About

Hello, I'm Hayley Guinness

Founder of Stepping Stones Yoga & Therapy.

Welcome. I'm so glad you're here.

I offer specialist support for disordered eating, body image, mental health, and trauma — delivered through evidence-based therapy, yoga, and embodied practices. This work sits at the heart of what I do.

The Space Between Us

I support individuals and whānau to gently rebuild their relationship with food, body, self, and the world around them. My approach is warm, grounded, and deeply collaborative — always honouring the pace that feels safe for you.

Across all offerings — therapy, yoga, silent-disco embodied movement, workshops, and retreats — I work through a trauma-informed lens, prioritising safety, consent, compassion, cultural responsiveness, and nervous system regulation.

The Ground Beneath the Stones

With more than 20 years of experience as a Clinical Nurse Consultant, I've worked across inpatient units, day programs, and community settings, offering comprehensive assessments, individual therapy, and group-based interventions. These experiences shaped the heart of my work: creating spaces where people feel held, respected, and supported to move toward meaningful change.

As a yoga teacher of over a decade, I weave hatha, restorative, yin, mindfulness, breathwork, and somatic practices into therapeutic support. These embodied tools help you tune into your inner signals, regulate your nervous system, and reconnect with your authentic self.

My Mission

To help you live in alignment with your true, steady, resilient self;
with more ease, awareness, and self-compassion.

At Stepping Stones Yoga & Therapy, you'll find individual therapy, tailored yoga sessions, silent-disco embodied movement, workshops, retreats, and specialist recovery programs — each designed to support you one gentle step and one mindful breath at a time.

My Backstory

I've always loved life — its simplicity, its beauty, its wild, unpredictable rhythm. Growing up on a farm by the ocean in NSW, I learned early the medicine of nature: salty air, bare feet, sunrise swims, and the unfussy joy of simply being.

Yoga entered my life as a quiet thread and quickly became a transformative anchor supporting my body, mind, and spirit both on and off the mat. Over the years it's carried me across winding Himalayan roads to ashrams in India, along the east coast of Australia in a campervan, and into communities where movement, breath, and connection feel like home.

I seize every opportunity to be out in nature — hiking, swimming, surfing, or tending to my garden. When I'm not saluting the sun, you'll likely find me singing and dancing to an eclectic playlist, laughing loudly, reading something inspiring, or learning something new. Playfulness is part of who I am; laughter has always been one of my favourite forms of therapy.

The rock stacks I build while wandering in nature became the inspiration for my Stepping Stones logo — a reminder that healing happens one intentional step at a time, grounded in presence and guided by inner wisdom.

I remain deeply committed to ongoing learning and professional development. Curiosity is my compass, and lifelong education shapes both my therapeutic work and my own personal journey.

 My full list of yoga teaching training (so far!) is below:

350hrs Traditional Hatha - Bhava Yoga Melbourne


100hrs Yoga Therapy - Byron Yoga Centre


50hrs Yin Yoga & Anatomy - Yin Therapy


50hrs Yoga for Anxiety, Depression, Body Image & Trauma - Sarah Ball Yoga


16hrs Yoga for Mood - Lifeforce Yoga Training

50hrs Restorative Yoga - Byron Yoga Centre


28hrs Restorative Yoga - Bliss Baby Yoga


100hrs Prenatal and postnatal Yoga Teacher Training - Bliss Baby Yoga


25hrs Yoga 4 Kids Teacher training – Zenergy


16hrs Yoga 4 Kids Teacher training Advanced – Zenergy

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