail Hawk, plays throughout New England and has released multiple albums.
Currently, Ben is the Director of U.S. Sales for an international organic ingredients supplier.
He is also a master kombucha brewer and has owned and operated his own local kombucha company, Boocha, since 2011.
Ben’s family lineage and his experience as an athlete imprinted him with an intense passion for health. He completed his yoga teacher training with Sami in 2019.
Ben & Sami were introduced by a spiritual mentor in 2016. They were married in Harpswell in 2020.
They moved to the Freeport area & began their homestead, quickly filling it up with animals (cows, pigs, chickens..) and their kids.
When they aren’t at the studio, they can be found milking their cows, cooking recipes from their Italian heritage, going to Red Tail Hawk shows, and taking their kids on adventures.
Sami has also worked extensively with mothers and families, primarily as a birth & postpartum doula for over 10 years. She has attended dozens of births. She also teaches movement for pregnancy & postpartum.
Sami is also certified in Yoga for the 12 Steps and has extensive experience working with trauma and addiction.
Ben & Sami are passionate about the Freeport area community, and creating a welcoming studio space that provides the class experience you are looking for!
They are both passionate about helping you cut through resistance to discover optimal health, so your body can feel extraordinary. Uprise is a space for the community to come together with that shared passion in mind. It is a space for healing on an individual and collective level. It is a space to dance, cry, sing, SWEAT, and release the physical patterns that keep us stagnant or trapped.
It is more than just movement: it is a movement, for people that love movement.
Let’s rise together.
