Since retiring, Astbury has continued studying a bachelor of Psychological Sciences at Swinburne University and has joined High Performance Mindfulness (HPM) which is the brainchild of Emma Murray - who is the high performance mindset coach at the Richmond Football Club.

Emma Murray joined Richmond in 2016, playing a key role in the club's success in the following years.

"I have recently started to delve more heavily into some work in performance mindfulness with Emma Murray who has been a colleague and a great friend of mine from the Richmond Football Club," Astbury said.

"I just really appreciated her first for what she did for me and then got really invested in the work that she did for us, she is just a remarkable asset."

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It was during the 2020 AFL season where the former tiger saw mindfulness training as a plausible career path post football.

"I think the real catalyst for the shift in my career trajectory was when we (Richmond FC) went into the hub on the Gold Coast and we were substantially compromised comparatively to where our resources would usually lay," Astbury explained.

"Emma (Murray) wasn't in the hub initially and I was taking our mental skill sessions so I became the facilitator and teacher of that to the playing group.

"I received some really good feedback and wanted to learn more so I did some further learning and was constantly upskilling myself and now I am doing a lot of work in this space, which I love."

After spending multiple months teaching Emma Murray's practices, Astbury knows he has made the right career move.

"This is certainly the industry I want to be working in and I certainly enjoy working for HPM with Emma," he said.

"I am enormously grateful and I am incredibly fortunate to be in the position that I am in and to work passionately with like minded people and to be in a position where I can continually upskill myself as I really do enjoy the process of learning.

"I am exactly where I feel I should be."

Astbury places a high importance on practicing daily mindfulness, as he journals and meditates for 10-15 minutes each morning.

Through HPM, Astbury has worked with professional athletes, students and mentored professionals in the business sector.

"I just got back from New Zealand where I have been doing some work with the Hockey Roos where they played against the Black Sticks and won the series over there which was really rewarding," he said.

"The thirst for the work was enormous so I came home exhausted but got some really valuable experience.

"The educational component of the business is really important too, I have done some work with Caulfield Grammar which is where I went to school which has probably been the most rewarding one to this point in time.

"I am effectively giving students who are going through VCE or the back end of their schooling career a fundamental skillset on how to hold their attention in times of performance moments.

"In moments that actually really matter to them where they want to best execute and hold their attention so that their mindset can support the skillset that they have acquired as well, the work with schools is really valuable."

After originally being drafted with pick 35 in the 2009 AFL Draft and playing 155 games, Astbury made the surprising call to retire at age 30 fresh off three premierships in five years, although he said he was content watching from afar.

"I do really enjoy watching them, they have been doing really well. I don't watch the game and have a great deal of envy anymore, "he said.

"I understand how hard the game is and I have got an enormous amount of appreciation for what those guys do week in and week out.

"I think I am less invested in the outcome of the game and less emotional about the result.

"I just want all my friends who are playing to be happy and enjoying themselves."

Upon retiring Astbury made the move to NSW to escape the pandemic, although he soon realised he belonged in Melbourne.

"When I retired Melbourne was in the height of its lockdown so I moved to the Northern Rivers, which was about an hour south of Bryon Bay, I rode out the worst of the pandemic up there," Astbury said.

"I was in the midst of a renovation which was heavily compromised throughout all sorts of construction protocols which came into play.

"I did discover not too long after that I do really appreciate Melbourne and enjoy being here so I would imagine for the future this is where I will be situated."

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Despite having stepped away from the game, Astbury is still involved at the Richmond Football Club, as part of the executive committee for the Punt Road redevelopment.

"I have been able to watch the games and watch the football department go about its work from a completely new perspective and with enormous admiration for what they do," Astbury explained.

"The club has been really great in having me involved and I think it is going to be a brilliant redevelopment and a really sustainable piece."

Astbury said it was "really special" to return home on Saturday May 28 to celebrate the centenary celebrations of the Mininera and District Football League where he played his junior football for the Tatyoon Football Club.

"The whole opportunity and experience to get back to where I grew up and where a lot of people supported me in my youth has been compromised over the last couple of years," he said.

"Just to be around the people who have supported me unconditionally is always something that is really special."

When Astbury reflects on his time playing for Tatyoon in the MDFL he doesn't think about football, instead the connection, culture and community.

"I was fortunate to play in two premierships as a young man playing in under 16s at Tatyoon and they were really special," Astbury recalls.

"Just the expansive network of people that have the greater community spirit and the best interests of people who are involved, they are the people who I recall.

"The memories of heading to Tatyoon for training and for games on weekends and trips with the family is something that I will forever be grateful for."

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