Somatic Therapy with Elijah Forest: Dynamic Integration for Mind-Body Healing

Somatic Integration & Dynamic Balance

With fast-paced dynamic lifestyles, many of us are seeking more grounding and balancing and are reverting to body centered practices like yoga, meditation, dance and movement, bodywork and somatic therapy to support overall wellbeing, mental health and performance.

Elijah Forest's somatic counselling and therapy work is rooted in contemporary somatic psychology, embodiment research, and the non-dual philosophies that recognise the wholeness and intelligence of our lived experience. This work helps clients tune into their inner body-mind wisdom through a process called Dynamic Integration—an approach that brings together the body, emotions, and awareness into a coherent, healing process.

What is Somatic Therapy?

Somatic therapy is a body-based therapeutic approach that explores the connection between the physical body and psychological felt senses. Further from talk therapy, somatic therapy recognises that healing often happens below the level of words—in the quiet shifts of breath, the unlocking of tense muscles, the tunning in to inner sensations, and the safety in self soothing and regaining agency.

The approach draws deeply from the pioneering work of Dr. Pat Ogden, founder of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and Eugene Gendlin, creator of the Focusing method. These practices provide the foundations for helping people return home to their bodies, feel grounded, and access lasting transformation from the inside out.

Work Inspired by Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Listening to the Body’s Story

Dr. Pat Ogden’s Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is based on the understanding that trauma and emotional wounds are stored in the body just as much as in the mind. Her work combines principles from attachment theory, neuroscience, and somatic awareness to gently support clients in processing traumatic experiences without having to relive them in words.

Through posture, gesture, breath, and sensation, the body tells a story—one that may have been frozen in time during overwhelming moments of stress, fear, or disconnection. With compassionate guidance, clients begin to notice how certain patterns show up in their body: a collapsed posture, a held breath, a frozen jaw, or a tightening in the belly.

By bringing mindful attention to these somatic patterns and engaging in safe, supported interventions, we open the door to new choices, new sensations, and new ways of being. This is where trauma unwinds—mentally, physically and relationally.

The Felt Sense as a Guide to Healing

Eugene Gendlin, a philosopher and psychotherapist, developed Focusing as a practice for accessing the “felt sense”—the subtle, body-based knowing that lies underneath thoughts and emotions. The felt sense is not quite a thought, not quite a feeling, but a bodily awareness of something meaningful waiting to unfold.

Elijah Forest uses Focusing to help clients connect with these subtle signals. Rather than analysing or solving, we listen inwardly with gentle attention, inviting something within to move, shift, or reveal itself. This process supports deep emotional regulation, insight, and transformation.

Focusing teaches clients how to cultivate an inner relationship with their experience, even the parts that feel stuck or unclear. Over time, clients feel more confident, grounded, and in touch with what matters to them, desires and visions.

Dynamic Integration: Reweaving the Inner Landscape

The somatic approach can be described as Dynamic Integration. This means learning how to integrate different layers of experience—thoughts, sensations, emotions, breath, posture, memory, and meaning—into a dynamic, self-aware and resilient whole.

This isn't about "fixing" broken parts, rather we explore how to bring coherence and presence to all aspects and parts of the self. The somatic process supports:

• Emotional regulation and nervous system balance

• Reconnection with bodily presence and boundaries

• Improved self-awareness and relational confidence

• Greater capacity for joy, intimacy, and resilience

• Clarity, inspiration and vision
  

Dynamic Integration also recognises that healing is not linear. We move in cycles, spirals, and layers—slowly and safely touching into the areas that are ready to transform.

The Wisdom of Non-Dual Philosophy

While grounded in evidence-based somatic psychology, the work is also inspired by the non-dual philosophies found in Zen, Taoism and similar traditions. These teachings remind us of a deeper wholeness and connectedness between self and others and self and environment —an already-present awareness that can hold all experience and broad insight.

In therapy, this perspective allows us to soften the striving for control and perfection, and instead discover the quiet inner space of presence. From here, we meet ourselves as living, breathing expressions of intelligence and resilience.

Working With Elijah Forest

Elijah Forest is a somatic counsellor and integrated mind-body therapist, holding a Diploma in Remedial Massage, a Certificate in Embodied Counselling, a BA in Applied Design, and a Graduate Diploma in Education. Sessions draw from the body's ability to communicate in the subtle layers —designed to meet each client where they are, and support them in becoming more fully themselves.

Sessions are available in-person in the Perth clinic in East Fremantle and online via zoom, for clients Australia-wide and globally.

Whether you’re dealing with anxiety, trauma, burnout, or simply seeking a deeper sense of connection, our work together will invite you into a space of inquiry, embodiment, and renewal.

Ready to Begin?

If you're ready to explore a gentle yet dynamic therapeutic process that honours your body, your story, and your inner knowing, I welcome you to reach out.

Book a free consultation with me or a first session today and take the a step toward dynamic integration and embodied healing.

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