Simonays - Stress Management Consultant

17/11/2025

I have often heard people trying to help others who are stressed, by saying things like, "take a big breath", "just breathe", or "focus on your breath," as they try to facilitate some co-regulation. In a way it's wonderful advice as we intuitively know that controlling the breath can help control our emotional state. It's true, if you change your breath, you change your physiology, your thoughts, and the way you feel. This extends to influencing those things for those around us.
The trick is, learning "how" to breathe in those stressful situations, and learning to leverage that breathing with other, high value techniques to maximise the stress relieving qualities.
This is why I weave in anatomical and physiological details and possible usage scenarios while delivering relaxation flows.
I want you to come away with your own bag of tricks that will not only support you, but may be useful first aid or help for others.

Thursday:
*Private breath and bodywork by appointment ($149pp, discount available for students, seniors )
*6.15pm - 7pm Reset & relax class ($15pp, limited availability)
*7.15 - 8pm Big breath class ($15pp, places available)
*8.30pm -9.15pm Virtual Chill Pill, Zoom class ($15 or what you can/want, places available).
Face to face classes at 21 Main Rd, Bakery Hill (in The Hub)
*Bring what you might need to feel comfortable - yoga mats, bolsters, cushions, blankets, tissues, drink bottles, and journals welcome.
Message or contact 0419181869 to book and receive payment and/or Zoom links
www.simonays.com

15/11/2025

We had a really productive few days last weekend with Naidu Theatre company, working on Threads the musical. Kris on costume design and production, and me on wellbeing support workshop delivery.
Along the way, we were privileged enough to see a rehearsal in Woolgoolga and a rehearsed performance in the Dorrigo Rainforest Centre. It was all go, but all good!
If you're keen to see its progress or grab a ticket for their performance, you can follow along here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/1CdL1LHZjw/

15/11/2025

Our eyes are super important to our overall health. Any visual disturbance has an impact on our whole self. Difficulty picking up or processing visual information causes our system to feel less safe. This leads to a cascade of fight or flight, nervous and endocrine activity that negatively impacts on things like heart rate, heart rate variability, blood pressure, breathing rate, rhythm and volume, muscle activation etc.
It is not at all uncommon for sufferers of back and neck pain to have an issue with the movements of their eyes. It could be convergence insufficiency, issues with stable gaze, smooth tracking, or saccadic movements. As well as the above mentioned mechanism, muscle imbalances can occur as we adjust our position and posture to compensate for any visual deficits.
Now given that excessive screen time has been shown to fatigue the eye muscles used to converge, or bring our eyes together and that many of us have screen time heavy jobs, it is likely that we are contributing to our stress load and along with that, postural pain, just by not being mindful about this aspect of our working lives. Screen time also reduces our blink rate, leading to additional fatigue and discomfort.
To make matters worse, many of us are sitting while we do this work and sitting as we know, has its own damning evidence when it comes to wellbeing outcomes.
Implementing some simple, brief, semi-structured practices throughout your day, that involve your eyes, breath and movement, has the potential for huge payoffs across your organisation as far as output and wellbeing goes. And, I’m here to help you do it.
www.simonays.com

12/11/2025

Stress can be good or bad, but chronic stress is proving to be more harmful to our well-being than most of us might imagine!

Stress Undermines Brain Circulation, Increases Dementia Risk - Neuroscience News https://share.google/lQM6AZZiTOiVa5Q89

Simon is a stress management consultant in Ballarat specialising in improving health & performance through Breath, Mind & Body Awareness.

11/11/2025

Breathe in and feel the expansion, breathe out and notice the recoil and release. Move your awareness around your body as you gently focus on you. Exchange judgement for curiosity and learn to cultivate positive emotions.
You are worth it!
Thursday:
*Private breath and bodywork by appointment ($149pp, discount available for students, seniors )
*6.15pm - 7pm Reset & relax class ($15pp, limited availability)
*7.15 - 8pm Big breath class ($15pp, places available)
*8.30pm -9.15pm Virtual Chill Pill, Zoom class ($15 or what you can/want, places available).
Face to face classes at 21 Main Rd, Bakery Hill (in The Hub)
*Bring what you might need to feel comfortable - yoga mats, bolsters, cushions, blankets, tissues, drink bottles, and journals welcome.
Message or contact 0419181869 to book and receive payment and/or Zoom links
www.simonays.com

04/11/2025

Your nervous system is processing so much more than you give it credit for. It has been estimated that your senses manage up to 100,000 times more, at any time than your thoughts can compute. It's no wonder that our system gets overstimulated and eventually shuts down in order to give us a break.
This often happens by way of illness; physical, mental, autoimmune, etc.
It can be beneficial to do your own reset from time to time, in order to help prevent one happening of it's own accord. That is exactly what these classes aim to help you with.
Thursday:
*Private breath and bodywork by appointment ($149pp, discount available for students, seniors )
*6.15pm - 7pm Reset & relax class ($15pp, limited availability)
*7.15 - 8pm Big breath class ($15pp, places available)
*8.30pm -9.15pm Virtual Chill Pill, Zoom class ($15 or what you can/want, places available).
Face to face classes at 21 Main Rd, Bakery Hill (in The Hub)
*Bring what you might need to feel comfortable - yoga mats, bolsters, cushions, blankets, tissues, drink bottles, and journals welcome.
Message or contact 0419181869 to book and receive payment and/or Zoom links
www.simonays.com

04/11/2025

Looking forward to attending this early insight into how Threads is coming together.
It's a privilege to be able to support theatre makers from a wellbeing perspective.

Don’t miss the Threads Cast & Creatives this Sunday at the Dorrigo Rainforest Centre performing excerpts from the show!

🎫As part of the Bellingen Arts Trail, tickets are free (but limited!) https://events.humanitix.com/threads-a-new-australian-eco-musical

30/10/2025

Although I don't quite have the same kit as before, and am back to portable operation (outside of classes) for the timebeing, I am taking a limited number of 'bodywork included' bookings.
Breathwork, somatic awareness and touch go so well together, that I am happy to bring them together in your own personalised recipe in one on one sessions.
Hit me up for availability and bookings.

28/10/2025

I picked up the new uniform today!

27/10/2025

The practice insurances are paid up for another year! It might not seem important on the face of it as some of the SimonAYS offerings seem very subtle, but I think it's important to back what I do and ensure as much support as possible for those I work with and for any events I participate in.

Send a message to learn more