Community Highlights: Meet Susy Schieffelin of The Copper Vessel

Today we’d like to introduce you to Susy Schieffelin.

Hi Susy, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My story has been a journey of remembering and rebirth…

I grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, and from the outside I had a very beautiful, happy childhood. But from a young age, I remember feeling deeply sensitive, anxious, and somehow different. I had this strange awareness that I was here on Earth, almost like I was trying to understand what it meant to be human. I remember sitting in the bathroom as a little girl, pinching myself and wondering, Am I really here?

When I was very young, I felt incredibly connected to angels, nature, spirit, and the unseen world. But around the age of seven, something shifted. I began having nightmares about fire, and around the same time, I became terrified of anything spiritual. The very things I had once felt so connected to suddenly felt overwhelming and frightening. I shut that part of myself down and tried to cling to what felt physical, visible, and controllable.

Around that same age, I began experiencing alopecia areata. It started with one bald spot, then more. For the next twenty years, my hair would fall out and grow back, and I carried this deep feeling that something was wrong with me. As I got older, I began drinking alcohol. What may have looked from the outside like normal teenage partying was, for me, often a way to escape the intensity of my feelings. I drank to the point of blacking out, woke up filled with shame, and felt disconnected from the person I knew I really was.

In my twenties, that darkness deepened. I reached a place where I felt so hopeless and lost that I almost took my own life. Then one morning, I woke up and heard a voice in my mind say, “Susy, wake up and LIVE.” It felt like something greater than me was calling me back to myself.

That moment became the beginning of everything.

I started exploring yoga, meditation, sound healing, Reiki, breathwork, and different energy healing practices. At first, I was simply trying to survive. I was trying to find peace in my body, quiet in my mind, and some kind of hope that life could feel different. But slowly, these practices began to transform me from the inside out.

Through sound baths, yoga, meditation, and Reiki, I began to heal. I got sober. I found acceptance around my hair loss and eventually shaved my head. I lost over 40 pounds. The light came back into my eyes. More than anything, I began to feel possibility again. I started to believe that I was not broken… I was remembering my wholeness.

One Saturday night, after attending a breathwork sound bath at Unplug Meditation in Santa Monica, I had a moment of clarity that changed the direction of my life. I realized that if these healing modalities could help me come back from such a dark place, maybe I could learn how to share them with others and help people find healing and hope, too.

At the time, I was still working in a corporate job, but I began training in sound healing, yoga, and Reiki. I also started an Instagram account called @thecoppervessel, where I shared inspirational quotes, reflections, and messages from my heart. What began as a creative outlet slowly became the foundation for an entirely new life.

In May 2017, I left my job and took the leap into entrepreneurship. I started by hosting sound baths on the beach. Then came private clients, corporate wellness events, retreats around the world, and eventually The Sound Healer’s Academy, where I now train and certify others in sound healing and support them in building meaningful, soul-led businesses of their own.
But my transformation did not end when I became a healer or built a business. Over the past few years, life has continued to initiate me in deeper ways.

I became a mother. I learned how to build a business while carrying babies, nursing babies, raising babies, and trying to stay connected to myself in the beautiful chaos of motherhood. I experienced the expansion of growing a family and the grief of pregnancy loss. I have had seasons of feeling radiant and powerful, and seasons where I felt tender, stretched, humbled, and cracked open all over again.

Motherhood changed my relationship with my work. It made me more honest. It stripped away the parts of me that were still performing or trying to prove something. It taught me that healing is not about becoming some perfect, peaceful version of yourself. Healing is about learning how to meet your real life with grace. It is about choosing presence over perfection. It is about beginning again, even when your heart is tired.

Today, my work has grown into something far bigger than I could have imagined when I first started sharing sound baths on the beach. The Copper Vessel has become a global community rooted in sound healing, meditation, spirituality, and transformation. The Sound Healer’s Academy has trained healers, teachers, coaches, mothers, creatives, and seekers who feel called to share this work in their own way.

And still, at the heart of everything I do, my mission is very simple: I want people to know that it is never too late to begin again.

I know what it feels like to be lost. I know what it feels like to feel disconnected from your body, your purpose, your beauty, your faith, and your own inner light. I also know what it feels like to come back. To rebuild your life from the inside out. To create a business, a family, a body of work, and a way of living that feels aligned with your soul.
Whether I am leading a sound bath, teaching a certification, mentoring a healer, writing, creating music, or sharing my life online, I am always pointing people back to the same truth: you are not alone, you are not too late, and you do not need to have everything figured out to begin.

You just have to be willing to listen, to show up, to be real, and to keep going.

That is how I got here. One breath, one prayer, one sound, one leap of faith, one more time of having the courage to begin again.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely has not been a smooth road, although I can honestly say I am grateful for the way every part of the journey has shaped me.

So much of my work was born from my own healing. I struggled deeply with anxiety, depression, alcoholism, body image, hair loss, and a feeling of being disconnected from myself and from life. In my twenties, I reached a point where I felt so lost and hopeless that I almost took my own life. That was the darkest season of my life, but it also became the doorway into my healing.

Learning how to live again was not instant or glamorous. It was one breath, one prayer, one practice, one honest moment at a time. I had to get sober. I had to learn how to sit with my feelings instead of escaping them. I had to make peace with my body, including my alopecia and the experience of losing my hair. I had to rebuild my relationship with myself from the inside out.

Then, as my business grew, there were new struggles!! Leaving a stable corporate job to become an entrepreneur was terrifying. I had no perfect roadmap, no certainty, and no guarantee that it would work. I started very simply… hosting sound baths on the beach, sharing messages from my heart on Instagram, and trusting that if I kept showing up authentically, the right people would find me.

Over the years, I have also had to navigate the challenges of building a spiritual business in a world that often rewards performance over truth. There were moments when I felt pressure to look a certain way, market a certain way, or have everything perfectly figured out. But again and again, I have come back to the same belief: you do not need to be perfect to be powerful. You need to be real, devoted, and willing to keep going.

More recently, motherhood has initiated me in a whole new way. Becoming a mother while continuing to grow a business has been beautiful, humbling, and stretching beyond anything I could have imagined. I have learned how to create while tired, lead while tender, and hold space for others while also learning to hold myself. I have experienced the joy of growing my family and the heartbreak of pregnancy loss. These experiences have softened me, strengthened me, and made my work even more honest.

I think the biggest struggle has been learning that healing is not a destination you arrive at. It is a practice. Life continues to bring initiations, and the work is learning how to meet them with grace, presence, faith, and love.
Today, I don’t teach from a place of having it all figured out. I teach from lived experience. I know what it feels like to feel lost, afraid, ashamed, stuck, and disconnected from your own light. And I also know what it feels like to come back!! It is possible to rebuild, to begin again, to create beauty from pain, and to discover that your most difficult chapters can become the very medicine you are here to share.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The Copper Vessel is a sound healing, meditation, and spiritual wellness brand devoted to helping people come home to themselves.

At the heart of everything I create is the belief that healing can be beautiful, accessible, deeply human, and profoundly transformative. My work blends crystal singing bowls, sound healing, Reiki, meditation, energy work, spiritual mentorship, and personal transformation. I am known for creating experiences that feel both ethereal and grounded… spaces where people can relax their nervous systems, reconnect with their intuition, and find clarity and healing from within.

One of the offerings I am most proud of is The Sound Healer’s Academy, our professional certification program for people who feel called to share sound healing with others. The Sound Healer’s Academy teaches the art and science of crystal singing bowl sound healing, but it is so much more than a technical training. Students learn about sound, energy, chakras, meditation, intuitive facilitation, and how to create safe, beautiful, transformative healing experiences. We also support students in building soul-led businesses rooted in authenticity, integrity, and service.

What makes The Sound Healer’s Academy special is that we do not teach people to copy me or become a polished version of someone else. We help them uncover their own voice, trust their gifts, and share what is true for them. I believe the most powerful healers are not the ones who look perfect or have the fanciest instruments. They are the ones who are devoted to their own practice, connected to their hearts, and willing to show up with honesty and love.

I am also incredibly proud of The Copper Vessel Collective, our membership community for people who want to make healing, meditation, and spiritual practice part of their everyday lives. The Copper Vessel Collective offers on-demand sound baths, guided meditations, live virtual healing experiences, Reiki, spiritual teachings, and practices designed to support people through the real seasons of being human. It is a space for grounding, renewal, rest, and reconnection.

The Copper Vessel Collective was created because I know how easy it is to become disconnected from yourself in the busy-ness of life. So many people are carrying stress, grief, uncertainty, pressure, and fear, while still trying to show up for their families, businesses, relationships, and dreams. The Copper Vessel Collective gives people a place to return to… a place where they can breathe, receive, reset, and remember their own light.

Another very meaningful chapter in my work has been the release of my sound healing album, Angel Aura. This album is a crystal singing bowl sound healing journey created for meditation, relaxation, renewal, and spiritual connection. It is deeply personal to me because it represents so much of my own healing path: my connection to angels, rebirth, light, and the possibility of beginning again. Creating music has allowed me to share sound healing beyond the walls of a class, retreat, or training, and offer people a way to receive the medicine of sound wherever they are.

Brand-wise, I am most proud that The Copper Vessel has grown from something very simple and heart-led into a global community and body of work that still feels true to its original essence. I started by sharing quotes online and hosting sound baths on the beach. Today, The Copper Vessel includes a certification academy, a membership, retreats, music, mentorship, and a community of people all over the world… but the mission has never changed.

What sets The Copper Vessel apart is the combination of beauty, depth, accessibility, and embodiment. I care deeply about creating experiences that feel inspiring and elevated, but I also care just as much about Truth. This work is not about performing spirituality or pretending to have everything figured out. It is about practicing, listening, healing, growing, and learning how to meet real life with more grace.

I want readers to know that The Copper Vessel is for anyone who is ready to reconnect with their inner light and claim power and true abundance in their life. Whether someone joins The Copper Vessel Collective for personal healing, trains through The Sound Healer’s Academy to become a practitioner, or listens to Angel Aura in a quiet moment at home, my hope is that they feel less alone, more peaceful, and more connected to the truth of who they are.

At its core, my brand is about hope. It is about beauty. It is about sound as medicine. It is about creating spaces where people can soften, remember, rise, and begin again.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
My advice for finding a mentor is to look for someone who embodies the kind of life you actually want to live… not just the business results you think you want to have.

For me, mentorship has always been about resonance, integrity, and embodiment. I don’t just look at someone’s revenue, followers, or public success. I look at how they live. Do they practice what they teach? Do they seem grounded, honest, and aligned with their values? Do they have healthy relationships? Do they appear to have peace in their body and joy in their life? Do they make me feel more empowered and connected to my own truth? or more dependent on looking to them to answers?

I have always known that I wanted to be successful financially, visible in the public space, deeply fulfilled in my work, happily married, and a mother. So when I have chosen mentors, coaches, and teachers, I have looked for people who reflect the fullness of that vision. I want to learn from people who are not just successful in one area, but who embody a holistic version of success… people who are living, loving, creating, parenting, leading, and growing in a way that feels sustainable, spacious, joyful, and real.

I am very wary of gurus, or anyone who presents themselves as the only person with the answer. The mentors I trust most are the ones who do not make it about them. They help you become clearer in who you are. They help you see your blind spots. They guide you back to your own inner knowing. A true mentor does not want you to copy their path, they help you find the courage to walk your own.

I also believe transparency matters, especially in the spiritual and coaching spaces. There can be a lot of “love and light” that is actually vagueness, pressure, or manipulation. I think it is important to ask questions, understand what is being offered, get things in writing, and be clear on the investment, deliverables, calls, support, and expectations before you commit. Trusting your intuition does not mean abandoning your discernment.

When it comes to networking, I think the same principles apply. Look for authentic connection over transactional relationships. Follow the people you genuinely admire. Engage with their work in a real way. Share what is true for you. Build relationships from resonance, not strategy alone.

The right mentors and connections will not make you feel smaller, confused, or pressured. They will make you feel clearer, more empowered, and more inspired to live the dreams that are already in your heart. I really believe our dreams are planted within us for a reason. They are not random. They are invitations. So if you can find people who have had the courage to listen to their own divinely guided path and live it with integrity, those are the people who can help you uncover and trust yours.

Pricing:

• Angel Aura Album – FREE on Spotify and Apple Music
• The Copper Vessel Collective Membership – $44/month or $444/year
• The Sound Healer’s Academy Professional Certification Training – starting at $2222
• 1:1 Healing Sessions – starting at $555
• Private 1:1 Mentorship and Business Coaching – Starting at $15,555

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thecoppervessel.com and www.thesoundhealersacademy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecoppervessel
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecoppervessel
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susyschieffelin/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheCopperVessel

Image Credits
Rachel Madrigal