Man connects people to their gifts

Sammy Vanek spends time in nature. Photos submitted

By Tom Victoria

Sammy Vanek is starting an awakening, connecting people to their gifts and creating spaces for healing and growth.

To that end, Sammy offers a community for like-minded individuals, the Unity Collective.

“One would join when one wants to deepen authentic connection and be actively involved in creating a new world with others,” he said.

Sammy, 37, of North Carolina explained his approach.

“It's sensitive work,” he said. “It's a sensitive place for me. One thing that it reaches into the level of what I'd call for myself soul or spirit. For a good amount of my life, I thought that I was just this always scared, dissociated, numb, distant, couldn't really make connections so well, couldn't access my authenticity, was always nervous and scared in social situations. And I still am. That hasn't magically gone away. I discovered at different times in my life in different ways what felt like my own true self, natural me, natural Sammy.”

Sammy said that discovery is a multi-layered process.

“One of the first layers that came was I'm actually really happy and joyful,” he said. “I have so much storytelling and engagement, and the way that I can connect and create joy and have such an amazing time and connect with people and myself and be full of joy. That isn't something that I did or figured out. It just happened. And it happened by me following my intuition. What I can now know, call it my intuition, is my sense of something here feels like there's a flicker of light within me. There's like something here and I don't know what it is. I glimpsed it. That's all I want now. And I just listened. I began to listen to where is this taking me? How can I follow this thing?”

Sammy started with exploring the world.

“When I was 21, I just had this inspiration to travel,” he said. “I was able to travel for five months in Costa Rica, Central America, with no phone and very little plan. That showed me how I can just give myself to life, to the universe, to this experience fully. And in doing that, magic happens, things that I can't figure out or couldn't have planned, synchronicities of meeting certain people. I was safe to be myself and to follow this path. So that was one layer that came through was I am joy, I am light. I saw myself, felt myself as this lightness.”

Sammy’s enlightenment led to transcendental experiences.

“Years later, more layers came back and I started to remember other memories of myself as having past lives,” he said. “I had past life flashbacks, what we call or refer to as past lives, and other experiences that were really dark, actually. Equally so, I was having experiences of myself. I literally saw myself as made of light, as made of radiant filaments of exquisitely detailed interlocking light. I've done plenty of plant medicine and journeys with those substances and those things. And I've had plenty of experiences without them at all.”

Sammy recalled one such experience.

“I saw myself as interlocking golden light and had wings,” he said. “I was sitting across from another human being. We were dropping in together and feeling together and letting the moment take us somewhere. We had water. We had dinner before that. This to me, it's all just experience and it's showing these layers of who and what I really am beneath this human experience of having a single lifetime with these parameters here.”

Sammy wants people to break free from the constraints they’re conditioned to operate under.

“I'm here passionately because I can see how this current world paradigm iteration configuration is just based in fear,” he said. “It's all fear. All the controlling powers are scared children acting out in these big, ugly ways. It's filtering down and we're all scared and acting from our fear. I can see that underneath that is light. I'm okay, we're okay. That light is what allows us to be here and create something new. And that's it, just knocking on that. There's so much more, but that is the essence of what I want to bring to this world and to myself and to my communities.”

Sammy views the big picture.

“I tend to work and think globally, collectively,” he said. “That's the area that I'm drawn to. And all this again by following my intuition, my sense of, okay, now what? Because I'm connecting with a bigger context. It's not just, okay, now what do I like? Ultimately, I feel at a deeper level when I'm able to and I'm guided by a bigger force, a greater version of me that is so loving and so present and so wanting what I want.”

Sammy said individuals exist for a purpose.

“I feel a readiness in myself, a longing for that space of safety and home and what I actually am and where I'm safe in my body and where I remember what I am at, at least the level where this is good,” he said. “All of this is good. The world actually is perfect right here. And let it shift when it's ready. I feel a readiness in me, a longing in me and a longing in so many of us. So many of the people that I reach and connect with, all of my community and my relationships are people who really desire to evolve, to deepen into their own essence and become more themselves and be the gift that nourishes them. I think that the world has a readiness, even though a lot of the world, the beings that we share this space with aren't maybe aware that there is a fuller context. And yet, I can connect with the part of them that does long for that and that already knows this is beautiful.”

Sammy wants people to move from fear to a loving intimacy.

“I really am here to speak to those who are longing for that depth and not to deny this human experience and make it wrong,” he said. “And we need to have this, the human experience. I'm a practicing facilitator of human connection as well as these experiences. So I feel I have a really solid blend of inviting authenticity into a space where it's okay to not be okay, really. Something happens through allowing that. Something happens through letting myself in a field of humans express what I'm so angry about. And I don't have to hide what I'm feeling anymore. There's been a lot of spiritual communities I've sort of experienced a little bit from the side. I get weirded out by where it's love and light, and it's be a certain way, and we welcome this part of you but not this part of you. What we're moving into, what I'm moving into, is all of that is good. Bring it. Let's do that. Let's bring all this.”

Sammy predicted more people will experience awakenings in coming years.

“There's so much conditioning,” he said. “There's so much being raised in what's normal. I'm finding through my work that there are a lot of us who feel deeper and feel disconnected and know they feel disconnected in hiding, who don't have the community around them, where if I say this thing, I'm going to be ostracized and I'm going to be cast out. Or they're going to be ignored at the very least. That was my personal experience as well. I just think this is all there is, and then wait, I have a glimpse of something. And if I have a little bit of space around that, and I have a little bit of choice in myself to step a little bit closer to that and be like, what is that? I don't know. I want it. Then I'm on a whole new journey, and I believe that we're going to see a lot of that in the coming years.”

Sammy connects with those already seeking deeper meaning to life.

“I tend to attract people who already feel that, who already have that, I know there's more but no one else gets it,” he said. “I'm like, hi, we're here. Let's gather. Let's do this together. Because when we're together doing it, what do we create then? And when I accept you for how you are in your fear and in my fear, when you share this thing about you, it's like, wow, that tracks so much to my experience, too. Now I feel even more connected, more alive, more ready to give my gift and to be more fully myself. And the more of us there are, the more of us that are feeling that way, the more I can share. I can speak these words right here in more context in my videos, in my local community, the more that touches other people's truth. Not that it's their truth exactly, but it reminds them of their truth.”

Sammy is inspired to create social media content.

“It's been a whole big teacher, this whole process,” he said. “Ideally, my best work and the work that actually does something, too, that actually gets more views tends to be spontaneous and when I followed my most natural pathway in the moment of what I feel truly actually inspired to create and to say and to speak. I move through a lot of fear often before recording video. In the worst case, I'm stressed because I'm trying to optimize the video for what I think the viewer wants or what the algorithm wants or what YouTube wants. I've learned a lot about that world and I like learning systems. But it's also that mind space can get imbalanced for me. In my best case scenario, I'm inspired to go out at least somewhat. And then I follow what's most exciting like, wow, this water is beautiful. I'm going to get a shot of the way the sun's hitting this part or go underwater. There's a salamander. I want to get a shot of it. Just following that natural inclination.”

Sammy connects with the viewers.

“And then for the speaking part of my video, in the best case scenario, it's pretty spontaneous,” he said. “I can feel dropped in and safe in my body, in real contact with the viewer. I'm not just looking at a camera and speaking to myself. I'm feeling the viewer and the group of us, and I'm naming that. That's where I feel such aliveness is. This isn't just this is a video on YouTube. What if this was really happening right now? It's real. We're really with each other, you and me, and then feel the group of us who are energetically here co-creating right now, feeling each other energetically, tuning into those subtle energies together. That's where I come alive. That's where I get what to say. And I love it. That's not every time. It's definitely not every time. But that is the best case scenario.”

Sammy wants his social media followers to not feel alone.

“Connectedness,” he said. “We're here. We're really here. And you're not alone in this. We're doing this and it's happening.”

Sammy started posting videos eight years ago.

“My first video was in 2018,” he said. “It's about banana pancakes. I wanted to start it then and get regular, but I couldn't. I had too much self-judgment. So I was really struggling the last few years, 2021 to 2022 and '23 and even '24, really dark. But in 2023, I had hired someone to help me energetically, emotionally. I kept talking about videos and she's like, go make two videos a week. It might be about anything, put 'em on YouTube. She just spoke my truth. That's true to me. I'm ready for that. And my thought was, if I'm choosing to make two videos a week, that means I can't make them perfect. There's no way. I'm going to have to make it and then release it and then move on to the next one. I need to be imperfect right now. That was the commitment that led me to tapping into what I tapped into, which is the collective, the energies of the collective. We're here.”

Sammy’s content evolved as time progressed.

“The purpose kept revealing itself more and more and more through different videos and experiences over that course,” he said. “That's what I would offer to humanity, anyone who's a creative, is if maybe it's the right timing for someone right now who's hearing this or reading these words to just do something and not know two steps ahead, know a single step ahead, one step or a half step and taking that.”

Sammy eventually created a place for others to connect.

“I run an online community right now called Unity Collective,” he said. “I started with an intention, and it's evolving. I knew it would evolve and I know it will evolve in the next five, 10 years. Or maybe, it doesn't even work out. Maybe something completely new comes out of it. But it's taking me and us somewhere and taking one step at a time. Listening all the way, listening to my heart, my whole body, others. Listening is helping me know, okay, there's something that's wanted here. Let me keep listening. Let me listen for what that is. Let me try this experiment.”

Sammy wants his offering services to become more of a career and his community to grow.

“I see in 10 years that this group of us has developed ways of being,” he said. “The rest of the world is like, okay, everything's different. What do we do now? And we're like, hi, we see you. Join this or here's a way. When there's a lot of people waking up into the bigger context and super confused and dazed, we got you. We're here and we're figuring it out, too. We don't know, but let's figure it out together. And what gift do you have? A lot of changes are going to happen in the next decade in this world. I'm excited to be riding that wave of what's the light within each human? How does it connect? How are we connected with this planet, which is a living intelligence to me, and this living world and extraterrestrials who I feel are there?”

Sammy also would like to speak to people in person.

“I saw myself possibly doing live events, stage events,” he said. “I feel pretty terrified of that. I'm open to that. I love it. It seems pretty amazing to do live events with a large group of people. And creating something in a large group of people live, in person with a stage, with music, with improv, with authenticity, with jokes, with making sounds together, with being playful together. And that's the other thing, play, not taking it too seriously. I love to make fun of myself and make fun of anything that seems like a fixed idea of this is the way things are. That's all made up, too. It's all made up, so let's play. I want to play in this and bring play and lightness. It can be really heavy. Even spirituality can be really heavy. And that's good sometimes. Sometimes, I like to play with it.”

Sammy dispensed advice to aspiring YouTubers.

“Looking at why do you want to do YouTube, asking yourself that question,” he said. “Thinking of it as a teacher, as a teaching experiment for yourself, not aiming for a desired outcome, but as a way to learn about myself and my gifts and who I am and what I have to give through this way? How can I use this to connect deeper to myself and to others and to my creativity instead of an outcome of I need this to do this for me? That will be a harder lesson. It'll be more of a struggle. I've done that a lot, and it's been really hard. The other thing is balance if I follow the passion, follow what's really exciting, authentically exciting. Balance of mind and heart and other sensations, intuition and authenticity. Authenticity is so wanted and needed right now.”

Sammy said those wishing to started their own communities should learn to communicate.

“I'm really blessed to have found a background in authentic relating, so I have some communication skills, actual learned skills,” he said. “Most of us weren't taught by our parents, our schools, our colleagues how to communicate really genuinely. That's my advice. That would be what I would offer is what kind of communication skills can I learn, whether it's nonviolent communication or authentic relating in your area where you're at or online. I work with a place called SeekHealing. They're amazing.”

Sammy ensures there’s effective communication in his community.

“My group Unity Collective practices that as well,” he said. “Ways of communicating, ways of being more authentic feels incredibly important for anyone who's trying to be a leader and lead communities right now. It took me a long time to figure it out. I've been doing authentic relating for six years, leading weekly groups for about six years now. And I'm pretty good now, I would say. It's really cool to witness what happens in my groups now and how I am with myself that's way different than how I used to be.”

Sammy wants to connect with even anyone reading this story.

“I always like to speak directly and have a moment at least of being directly with those who are reading this story and bring it off the page or at least invite the opportunity for not just having an isolated normal reading experience, but you're here. What if I was actually feeling the reader right now in some capacity and we were actually making contact right now in some capacity, and we're actually here on the Earth right now, is what I would love to invite.”

Sammy’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@sammyvanek

Sammy’s website: https://www.unitycollective.org/