Her Journey of Resilience, Healing, and Empowerment
Yasmin Hussain’s story is one of resilience, self-discovery, and transformation. Born in India, she grew up in a world structured by cultural, religious, and societal expectations that often felt limiting. Even as a child, Yasmin sensed she was destined for a life beyond these boundaries. Her journey took her to Australia at the age of nine, where she struggled to fit in, leading to a period of self-abandonment as she tried to adapt to her new environment. Yet, Yasmin’s innate drive for authenticity and her passion for personal development sparked a lifelong journey of healing, self-awareness, and self-love.
In her late teens, Yasmin began rediscovering herself, embracing the importance of personal growth and consciousness—qualities that would eventually shape her into a guide and mentor for others. Inspired by figures like Oprah, she grew into the role of a trusted confidante, with friends and family turning to her for life advice and philosophical discussions. Yet, despite these early aspirations, she initially followed a more traditional path, pursuing an education and career, though her reluctance to attend university left her grappling with feelings of guilt and unworthiness. As she later dove into healing and self-acceptance, Yasmin found pride in forging her path without a university degree, a journey that has contributed to her unique perspective in coaching and healing work.
Today, Yasmin is an Emotional Eating and Spiritual Weight Loss Coach, guiding women over 35 who seek to overcome emotional eating, release energetic weight, and create a life they don’t need to numb or escape from. Yasmin’s own transformative experiences—including healing her relationship with food, and shedding 25kg physically and energetically —have equipped her to support women through their own journeys. Yasmin invites women to shed un-integrated trauma & suppressed emotions that lurk under physical weight, heal how they relate to food, and reclaim their authentic essence, helping them anchor in self-love and live lives they don’t need a numb or escape from.
Tell us more about yourself and your journey home?
I grew up in India from a young age and was born there. It was a contrasting environment, deeply rooted in societal, cultural, and family expectations, with a strong emphasis on appearance and social class. I was fortunate to grow up in a privileged environment, experiencing many wonderful things. However, this changed quickly when I was nine due to my parents’ divorce. This led to my move to Australia, where I found myself in a completely different country and culture, with just my mum and brother. It was a major adjustment, and in my early tween years, I realized I needed to fit in.
In India, I was accustomed to wearing dresses—no t-shirts or tracksuits. On my first casual day at school, I wore a pink dress and was teased relentlessly for being overdressed. This experience, coupled with the societal pressures in India, made me self-conscious about my appearance and weight from an early age. In India, people have no qualms about commenting on your weight, and family and friends alike often let you know exactly what they think.
I recently returned to India to celebrate my grandmother’s 100th birthday and was struck by how much I had changed and evolved, especially over the past six years, compared to the culture I left behind. Growing up, these experiences shaped my perception of myself, leaving me self-conscious despite not being overweight. I remember covering up with long sleeves, only to later realize through old photos that I wasn’t chubby at all.
I was also seen as a rebel in India because I refused to conform. I had opinions, confidence, and never saw myself fitting into the typical mold of becoming a doctor, lawyer, or following the expected path of getting a degree.. I knew I was destined for something different, even if I didn’t know what it was at the time.
Moving to Australia, I worked to fit in, even if it meant suppressing parts of my culture and identity. This shifted in my late teens after a breakup that left me lost. It led to a personal journey of rediscovery, heavily influenced by my love for personal development. From an early age, I was drawn to consciousness, authenticity, and self-discovery, beginning with books like How to Excavate Your Authentic Self at age 17.
Can you walk us through how this personal growth led you to step into your current work?
The catalyst for my awakening was my divorce six years ago after an 18-year relationship. As a newly single mother, I had to rediscover myself again in my 30’s.. The divorce triggered deep healing, not only from the end of my marriage but also unresolved trauma from my parents’ divorce. Experiencing this through my son’s perspective, as he was only four at the time, allowed me to reflect on my own childhood.
Forgiving my parents, especially my mother, was part of this process. Growing up, I had a strained relationship with her, projecting a lot of anger. Going through my own healing journey allowed me to release repressed emotions, grieve, and reconnect with myself. I realized that focusing only on the positive while ignoring negative emotions was limiting. To experience true joy and happiness, you must also be able to sit with grief, sadness, and anger.
During this period, I focused on reconnecting with my body through practices like yoga, ecstatic dance, and breathwork. I shed weight both physically and emotionally, realizing the excess weight I carried was a form of protection. My journey and work isn’t about diet culture, but about healing unresolved trauma and creating safety in the body to release weight naturally.
That must have been a difficult adjustment. Did you feel those experiences shaped your perception of yourself?
Yes, absolutely. Growing up, I became highly self-conscious. Though I wasn’t actually overweight, I was constantly labeled as “chubby,” which led me to cover up with long sleeves and hide myself. Looking back at old photos now, I realize I wasn’t chubby at all; it was just the weight of societal expectations shaping how I saw myself. Those perceptions can become so deeply ingrained. However, what also stood out to me as a child in India was my resistance to conforming. I’ve always had strong opinions and confidence in my views, which often got me labeled as a “rebel” or “wild child.” I knew early on that I wasn’t meant to fit into the traditional mold of becoming a doctor, lawyer, or settling into marriage and family as expected. I had a calling for something different, even if I didn’t quite know what it was yet.
That sense of rebellion and self-awareness must have guided you through challenging transitions. How did things evolve for you in Australia?
Moving to Australia, I felt I had to fit in. This meant letting go of many parts of myself and my culture. However, during my teenage years, I began to reconnect with who I truly was. A pivotal moment came after my first serious relationship ended in heartbreak during my late teens. I had lost myself in that relationship, and when it ended, I felt completely unanchored. This pushed me to rediscover myself, and I leaned heavily into personal development—something I was already naturally drawn to. At 17, I picked up my first personal development book, How to Excavate Your Authentic Self,and began a journey of self-discovery, consciousness, and authenticity.
That’s so inspiring. When did you begin stepping into your current work from a heart-centered place?
The real turning point was my delving into my healing following my divorce six years ago. I intuitively was led to inner child work, shadow work, and embodiment practices like ecstatic dance and transformative breathwork. This was the catalyst to learning what trauma I was still holding onto in my body, despite spending years intellectualizing it all, and facing the shadows of the past that I hadn’t acknowledged or made peace with yet. I also learnt to truly feel my emotions, built my emotional capacity and released decades of suppressed emotions and stagnant energy. Doing this also created space and safety in my body to shed weight energetically and physically in the way of 25kg over 4 years, without diets, deprivation, or overexercising.
Did that experience bring more compassion and understanding for your parents?
It did. I had long held resentment, particularly towards my mother, as I had projected my hurt onto her. My healing journey allowed me to see things more clearly, to grieve, and to feel emotions I had long suppressed—not just from my divorce, but from years of disconnection and numbing. In Indian culture, emotions are often suppressed, and I have become a master of focusing on the positive while ignoring pain. But true growth came when I allowed myself to sit with discomfort and feel every emotion.
That’s powerful. How did you go about processing these emotions?
For the first year after my separation, I made it a daily ritual to release my emotions. I walked by the water, cried, and reconnected with my body through practices like yoga, breathwork, and ecstatic dance. Emotion – is energy in motion, and movement can be so supportive in releasing what needs to be released. This helped me shed not just emotional weight but physical weight as well, as I released the energetic protection I had built around myself. It wasn’t about dieting but about feeling and healing.
What is the core message you hope to share with women?
Prioritize yourself. Self-love is the foundation for everything. How you relate to self, sets the tone for how you relate to everything, including food. And to create a life you don’t numb or escape from, requires a courageous choice to live authentically and make choices from a place of desire—not obligation—and find true freedom, inner freedom.
What advice do you have for women who are feeling stuck?
Prioritize yourself. Elevate boundaries and standards. Develop a deep relationship with yourself and your intuition, no one knows you better than you! And allow yourself to pivot and evolve with each new season of life.
Photo Credits – Jessica Roccasalvo from Allthefeels Photography
