The Wisdom of Sequencing: How the Body Knows Its Way / Somatic Practice in Perth

Take a moment. A pause. Let it be a space. A 2-minute somatic practice

Gently bring your awareness to your breath.

Feel the rise and fall of your chest, the subtle expansion of your ribs, the quiet contraction as the breath leaves your body.

There is nothing to change. Simply notice.

You are breathing, and the body is moving—organically, rhythmically.

This is sequencing. This is life unfolding.

The Body's Innate Sequencing: Always in Motion

Sequencing is a natural, organic rhythm that arises from being alive in a body. Every breath, a blink of an eye, every digestive wave, every night and day cycle, and every phase of the moon—these are all sequences we live through, some with awareness to, some less so.

Yet for many of us, the mind and social constructs disrupt these natural rhythms. We interrupt grief with distraction, override fear with forced composure, suppress anger with a smile. Over time, these interruptions can freeze the body's sequences, holding them in place like paused waves that never reach the shore.

In somatic therapy, we invite awareness back to the body’s processes—supporting what is already in motion, allowing it to be fully experienced and, when it is ready, to complete.

Example of an Incomplete Somatic Sequence:

Imagine a child who reaches out for comfort and is ignored or shamed. The natural sequence of reaching, receiving, softening is left unfinished. That reaching may stay alive in the body for decades, influencing adult relationships with themes of unmet needs, fear of rejection, or hyper-independence.

In somatic therapy, we don’t analyse the narrative— but follow sequence. We track the subtle gestures, micro-movements, breath shifts, and emotional tides, supporting the body in remembering how to move through in a way that is more supportive, more present, more centered, more allowing.

No Separation: Soma and Environment

As with all aspects of somatic awareness, the distinction between inner and outer is artificial. Your nervous system is shaped by the environment and the environment is shaped by it. Your emotions are in dialogue with the world around you. You co-regulate with plants and trees, sounds, textures, people and even the quality of the light that is felt.

The breath is a perfect example: air moves through you, and it it part of environment. The inhale brings the outside - in.

Emotion as Sequence

Emotions are not static. They are processes.

If given awareness and space, an emotion will move through a cycle:

Beginning → Developing → Peaking → Resolving → Completing.

But many of us have been taught to interrupt this sequence. We drown sadness, suppress anger, or mask fear. These unfinished emotions embed in the tissues, sometimes emerging years later as symptoms of anxiety, fatigue, or inexplicable tension or even pain.

A Somatic Exploration: Posture, Breath, Expression

Try this practice:

Gently bring awareness to your body without trying to change anything.

Notice your posture.

Then, notice your breath.

Finally, bring awareness to your facial expression.

Stay here for a few quiet moments.

What do you feel?

Is there an emotion present? A tension? A warmth? A memory?

This gentle inquiry opens the door to sequencing. Even subtle awareness can ignite movement, invite release, and awaken layers of implicit memory—those felt experiences that live below words.

Sequencing Deeper Knowledge in Somatic Therapy

In somatic therapy, sequences help us understand what the body is doing and what it wants to do. They offer insight into sensations, felt senses, implicit memory, vision and awareness.

Sometimes we go toward a sensation or memory.

Sometimes we move away, honoring boundaries or overwhelm.

And sometimes, we explore the space between—the fertile, living ground of what is becoming. Sequencing teaches can lead us into a deeper level of self-knowing, resilience, knowing and empowerment.

Everything is moving. Living. Unfolding.

What deep knowing and empowering insights could you experience with somatic sequencing? Explore with me, book your somatic session at www.somaticforest.com Connect with your authentic rhythms. Come home to yourself. Belong. Thrive. Elijah Forest is located in 38 George Street, East Fremantle, Perth 6158 offering body-mind somatic therapy through integrated practice of Embodied Counselling and Remedial Massage - experienced as separate modalities or in conjunction.