
About Samuel...
Samuel has navigated healing and self-growth for over 20 years. With a focus on authenticity and a deep understanding of the unique challenges Asian-Americans face, he provides a safe and empowering space for clients to bring more of their full selves into the world.
Read more about Samuel's unique approach and story.
Samuel's Story
Samuel is a second-generation Korean American, born in the States to immigrant parents. During his early years, he experienced significant mental health issues, and, without any healthy guidance, looked to drugs and gang activities (the only outlets for men where he lived) to cope. However, things began to change after his sophomore year in high school when Samuel took his first psychology class, which lit a spark in him.
Majoring in psychology in college, Samuel began using psychology to understand himself, particularly how his mind worked. His passion for psychology turned his life around, as he developed a voracious thirst for knowledge and truth and left his previous lifestyle.
Samuel studied cognitive-behavioral neuroscience at the #1 ranked school for clinical psychology at the time (University of Washington, Seattle), and worked in research labs to understand how the human mind, behavioral and mental illness were linked. But after discovering meditation, he realized science wouldn't have the answers he was truly seeking, and he began taking an "inner journey" which eventually saw him apply for a Master's program in counseling at another prestigious school - this time in humanistic-existential psychotherapy.
At the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), a school renowned for its emphasis on experiential learning, holistic mental health and the body-mind-spirit connection, Samuel dove deep into esoteric teachings in psychology and spirituality. His prior pursuits were intellectual and academic, but at CIIS, he truly began his healing journey, engaging in practices and learning tools like inner child work, somatic therapy, mindfulness and other humanistic approaches to help heal and develop authenticity.
Over the next decade, Samuel worked as a psychotherapist in traditional mental health settings – elementary schools, residential treatment centers, hospice bereavement, and more – while also exploring many self-healing and transformational practices including his own heritage's traditions of Rinzai Zen (Chan) Buddhism and Korean Shamanism. He underwent a radical shift in his consciousness that opened him up to new ways of approaching mental health, his career and life.
After years in the mental health system, Samuel became disillusioned by Western society's approach to mental health care which veer from his own beliefs and values. And, after much deliberation, he left his therapy career to become a coach and facilitator to make the experience of healing more accessible and human. Having learned Western therapeutic models AND Eastern spiritual practices, Samuel saw a need for his education, training and experience in the Asian community and further chose to direct his focus there.
Presently, Samuel brings together all his life experience and learnings to help Asian men dive deep into their personal healing to change themselves, their families (intergenerationally) and future generations. In contrast to traditional mental health paradigms centered on symptom management and diagnostic labels, his approach centers on fostering authenticity and connection, and empowering individuals towards practical change.
Samuel currently resides in Los Angeles, CA where he runs 1:1 & group coaching programs. He also teaches workshops and leads in-person retreats all over the world to help create community and foster healing for Asian men everywhere.