The first time I went to a class of Eric’s was because my mother had told me for weeks that I had to try his classes because he was such a wonderful teacher.  It turned out to be a life-changing experience for me.  I’d been spinning and exercising for years, but Eric’s class was something different—funny, challenging, warm and a judgment free zone.  Eric managed to welcome everyone to the class regardless of their age, weight or ability.  His trains people who literally range in age from twenty-something to eighty years old and somehow, no matter what the client’s circumstance, he makes you feel that with hard work, you can be a better version of yourself.  We all know it’s not easy to begin training—especially if you’re overweight, postpartum or simply older and out of shape.  Eric somehow manages to make the process a positive one.  He won’t tolerate people being unkind to themselves as they strive to improve and that, I believe, is the secret to his success.  He possesses a driving desire to help people realize that they can achieve success without negativity because he’s been on that road and he knows how destructive it is to focus on negativity when trying to achieve positive results.  After only knowing Eric for a few months, he transformed both mine and my mother’s approach to fitness.  We find working out with him fun—it’s not a chore; it makes us laugh and we work incredibly hard without getting injured.  Really great teachers are difficult to find in any field so when you find someone who is as gifted as Eric at what he does, you stick with him.  He’s one of the great ones.  To borrow quite liberally from Robert Frost, Eric is not simply a teacher, he is an awakener.