Smiling on the Inside

28/11/2025

Your body is not random.
Your tension is not random.
Where you feel tight is the place your body has been whispering the loudest.

Most of us were never taught to listen.

So we learned to ignore the lump in our throat,
the heaviness in our chest,
the knot in our stomach,
the ache in our hips,
the weight on our shoulders,
the fatigue in our legs…

We called it stress or busy or tired —
but it was never just that.

Every area of your body holds a story from your life:
the moments you braced,
the words you swallowed,
the grief you tucked away,
the boundaries you never felt safe to have,
the places you held yourself together when everything felt too much.

When you take this quiz, you’re not diagnosing yourself.
You’re remembering yourself.

Your body has been carrying stories your mind forgot how to translate.

✨ Comment 🌈 and I’ll send you the full in-depth story of what that part of your body is still holding — and what release might look like for you.

Your body has been waiting for this conversation. 🌿

24/11/2025

Fifteen years ago, my world cracked wide open.

I had the privilege of training in Oncology Massage through Oncology Massage Australia — one of the first to undertake their training at a time when the teaching was deep, rigorous, and radically ahead of its time. We were given pre-reading that would later become cornerstones of my work:
Bruce Lipton’s Biology of Belief,
Candace Pert’s Molecules of Emotion,
Healing Arts of Massage*,
and Petra’s Your Life Matters.

This was the moment I realised massage was never just massage.

We were taught about fascia — not just as connective tissue, but as living, sensing, responsive intelligence woven through the entire body. We learned how disease forms, how emotion imprints itself into the physical terrain, and how the body speaks long before we find language for it.

One practice changed everything for me:

We stood behind another student.
We hovered our hands above their shoulders.
And we were asked to hold either a pure intention or a distorted one.

Every single time — without fail — the person being “held” could feel it.
Every guess was correct.

It rearranged my entire understanding of touch.

This was where my perception of bodywork transformed. I began studying differently, listening differently, approaching the body with reverence, not force.

Because the tissues we work with are not passive.
They have their own intelligence.
They respond to being listened to.
They reject being pushed.

I learned that change happens not through pressure, but through attunement.
Not through force, but through relationship.
Not through “fixing,” but through co-regulation.

We were taught to listen to the tissue beneath our hands — the subtle movements, the whispers of fascia unwinding, the body softening its guard. And I discovered that the lightest touch can be the most powerful, because the nervous system feels safe enough to let go.

This was the beginning of everything for me.
A new path.
A new way of working.
A new way of seeing the body — intelligent, intuitive, alive.

I am here to listen to yours when you are ready

www.smilingontheinside.net.au

23/11/2025

Can I ask you something gently?

When was the last time your body actually rested…
not collapsed, not powered down,
not “finally stopped”…
but genuinely softened?

Most people tell me they struggle with rest because they’re “bad at slowing down” or they “can’t switch off.”

But when you’ve lived most of your life in a mobilised state —
braced, alert, carrying everything, holding everyone —
rest isn’t relaxing.
Rest is unfamiliar.

Stillness can feel like a threat
when your safety has always lived in movement.

Maybe you know that feeling too:

⭐ The moment you stop, your mind speeds up
⭐ Your chest tightens when you try to breathe deeply
⭐ You get irritated sitting still
⭐ You want to relax but your body won’t let you
⭐ You feel tired but wired at the same time

None of this is you “failing at self-care.”

It’s your nervous system doing exactly what it learned to do.

And that’s why I wanted to make this carousel —
to show you that there’s nothing wrong with you.

Your body isn’t resisting you.
It’s protecting you.

And the beautiful thing about the nervous system is that it can learn.
It can re-pattern.
It can soften.
It can trust again.

Sometimes it just needs:

🌿 attuned touch
🌿 a safe room
🌿 a slower breath to lean into
🌿 fascia unwinding
🌿 emotional armour melting in its own time

If this resonates, if you feel something in your chest when you read this,
if your body is tired of doing survival alone…

You’re welcome to come in.

SOTI isn’t a place for perfection.
It’s a place for returning —
to safety,
to softness,
to yourself.

My books are open.
And if your system is ready for support, I’d love to hold space for you.

www.smilingontheinside.net.au

21/11/2025

There is a place your body knows…
a place between holding and surrender,
between awareness and dreaming,
between the armour you carry
and the softness waiting underneath.

This is the liminal state.
The threshold of healing.

It’s where your nervous system lets go first.
Where breath becomes warm again.
Where fascia unwinds the stories it’s been holding.
Where emotions move without force.
Where your body stops protecting
and finally starts releasing.

Most treatments work on the body.
Liminal healing works through it.
Touch that listens.
Presence that holds.
A sensory sanctuary that guides you home.

People describe it as floating…
as warmth…
as “I don’t know where I went,
but I came back lighter.”

This is the medicine of my work.
Not just a massage.
Not just a facial.
Not just somatics.

A candle-lit, botanical,
deeply human space
where your whole being
softens into itself again.

www.smilingontheinside.net.au

Welcome to the in-between.
Welcome to the place you return home.
Welcome to liminal healing.

18/11/2025

There are some therapists who leave a mark on your heart,
your work,
your clients,
and the industry itself.

And my dearest colleague and friend, Kaylie
is absolutely one of them.

For over five years, we have shared rooms, clients, stories, long days, laughter, and the kind of teamwork that only happens when you truly love and respect the person beside you.
She is one of the most deeply skilled, intuitive, and experienced therapists I’ve ever had the privilege to work with — with over 25 years in the industry.

If you’ve ever had a brow shape from her,
a lash lift,
a facial,
a massage,
henna brows, waxing, laminating, or makeup…
you know exactly what I mean.
Her craft is impeccable.
Her standard is unmatched.
Her care is genuine.

When I moved home to open Smiling on the Inside,
she made the brave decision to also step into a new chapter.

And I want to make sure that none of her clients lose track of her,
because she deserves to be found, supported, and celebrated.

So for everyone who has been messaging asking where she is:

💛 You can now find Kaylie at:

✨ Pure Hair and Wellness
📍 23 Wason Street, Milton
📞 0493934428
📅 Taking bookings now

She is still offering all her signature treatments:
• Makeup
• Henna Brows
• Brow Laminating
• Lash Lifts
• Waxing & Tinting
• Expert Facials
• Massage
• And the meticulous attention she’s famous for.

If she has ever looked after you in the past —
please follow her to her new space.
She gives her heart to her work,
and she deserves to carry her beautiful client family with her.

And to my dear friend:
I am so proud of you.
This industry is better because you’re in it.
And wherever you go, you shine.

Here’s to your next chapter.
🌿✨

16/11/2025

Your nervous system won’t relax because you want it to.
It relaxes when the environment tells your body it’s finally safe.

You can breathe deeper…
you can try to “calm down”…
you can talk yourself through it…

But if the space is loud, bright, cluttered, rushed, cold, unpredictable —
your body will stay braced.

Safety isn’t a mindset.
It’s a sensory experience.

This is why at SOTI, we set the room before we touch the body.
Because regulation starts with cues, not willpower.
And your body has been waiting to exhale for far too long.

✨ Book your nervous system ritual

www.smilingontheinside.net.au

28/10/2025

10/05/2025

To All the Mummas…

Today, we honour you.

To the Mums doing the everyday magic,
the soon-to-be Mums holding life within,
the step Mummas and second Mums who choose love every day,
the Nannas, Grandmas, and matriarchs guiding generations with wisdom,
the aunties, big sisters, and mother figures who step in with open hearts,
the mothers of angels, whose love lives beyond time,
the women raising children not from their womb, but from their soul—
and to our Mother Earth, who holds us all.

You are the heartbeat, the safe place, the warrior, the nurturer,
the one who shows up even when it’s hard.

Today, we celebrate every shape of motherhood.
The loud, the soft, the messy, the sacred.
The tears, the joy, the growth, the giving.

You are seen.
You are celebrated.
You are loved.

Happy Mother’s Day, beautiful souls.

From all of us at Smiling on the Inside.