That Gaby Roslin Podcast: Reasons To Be Joyful - Sam Yo

Episode Date: August 11, 2026

Gaby welcomes bestselling author, speaker and ordained Buddhist monk, Sam Yo, to the podcast. Sam chats about his early career in the West End and what motivated him to move to Thailand to become a monk. They discuss energy, soul, mentors and of course...joy! Sam has dedicated his life to helping others achieve their physical and mindset potential. He is a graduate of the Laban Center with a degree in movement and dance, a certified Pilates instructor, a NASM personal trainer too.

So, Sam, lovely, lovely, lovely to speak to you again. We spoke on the radio and I knew I needed more time to talk with you. And then we started talking before the mics were on about your life as well. So so many things to cover, you've got a book out The Monk's Mindset, which is beautiful, wonderful, wonderful book. You were a West End star and Want to Be again. and will be again. You are a monk. You are developing a home for yourself. You are the most loved Peloton instructor. Oh, my word, and you have this aura of total calm around you. Are you always like this? Were you always like this? Oh, no. It was something that I think

I've grown into more as I've got older. Like I was saying, I was in the West End at 20 years old. So I went straight from training. And my last term, training, I was rehearsing to be on the London Palladium stage. And I was in the room with all these amazing performers. And Elaine Page was the leading lady. So it was like, you know, this was her comeback. and I was kind of thrown into this world physically ready.

But that you wanted? Oh, but we wanted, yeah. But not mentally ready. And, you know, I think a lot of times when we're younger, we're educated in certain ways and we're prepared in certain ways. But our mind isn't prepared the same way throughout the training in these institutes. And when I go into musical theater and entertainment industry, I kind of describe it as like a roller coaster

as soon as you're on it, it just keeps going, keep going, keep going, keep going, and there's more and as more and as more and there's always... Well, hopefully for most people, because that's fantastic. That's what people want and crave. Yeah. But I realize that I was not really enjoying the experience and not finding, I guess, the joy in the experience. And joy is important.

Of course, joy is so important. You know, joy is what, you know, it's like that, that kindle, that's in our belly. And I wasn't really enjoying it. I was just growing from the motions. And because I kind of felt it was what was expected. I had all these opportunities because I was first in the chorus as a dancer. Then the second year I got a part.

So I'm on the part now. And then, you know, my... What show was this? This was the King and I. King and I, yeah. The 2000 version, London Palladium. That was the first time because you did go revisit that.

Yeah, and I revisited about 24, five years later. Yeah. We'll talk about that in a minute. Yeah. And I realized, I've been in the show for three, nearly four years, and we went on tour. And I think it's in my book where I lost control my car in Bristol because Bristol got lots of hills in Bristol. And then I remember afterwards, I was just sitting there feeling not so much relieved, but uncomfortable. and I'm feeling really uncomfortable in my own skin

because for the first time, in a very long time, I was present with myself and I had this awareness and I was debating that how much my life I had not been present for and why was that? And I just knew I needed to kind of detach myself from this machine that was on and placed myself somewhere else. And at the time, I didn't know what that was or where that would be.

And it just happened that I was visiting a temple in Wimbledon where I used to go Sunday school with my mum. I remember being on the ground just feeling very peaceful and just feeling very with myself and I said this is what I need. This is the space I need to be in.

So it's so funny on the way back driving my mom home. I just turned to her as a mom I'm going to go to Thailand and become a monk. As you do. As you do. What, 22? I was 23. 23?

23, yeah. 23. year old, hey mum, I'm going to go and be a monk. Yeah. What was her reaction? Oh, she laughed. Did she? She laughed and she thought I was joking.

And it was so funny. It was easy for my mum to comprehend me playing dress up on stage, you know, every night than me becoming a spiritual man. And I think I've always had this feel that monks have these knowledge. because when I was growing up in Sunday school, whenever I needed a question, I would ask the monk, and they always seemed to have the answers. So I always, you know.

We're talking Buddhist monks. Yeah, Buddhist monk, yeah. They had the answers, and people always went to them for wisdom. I thought, I need some of that. And, you know, I need to kind of be in that space. And I knew if I did it, became a monk in the UK, because you can do that in the UK, there'd be too much familiarity. Yes.

So, you know, I met to Thailand and my Thai isn't great as well. So there was a lack of language barrier. But I was kind of... How soon did you go to Thailand? From that conversation with your mom? So from the conversation to my mom, me convincing my parents, I wasn't crazy. And then my aunt setting everything up in Thailand, it was 10 days. 10 days?

10 days, yeah. That is remarkable. I know. I said to you, I went from jazz hands to pray. Pray hands. In 10 days. Okay, so you turn up in Thailand, you turn up and you speak to the monk and you say, hey, this is what I need. Is that literally how it happened?

No. So the first time I met my mentor, Adanpur, was literally coming from the airport. He was waiting for me with my aunt in her house. And he was just sitting talking to me. And I think he just wanted to get a feel of my energy. He didn't ask why I wanted to do this or, you know, if I'd be able to do it. He just wanted to talk me and get my feel of my energy. And it was the first time he's such a remarkable human being because he would just look at me.

And it was almost like he was like a Jedi just trying to read my mind or something. Looking into your soul. Yeah, just looking at me. and listen to me and looking at my gestures. And I remember the first thing that meant me feel very uncomfortable. Oh, really? Yeah, it made very uncomfortable. Because I was used to being in a space where people were just like,

we're always moving, always moving, and you never really fully engage with someone. Shall we dance? Let's keep moving all the time. Yeah. Yeah. And when I was in this Christmas first time, everything kind of slowed down. Oh, incredible. So he was an incredibly calm, even though you were worried that he was a very calm, calming influence.

And it wasn't so much what he said or what he did was just his being. Oh. You know, and I think throughout my life as I've got older, I've tried to kind of cultivate some of it myself. And a lot of it is just being intentional, being present, being aware of the other person that you're talking to or the environment that you're in. And it's very simple, these skills that we all have, but because we're always distracted with all these new stimuluses and algorithms, we're just kind of, how I say, it's living

life, but not living in life. And I think up until that point, that's what I was doing. I wasn't living in my life. And that's why I wasn't finding the joy and all these amazing things that I was doing. You know, like I said, I got upgraded to this part, but I didn't really enjoy it because I was thinking, okay, what's the next big part that I need to do? You weren't living in the moment. No, I did enjoy the experience of, you know, this.

Because I said, okay, now, what's next? What's next? Lots of people feel the same. Yeah. So then entering into the monastery, what was that moment like where you suddenly, you were there? I'm right, a year? But yeah, yeah. So talk us through that.

So I remember the first evening when I sat in my little quarters, my hut, it was actually not so much bigger in this space here and with a little room where the bathroom was and I sat there thinking have I done you can't swear it okay it's a podcast what the hell have I done what the hell have I done?

And I was just sitting there you really did think that yeah I said what have I done and I think because it happened so fast were you cut off from the outside world well you know no phones or anything oh yeah no no things I had five things I had the robes I was wearing

the belt to hold a robe are arms bowl, which, you know, people give us, donate food, a razor for cutting my, my hair and a water filter. And that was it? That was it, five things. And I went from having Nike's jeans in a sports car. And phone. And contact with your family, yeah.

And I think I said this to you before, it's like, you know, when you first sit still with yourself, you expect silence, but the mind is so. loud because there's nothing to hide behind and everything was seemed amplified all the noises all the sounds seemed amplified my thoughts were amplified I think for the first month it was me getting comfortable with hearing my thoughts and not being dictated by them because a lot of the time you know we think we are thoughts but thoughts are just passing events that's the thing you know that's that's like what meditation is, you know, it's not to clear your mind meditation. Meditation is to acknowledge where you are in that moment and the thoughts are clouds and you

acknowledge these thoughts that are there and then eventually these clouds will pass. And a lot of time what we do is that we grip onto these thoughts and we become these thoughts. You know, I'm not enough. I need to do more. You know, I need to this and that. And for me, for the first month, it was just being, comfortable in my own skin, you know, going back. So what would you do all day? So just sit?

So the thing with going to the monastery, what it gave me, it was structure, simplicity and structure. So what was a typical day? So a typical day, we'd get up about four, four in the morning, half four in the morning, and I'll get ready and then we'll go to the temple. Was there an alarm? I mean, how did you wake up? Was it a natural thing?

So what they would do, there would be a gong. A gong. You're here. Lovely. So this gong we hear you. But then, of course, at the beginning, a lot of the new monks would have to have a wake of course. So one of the senior monks would just walk through and just bang on our doors. Bang our doors, bang on our doors.

To wake us up. And then we'll go to the temple. And, you know, we'll do scriptures. We'll do meditation. So that was like an hour. And then from that, we went on our arms round in the morning. So this is where we go into the village. and we would walk like barefooted

just like they did like 2,500 years ago and people will be out and they'll be donating food for merit so they'll give us food and we'll bless them for the day and that... What would the blessing be? So the blessing was

is to... I can't remember the actual scripture but it's basically it's the transfer of energy and giving. Lovely. Lovely. I didn't mean you to... Yeah, yeah. I couldn't remember.

And then what was the blessing them? It's a thank you. Yeah. It's a transfilm's energy. You know, it's a, it's that give and take, you know, not everything has to be so grand. It could be just a little grain of rice that you can be grateful for. And sometimes we think we need these big grand moments to be grateful for, but there's always tiny little things in the day.

And, you know, even as someone just donated me a grain of rice, I was still given the same blessing. Lovely. You know? Lovely. So after that, you've done that. What then happens next in the day? So we'll go back and then we would eat the breakfast,

and I would always eat with the monks who were ordained with me. You know, there was five of us and would sit and talk and in a circle. And what was nice as that I would learn from them because each of them came from different backgrounds in different places in Thailand. And they would always want to know for me coming from London and the UK. And what it was like. Do you know the queen and things like that?

You know? And you said, of course. Of course, yes. She comes to have a tea every day. So that was that conversation and connection. And then after that we'd do chores. And after chores, we'd go to our lessons. And after our lessons, we'd do chores again.

And then the rest of the day was ours. So I would spend maybe 70% of the day if I wanted to just by myself. That's a lot. Yeah. Because, I mean, you know, It's that very fine line, which I talk about a lot on my radio shows, on TV shows, about loneliness. And Pete, you know, we're in epidemic proportions of loneliness. But choosing to have time for yourself, to learn about yourself, that's totally different.

Yeah. The irony these days is that we're so connected, it's made us disconnected. Disconnected, yeah. Looking back on that year, because at the end, Let's explain why you left after a year. So it was for personal reasons, wasn't it? So you did have contact with home? So I...

So because the temple was close to my aunt's house, so every morning I would have a conversation with my grandmother. So she would be up like five, six o'clock in the morning just to give me some food on my blessings. And I would have a little conversation, so maybe at 10 minutes. So I would have that connection. And part of the reason they wanted me to go to a temple closer to my aunt's house.

It was in case anything happened. You know, initially I was wanted to go into a Yottia, which is the old capital of Thailand. And it was so funny because they said, oh, we're not going to let you go there in case you get bitten by a snake. Oh! They wanted to make sure you were okay. Yeah, they wanted to make sure I was okay. Yeah. It was so young.

23, so young. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that snake conversation was actually a conversation they had as well. about I would just wander off somewhere in the forest. So it was nice having that connection, but I couldn't sort of physically be there. So what was nice is that I would,

even it was five, 10 minutes, I would relish that those seconds. Do you see what I mean? And sometimes we're, we have our family all the time, but we don't relish the seconds. And because I had,

maybe those five minutes, I relished every second. And, you know, and the next day we'll come back and we're trying to sort of carry that conversation because we were listening, you know. And my grandmother would just sit there and she would sit on her red deck chair and just

waiting for me with my aunt. Yeah. Yeah. I always get emotion when I think about that. Of course you do. Of course you do. Because I would like walk around the down the road and I would literally see, the first thing I would see the red.

And she would do this. She would always do this. Big wave. Waving her hand just in case I forgot the house. Oh, that's always doing this. So she saw me. Yeah. Yeah.

So the end of the year, then you decided, for personal reasons, it was time for you to move. So towards the end of the year, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I only left the temples, sort of outside, without going my arms round, once. And the rest of it, I was in the area, or in the walls of the temple. So I only left once. So I was kind of, in a sense, afraid again that if I left the walls, that I would kind of go back into my old ways. And I was debating that for a long time. And what happened is my grandmother had gotten ill. And it was just one of those mornings where I went to my arms around to see them, like I normally, but she wasn't there.

And no one was there. And it's like, okay, this is very strange. So then I went back and I, you know, I sort of meditated it then, you know, because I could feel the worry kicking up. Of course. Yeah. And then, you know, it turns out that she was ill over the weekend. And I sort of wanted to be there physically. But in the monastery, you know, you can't just sort of leave in and out when you want to.

You know, we have to be in the grounds at a certain time. I think when the sun comes down, we have to be in the grounds. So I was kind of towing this because I wanted to be there physically. But my mental, so, you know, if you can't be there physically, let her be there in your thoughts. You know, what would you say to her? You know, what would you say to her if you were sitting beside her? So that really helped me get through that time. And, you know, dream and day I could go and visit her in the hospital.

And then it came to a point where she was actually got better. and she got back and she went back to the house and I kind of said to myself, what if, you know, this was my parents in England or, and I wanted to be there, how could I, how, how would I, um, navigate that? So, you know, for the longest time, I thought, okay, I was, I kind of knew if I needed to detach again from, I detached from the industry now. I need to kind of detached from the monastery. And again, it was fear that I would just lose everything.

And, you know, what my mentor taught me was that, you know, these practices don't belong inside the walls. These practices belong inside you. Yeah. Wherever you go, wherever you talk to you. But that's a good for all of us. Yeah. It's however you, you know, whether they're negative thoughts, positive thoughts,

let's hope they build and build positivity. Read your book. They will. But we take those with us. You can't escape those, whatever those things are. Yeah. You know, if you're in a home and you're very unhappy in that home, when you get out of that home, it doesn't mean they leave you from inside you.

Of course not. And it was the same thing going into it. The anxiety and doubt and, you know, the need to prove myself in the industry came with me into the monastery. And then as I was leaving, it was kind of the opposite. Being that I would lose. Lose what you've got. Lose what you've got.

Yeah. So, okay, so you then stepped out. We then, if we can flash forward a bit, quite a few years, and you're now, you're a monk, you're a West End, they call you back into the West End. But this time, as the lead, how did you with your monk's head then think, I'm going back into what made me unhappy and I didn't have joy to take over as lead in the king and I, the show that I knew I had to get away from, that's what fascinates me. That shift to come back into the industry. Yeah. It's quite a big thing after what you'd been through. I know. And what I've

learned during that time was that, you know, the first time I was in it, you know, I didn't enjoy it because I was just moving through it. And what I've learned during these years is that, you know, joy isn't something you find. It's often something you overlook. And when I was in the wings about to go on stage, I was just breathing. And I was taking every breath and feeling it like literally, it was like a pulse, you know, just before I went on stage. And I found the joy of just standing in those wings. just standing in the wings again and just, you know, and just, you can just hear the audience just shuffling in their seats and finding joy in that that these people turn up for this show, for me.

And you're bringing them joy, though, because it's a wonderful show. But also, as somebody who love, love, loves live theatre and the entertainment industry, it does. It helps us, because it takes us away from what's going on. It can make us laugh. It can make us quiet. It can make us think. It can make us feel. So you're doing that.

So you're still passing on things that you've learned. But when you went out on stage the first time as the lead, was there a moment that you came off stage and thought, oh my good God, what on earth that's happened? I'm a monk on the West End stage, in the lead role, in a show that I needed to escape from. And, I mean, it is unbelievable. And I know it's true.

But it is, it's sort of something out of a film, isn't it? You've got to do it, you've got to make the film of your life. Oh, yeah, I wrote the script. Are you doing that? No, no, I'm just, but. You should. Because there's so much I didn't put in the book. There's so much.

I initially handed like 90,000 words. 90,000. Yeah, and then we had to cut it down. Mine was 40. I thought that was enough. 40,000. Oh, my. 90,000 words.

Because there was so much that happened in the monastery. and there was more before the monastery and there was more after as well and it was so funny I always describe it as you know I kind of wrote it in three parts like a trilogy and I used the middle bit as the book you know if you're looking at Star Wars this was the the Empire Strikes Back this is the middle part

so this is the monk's mindset that's the book but it's sort of what you knew you needed to write to help you and to help others because I feel that through the book it's helped you sort of put it, categorised those moments as well.

Also, let's talk about the Peloton instructor because I don't know why that's the bit that I find hold on, you're motivating people and say, right, come on there, I'm not, that's a really bad impression.

I don't have a peloton. But, you know, and I've seen the instructors and I know you. I can't picture a monk being a Peloton instructor more than a monk being a West End musical theatre star. Because when I came up the monastery, I went back because I trained in dance and ballet initially. And I got more into more fitness

and because I hadn't been able to use my body in the way. But it's also good for us. Yeah, it was a good for us. We have to keep moving. And I really enjoyed just moving and learning about the body. And so I got qualified to do that. And then I started kind of teaching people and I loved being of service.

And it was very similar to how I was in the temple. I was kind of doing something of service that I enjoyed. And over the years, you know, Peloton, they found me. And then now I'm on their roster. But what people don't realize is movement is such a mindful thing to do. Oh, you're preaching to the converting. I absolutely totally agree. For me, that's my mind space.

is when I work out. Because, you know, I think we said this before, because when you're in the effort, you're present. And when you're present, you're breathing, so your breath anchors you. And then when you get to the point when you feel challenged or you feel fatigued or you feel like you can't push anymore. So that moment becomes your teacher. So all these elements and mindfulness are in this workout that you do in the gym every day or

at home or when you're on your run. I have to tell you something that happened in the gym this morning. So I was doing my call at the very end. I always end with a sort of 10, 15 minute call before I do my stretch. And I was doing this. And the woman next me tapped me. It's tiny, tiny gym. I love it.

She tapped me. And I said, yes. She said, why are you doing your core work with your eyes closed? And I said, I do it so I'm just completely concentrating on what I'm doing. She said, how do you do it? So I said, just close your eyes and breathe. And then I said to her, I'm seeing a monk later. Who's a trainer?

It was just timing. It was really weird. And she just looked me as if I was mad. She went, oh, good. What is she? Yes, there's this person doing her call with her eyes closed saying she's in the moment and breathing. I'm off to see a monk. She must have thought I was mad.

I now realised I've said that out loud. But it is. It's good for being in the moment. But you're still, you're motivating people because you're not quiet while you do it. Oh, no. Do your peloton bit? Go on. Do you my pet?

Yeah, right. So, imagine, I'm on my bike. Okay. Okay. So I would do my intro being. I'm doing it. So I'll be like, What's our team, Sam, here?

Thank you so much for joining me to. Welcome to Peloton. Welcome to London. Today we have a 30-minute pop class, and we've got a special guest in the studio today. We've got Gabby all the way here, and it's her first Peloton class, so we're going to be nice to her today.

So I'd be kind of on that level. Okay, so you're not to. Hey, come on, team. That's the thing. I think that's why a lot of people gravitate to me. See Claire behind me thinking. Oh, I'm joining you. Claire's joining it.

She's joining it. And, you know, I've had teachers, from Barry teachers to martial arts teacher have taught me at that level and football coaches have taught me at levels so I've been taught at all different levels.

How lovely though that you're passing on what you've learned again. But what I've realised what really works there's a lot of coaches that hype you up come on we're going to do this

so I don't hype you up I ground you down. No you don't grind us down ground us down yeah because you grind us down and they're like oh yeah

can't do that But you mean you ground us? I ground you down because those moments where you're pushing, you don't need to be hyped up anymore. You need to feel the ground and need your feet to be able to push. So that's kind of my philosophy when I teach is I do it in a more mindful way. Lovely. And you still do your dancing and you still do all your musical theatre stuff. Well, yeah, hopefully I'll get back into it after the book was out and after this house renovation's done.

You've got your house renovation, which I can imagine. I sort of imagine you sitting there and meditating whilst it was all going on around you, but I don't think it is quite... I stand there and just listen. I listen to all the things. Listening is important. Yeah. I listen to the drilling.

I just listen. Okay. So what do I need to do? What can I control this moment? What can I control? And I'll go, okay, I need to measure this. Well, okay, I need to see if this switch will work here. Then I'll stand there again in the corner and just listen.

Okay, what do I need to do next? You're using a monk's mindset. Okay, so from, you know, I think what I would love you to do for this if it's all right is just to give us a few things that we can all work on, those simple things. Obviously, people got to go and buy the book. They're going to love it. But those things that we can take away. So somebody listening to this or watching this and they can say, okay, I can do that. Give us a few mindset.

So there's a practice in the book. called the ripple jar. I love the, I was hoping you to say the ripple jar. And basically you find acts of kindness and compassion within the day which you've seen, done or received. So these can be very small, like, you know, someone let me go in front of them at Starbucks because I was late. Or, you know, someone opened the door for me small,

or it can be big things like, you know, I've had, you know, I was, you know, I was dying I was at cancer and my friends really showed up for me and they really got me through it. So you throughout the week, you find these little moments and you write them down and you put them in the jar and you can do it with your family, your friends, your work colleagues, you can even do it just for yourself.

And at the end of the week, you just read out these acts of kindness and compassion. And what that does is that when we look for kindness and compassion, we actively walk into rooms with that energy. Because a lot of the time now we're in this loop of negativity, you know, this loop of navigativity, and we walk into something, you know, into a nice restaurant, we see that it don't have this or that that you want, or the glass is not clean, you know,

and, you know, just moving through life with more kindness, compassion, and you collect them. And what I did went on my book tour. I went to nine cities and ten days across America. But you're a bestseller in the States. So excited. And so what I did was in every city I collected kindness and read them out in every city. So this is kind of compassion from D.C.

This is what they're sending you. You collect yours and I'm going to send what we have today to Chicago. So you kind of spread this kind of compassion across. It can happen. It can. Now, I'm not sure if you have. I didn't check with you, but have you brought something that brings you real joy? Oh, I didn't believe.

You can know, you can just tell us. You don't need to bring it in. It is a bit of a show and tell. But is there something that brings you such joy? Because you're a joy spreader, and that's why this is reasons to be joy. I mean, I've got, I actually brought a hard copy on a book for you. Oh, thank you. Well, that brings you joy.

That brings me joy because a lot within the book was for my journals from 20, five years ago when I was a very anxious young man who didn't know myself and was trying to find myself. And now that it brings me joy that I can share some of this for people. And, you know, I've gotten feedback from people who read the book and are using the practices and helping them ground themselves, you know, and that gives me joy. And, you know, all the things that you can pass on inherit, like money, land and that knowledge is the best and that should be the only thing. And I feel like it gives me joy just knowing that I'm passing on a little of that knowledge from the young man sitting alone in the heart 25 years ago, writing these little notes in the journal.

And now that can share. That's lovely. Thank you very much, Samyo. Real pleasure to see you. Now, let's go outside in the middle of London and see if we can, I do this thing. So when I leave, sometimes I give myself a, where I leave the house, and I say that I'm going to smile to every single person that I see on the way into work because I walk everywhere. And at the moment, I'm at 29 people getting a smile back from and people say, but you live in London, it's a lot like that. If you smile at somebody, sometimes I think it's a bit dodgy.

But that's all right. I just smile. It's like, what does a lady want to sell? What is she selling me? What are you selling me? Absolutely nothing. Just joy. Samyo, thank you very much indeed.

Thank you for having me.