She was studying acting in New York and home for a visit when a party accident left her with third-degree burns. Yoga became her rehab, her calm and eventually her business.
Sammy Veall’s first big break was a Bonds TV commercial, filmed in an old Ford driving back and forth across Melbourne’s Westgate Bridge. She then moved to New York to study at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.
Three months in, she flew home for a visit. At a friend’s 21st in Deniliquin, someone threw petrol on a dying fire.
“I remember someone shouting, ‘Get petrol!’ and then a flash of orange light hit my face,” she says. “The smell of petrol and burnt skin is something I’ll never forget.”
Learning to walk again
Veall was flown to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, where she spent more than a month. She had four skin graft operations and lives with third-degree burn scars over 35% of her body.
The back of one knee was badly burnt, which left her limping. Yoga gently stretched her skin and helped her get her balance back. “In hospital, I had to teach myself to walk again,” she says. “My body is now in the best shape it’s ever been.”
Why she added hip hop
Veall discovered music-led yoga in Los Angeles and named her own version hip hop yoga. “Yoga allows you to feel a sense of release through the poses, and the music elevates this by bringing out other emotions. It’s like dancing!”
Her one-hour class runs from a warm-up through standing and balancing sequences, arm balances, core work and backbends, then pigeon pose and savasana. Hip hop plays for the first 40 minutes, followed by soulful music, then an instrumental track to finish.
Her tips for a calmer mind
- To de-stress: a yin class. Try pigeon pose for five minutes on each side, or happy baby.
- For savasana: lie on your back with one hand on your stomach and one on your chest, and listen to your breath.
- Every day: “It’s really important to stop the mind for at least five minutes per day.”
Want a quick way to calm a busy mind? Try straw breathing, a 30-second reset.
Photographer: Deanna Gerlach.
