Some people find yoga on a retreat. Sue found it after burnout, a kidney infection, a suspicious agency in Bangalore, and a one-way ticket to India with 100 dollars in her pocket.

In this, Sue — now a yoga teacher, Reiki practitioner, and holistic wellness coach — takes us through the life that brought her to the mat. Born into a big, loud family, she spent her early twenties chasing recognition through work until her body gave out completely. What followed wasn't a clean recovery story. It was years of difficult modelling contracts, agencies that exploited and isolated her, toxic situations she had to escape from alone, and moments of feeling like a complete failure in a country where she knew no one.

She talks about what it is like to carry all of that — and how yoga became the thing that helped her stop surviving and start actually living.

— Sue, if you are comfortable with it, let’s go a little into the past and start with your roots: where are you from, and what kind of family were you raised in?

— My parents are from Brazil. On my mom’s side, my grandfather was Portuguese, and her family had both Spanish and Portuguese roots. On my father’s side, we have Italian and Indigenous Brazilian heritage.

Before meeting my father, my mom already had two children. Then they met, and six months later, she became pregnant. In total, our family has ten children, including my mother's two older kids and one child my father had outside the marriage.

Growing up in such a big family was fun, but also difficult. Sometimes it was hard to get attention, love, and care, even though my parents did their best. My father showed love mainly by providing for us. He wasn’t emotionally expressive because that is not how he was raised. My mother was more caring, while my father was very practical — for him, putting food on the table and giving us a good life was what mattered most.

The house was often overwhelming because there was always competition between siblings. To cope, I focused on school and always tried to get the best grades, hoping for recognition. But for my parents, doing well in school was simply my responsibility as a daughter and student.

Growing up at home, there were always arguments and tension. I know I wasn’t the “perfect daughter” either because I have always been outspoken. But I never really felt emotionally supported, and that was difficult for me because I am a very loving person and wanted that love to be reciprocated.

When I grew up, I studied event management and worked as an event planner, but eventually the stress from work and my home life led to severe burnout.

— Was it more of an emotional burnout, or did it hit you physically, too?

— Both. I ended up in the hospital with a serious kidney infection caused by stress and exhaustion. I was working nonstop in event production, and my body finally collapsed. At first, I thought the pain in my back was just cramps or maybe something from the gym, but it became unbearable. One day, I couldn’t even walk upstairs to my mom’s house.

That moment changed everything for me. I realised I wasn’t enjoying life. I had no social life, no peace, no emotional balance — only work, stress, arguments, and exhaustion. While I was in the hospital, I remembered that I had done some modelling as a teenager, and one of my best friends was still modelling internationally. She suggested I go to India because the modelling industry there was more accessible.

So, as soon as I left the hospital, I applied for my visa, took new photos, contacted agencies, and was accepted. They even sent me the ticket.

— Wait. But you were burned out…

— I thought, “Anything is better than this life.” So I decided to just do it. I left for India with only 100 dollars in my pocket. And for the first time in my life, I finally felt free. I never really had a normal teenage life or enjoyed my early twenties because I had always been working. So at 25, I started doing all the things I had missed out on — going out, meeting people, enjoying life, feeling young and alive for the first time.

But my beginning in India wasn’t easy. The first modelling agency I joined in Bangalore felt very suspicious. The owner barely sent me to castings and seemed more interested in keeping me isolated in the apartment and spending time with me personally. Something didn’t feel right. I trusted my instincts immediately.

I reached out to a friend who introduced me to an Indian man who also spoke Portuguese. I explained the situation and told him I felt unsafe. Together, we came up with a plan for me to leave Bangalore and go to Mumbai. I pretended everything was normal while secretly planning my escape. I packed my things quietly, booked a car using the apartment Wi-Fi, and told them, “I’m only leaving for a few days,” so I wouldn’t raise suspicion. The moment I landed in Mumbai, I blocked everyone connected to that agency.

Mumbai felt better at first. I made friends, became more social, and finally started working properly. But I still ran into difficult people in the industry. Another agent started exploiting me financially, underpaying me for exhausting jobs and trying to control my life outside of work. I was doing 14-hour shoots with constant outfit changes and very little support. Eventually, I realised the situation wasn’t healthy either, so once again, I left and found another agency.

That was a turning point for me. Life slowly started opening up. I continued modelling, started travelling between India and Dubai, and eventually became curious about yoga. I never imagined it would completely change my life.

Later, I left India and moved to Thailand. At that time, I had gained around 10 kilos and wasn’t feeling my best, physically or emotionally. The agency was already complaining about my weight, and at the same time, I was going through a very toxic situation with the guy I had been involved with. Everything became overwhelming.

The agency eventually kicked me out of the apartment without paying me, and suddenly, I had nowhere to stay. It felt heartless. At that point, I felt completely alone. Thankfully, one of my friends, Fatma — who is still one of my close friends today — helped me during that period. I stayed hidden in her room for a couple of nights until I could leave India safely.

— And you left for a country where you don't know anyone!

— Yes, I remember feeling completely lost. I was alone, carrying all this emotional exhaustion with me. I didn’t feel beautiful anymore, I felt like a failure, and I honestly thought maybe none of this had worked out for me. At that time, yoga was still just a curiosity in my life. I had only done a short course in India and wasn’t planning to become a practitioner or teacher.

When I moved to Thailand, I rented a tiny studio apartment for myself. After spending years living in shared model apartments, it was the first time I was really alone. I isolated myself a lot during that period. I spent most of my time reading, dealing with anxiety, overthinking everything, and wondering how I was going to survive. I didn’t want my family to know what I had been through because I knew they wouldn’t understand. Only my close friends knew the reality of those years.

Slowly, things started changing. I regained some confidence, lost some weight, signed with agencies in Thailand, and started working again. Around the same time, I decided to do a yoga teacher training and later completed my Reiki training as well. At first, it was just for fun and personal growth, but eventually it became something much bigger than I ever expected.

— How did it start with Reiki?

— It was really a mother-and-daughter kind of thing. I was already living in Thailand, and one day, during a phone call, my mom randomly told me, “I did this Reiki thing with a guy here in the neighbourhood.” She couldn’t even pronounce Reiki properly, but she said, “Every time I do it, I feel so calm.”

I remember thinking, What even is Reiki? So I googled it, and honestly, my first reaction was, Oh my God, here we go… my mom is spending money on some scammer. But I didn’t say anything to her because, in the end, she felt good, and maybe that was what mattered.

Then I thought, You know what? I will just learn it myself so I can give Reiki to my mom and she can save her money. That was my only intention in the beginning — to help my mom and feel closer to her.

So I started looking for schools and trainings in Thailand, and eventually I went to Koh Phangan to study Reiki. I told the master from the beginning, “I don’t know anything about energy healing or Reiki. I am only here out of curiosity because I want to help my mom.” She just laughed and said, “Okay, then we’ll teach you differently.” I had no idea what she meant, but I stayed open-hearted and open-minded.

— Do you remember any story where you truly helped someone with your practice?

— There were two very deep and beautiful experiences from my Reiki practice that I will never forget.

The first happened in Thailand with one of my clients. During the session, I kept seeing images very clearly — a little boy alone in a small house in the mountains, surrounded by green landscapes, and an older woman dressed in black, almost like someone from another era. I didn’t fully understand what I was seeing, but the images kept coming to me throughout the session.

At the same time, I noticed that my client was extremely uncomfortable physically. He was shaking, clenching his hands, and seemed very distressed, even though we weren’t speaking during the session.

At the end, after he shared how he felt, I carefully told him about the images I had seen. The moment I mentioned them, he burst into tears. He explained that when he was a child, he had been abused by his nanny, and the woman I described looked exactly like her.

It was a very emotional moment because it made me realise how deeply trauma can be stored inside the body and emotions for years. He later told me that those experiences affected his ability to trust women throughout his life. Sometimes during sessions, I receive impressions or emotions that don’t immediately make sense to me, but later they resonate very strongly with the person.

Another experience happened with one of my clients from Miami. During her session, I kept seeing the number two and the colour blue repeatedly. I also felt a strong energy connected to creation, expansion, and family.

At the end of the session, I told her, “I don’t know exactly what this means, but I strongly feel either a new project or a pregnancy around you. I feel a second child, and I feel the energy of a boy.” She already had one child at the time, so I mentioned that maybe it could happen in two months, two years, or somehow be connected to the number two.

A few months later, after I had already returned to Brazil, she messaged me to tell me she was pregnant. She and her husband had been trying for a long time, so it was a very emotional moment for her.

Experiences like these still surprise me sometimes. I don’t claim to have all the answers — I simply share what I feel and see during sessions, and sometimes those messages end up resonating very deeply with people.

— How would you describe yourself before you started yoga, and how would you describe yourself now?

— It is funny because I still feel like the same person — bubbly, funny, and full of energy — but at the same time, I feel much more confident and grounded now. I feel stronger, really strong in myself and in my own power. Now, I feel like I finally have a sense of direction in my life.

I no longer feel the need to constantly prove myself or explain who I am. My energy speaks for itself now.

Yoga helped me reconnect with myself and heal emotionally. I am calm and grounded today, but I am still outspoken, emotional, and human. I don’t believe healing means hiding parts of yourself — I think it means accepting all of them.

What started as simple curiosity eventually became my path to healing. Through yoga, I began learning how to love and care for myself for the first time in my life. I remember how uncomfortable I felt during certain practices when teachers would ask us to hug ourselves and say, “I love you.” I couldn’t even do it without feeling embarrassed. That made me realise how disconnected I was from myself emotionally.

Yoga became the biggest shift in my life. It helped me heal trauma, stop blaming myself for everything, and step out of survival mode. Slowly, I started understanding that many of the things I believed were “normal” were actually unhealthy patterns I had learned growing up.

Today, I use my experiences to help guide other people. I have been through corporate life, entertainment, modelling, burnout, toxic relationships, depression, and constant instability. Yoga helped me find balance and reconnect my mind, body, and emotions. People often tell me I seem calm and grounded now, but the truth is that yoga is what helped me become this version of myself. Without it, I know I would still be living in chaos.

— I feel that you really try to build a connection with your clients — whether it is a group or a private session. How do you do that?

— I am just authentic to myself, and I think that is what makes people feel comfortable around me. In my classes, I always try to acknowledge everyone and create a space where people feel relaxed and accepted.

Sometimes during group sessions, I remind people that yoga doesn’t have to be so serious. One of the teachings of yoga is actually about being joyful and cheerful. Yoga is not only about physical poses — the physical practice is just a tiny part of it.

I always tell my students: just because you are committed to yoga doesn’t mean you have to be intense all the time. You are allowed to laugh, have fun, lose your balance, and enjoy the process. If you fall during practice, laugh about it. Yoga isn’t about punishment or perfection — it is about connection and presence.

That is why I like bringing humour into my classes. I make jokes, I keep things light, and my goal is always to make people smile at least once during the session, no matter what style of yoga I am teaching.

I think that comes from my own life experiences. I went through a lot of suffering growing up, so if I can bring even a little bit of joy into someone’s day, why wouldn’t I?

At the beginning of my spiritual journey, I thought I needed to fit into this image of being “perfectly spiritual” — always calm, serious, and flawless. But eventually I realised that wasn’t me at all. I am still human. I still have things to heal, things to learn, and parts of myself I am working through.

Now I allow myself to simply be who I am. I don’t try to hide my personality anymore, and I think that honesty is what creates real connection with people.