Ever felt torn about a decision? A part of me feels X, and a part of me feels Y?
Parts work has been around for years. My initial exposure was through Gestalt therapy, then inner child work, then yoga therapeutics and trauma modalities started incorporating the work.
IFS (Internal Family Systems) then made a big showing—much like my embodied mindfulness work that I learned through yoga therapeutics training, it existed for awhile but got its big boost through Bessel van der Kolk’s book, The Body Keeps the Score. Sadly, their training systems have not kept up with the demand, so many of us are acting as IFS-informed clinicians (some training, but no official certification). I am one of those people.
What do I like about IFS? I love the very common sense approach—clients get a brief exposure to the work and it makes sense to them. I also love just how normalizing this work is—we are all made up of parts that are impacting us, our decisions, our emotional states, etc on a daily basis.
But what I have loved most as I continue to dig into books and trainings is that it is truly mindfulness-based. Both IFS and mindfulness ask us to slow down, to pay attention to the body and the subtle message, and to trust that what coming through is a part of the complicated whole of our truth.
So as I have continued diving in and introducing this approach to my clients, I’ve been very pleasantly surprised to see that the approach blends with and even levels up mindfulness experiences. Regrounding awareness of parts, over and over, through the body puts people into deeper touch with their needs on their healing journey.
As I’ve discovered this in individual work, I’ve started playing with how this can revolutionize my Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy group, Zapped to Zen 101. What happens when you bring body awareness through the lens of parts? Acceptance? Awareness of the choices each part makes and which parts tend to win the choice process in the heat of the moment? Zapped to Zen always helped clients discover this, but what if the process became more intentional in that we explored that lens in every single class?
I am looking forward to Zapped to Zen this year, as I will be starting to bring some of these embodied parts explorations to the group.
I’ve always invited and given a discount to previous participants, and they have always been surprised by how much more insight awaits them in a second or even third visit to the group, but this session will be even more radical as we bring this new lens into our mindfulness training.
What might you learn about yourself? What holds you back? What propels you forward? What new choices might you make to improve your health? Your well-being? To follow your intuition?
Curious? Call me and we will discuss the possibilities and to get your discount code if you are a return participant (513.289.6759)
Registration required by the end of the month for a February 10 start!
