Fostering Loving Kindness For Parts Of Yourself: Parts Work IFS

The deepest self-love has no limits, and includes every single part of ourselves. This meditation will help you increase self-love, inspired by classic metta meditation. It invites you to send loving-kindness towards different parts of yourself by integrating mindfulness, metta, and IFS or Parts Work.

If this meditation speaks to you, you may want to check out my course on Insight Timer called "Loving Every Part of Yourself." It expands upon this topic more in-depth. Thank you!

Transcript

It's easy to love the parts of ourselves that we like,

But the deepest self-love has no limits,

No bounds,

And includes even the darkest parts of our souls,

The parts that we're embarrassed about,

Or the parts that are deeply wounded.

And this meditation will help you increase self-love for the many different parts of you,

And applies the classic Metta loving-kindness meditation towards various different parts of your soul.

Let's begin.

Take a moment to just get into a comfortable posture.

You could lay down for this meditation if you want,

Or you could sit in a meditative posture or in a chair.

And if you are choosing to take a seat,

See if you can sit up nice and tall without any strain,

Without any force.

Balance in steadiness with softness.

Feel the weight of your body supported by the surface underneath you.

And just close your eyes and set the intention to open your heart with loving-kindness,

And to remain open and curious to this process.

And first we will turn our attention towards a part of you that you really like,

Such as maybe a part of you that is generous,

Charismatic,

Or intelligent,

Or hardworking.

Feel this part of you in your body.

Perhaps visualize it,

Seeing it in your mind's eye.

And connect to your deep core essence that is naturally loving and caring and warm.

And if you're seeing this part in your mind's eye,

It might look like a version of you,

An energy,

A color,

Or a character of some sort.

Whatever arises is fine.

Just connect with this part of you.

Let it know that you're there.

And say these words,

May you be happy,

May you be well,

May you be free from suffering,

May you be at peace,

May you be happy,

May you be well.

May you be free from suffering,

May you be at peace.

Repeating those words,

May you be happy,

May you be well,

May you be free from suffering,

May you be at peace.

And if there are any other words or gestures of your own that you'd like to offer,

You can do so now.

And thank this part for presenting itself to you,

And then allow that visualization to dissolve and turn your attention towards a part of you that you maybe feel neutral about.

Maybe a part that feels neither positive or negative,

Or a part you don't know very well.

Don't overthink it,

Just choose the first part that comes to mind.

If you don't resonate with the word neutral,

Just invite any part to step forward that needs attention.

Feel this part's presence and resonance in your body.

See if you can separate from it and perhaps visualize it in your mind's eye.

If you can't visualize it,

That's okay,

You can establish connection in another way.

Perhaps through hearing it or just feeling it.

And connect to your core essence that is naturally loving and compassionate.

And as you see this part of you,

Say,

May you be happy,

May you be well,

May you be free from suffering,

May you be at peace,

May you be happy,

May you be well,

May you be free from suffering,

May you be at peace,

May you be happy.

May you be well.

May you be free from suffering.

May you be at peace.

And if there are any other words or gestures you'd like to offer to this part,

Feel free to do so now.

Show gratitude and appreciation to this part of you for coming forward and being seen today and just allow that visualization to fall away.

And next,

Turn your attention towards a part of you that is perhaps more difficult to love.

And if this is your first time doing something like this or if you haven't done much inner work before,

It's best to choose something minor,

Maybe not the most unlikable thing that you can think of.

This could be a part of you that perhaps you tend to be ashamed of,

Something that you see as a flaw,

A part of you that has caused harm to others or maybe a part of you that's made a mistake.

Invite this part of you forward,

See if you can feel it in your body.

Maybe you can hear its voice.

And ask it to separate from you just a bit so that you can help it and send it some love.

Perhaps you can see it in your mind's eye.

And just recognize that this is a part of you,

But it's not the whole you.

And like everything else,

It deserves love and care and probably this part of you needs it the most.

So connect to that wise and loving,

Compassionate and courageous nature that I know you have inside of you and open your heart towards this difficult part.

And if other parts of you object,

Maybe an inner critic is saying that this part of you isn't worthy of love.

Or a skeptical part saying this is not right,

This doesn't make any sense.

Send love to those other parts.

Bathe them in love and then ask them to step back.

And if those other parts,

The skeptical,

Critical or other parts,

Don't step back,

You can instead turn your attention and love towards them instead.

Otherwise,

See if you can relate to this difficult part of you as you would a close friend or a small innocent child offering comfort and care and loving kindness.

Saying to the difficult part of you,

May you be happy.

May you be well.

May you be free from suffering.

May you be at peace.

May you be happy.

May you be well.

May you be free from suffering.

May you be at peace.

May you be happy.

May you be well.

May you be free from suffering.

May you be at peace.

And again,

If any critical or judgmental or other parts interfere with this,

Just turn your attention instead to the interfering part,

Offering the same love.

May you be happy.

May you be well.

May you be free from suffering.

May you be at peace.

As the great therapist Carl Rogers once said,

It is only when I accept myself as I already am,

Then I change.

So even if you have difficulty liking this part of you,

Or even difficulty with this practice,

It's okay.

Accept where you are.

And just continue to do the practice of opening your heart with love.

Acceptance is the first step towards healing.

So ask this difficult part of you what it needs right here,

Right now,

To feel loved and consider giving it to them.

And see how they respond to being cared for.

Maybe they've never experienced this before.

Maybe giving it something small and concrete that you can give right now,

Such as a gesture,

Some words,

Maybe asking this part,

What does it most need right now,

What does it most need to hear?

What is the one thing it wants to hear more than anything?

And say those words back to it with sincerity and kindness.

Lastly,

I'd like you to imagine holding hands with all three of these parts of you.

Sending metta,

Loving kindness,

To all of them.

Sending to all of them at once,

May you be happy.

May you be well.

May you be free from suffering.

May you be at peace.

May you all be happy.

May you all be well.

May you all be free from suffering.

May you all be at peace.

And allow this visualization to dissolve after you've said goodbye and thank you to these parts.

And just sit with the feeling of love that you have in your heart right now,

Perhaps putting your hands on your heart.

And know that this is something you are capable of experiencing at any time,

Even in difficult moments.

Even when you're not liking yourself,

Even when you're not living up to your own expectations,

You always have this love inside.

You can always connect to it.

Expand your awareness out to your body as a whole,

Sensing yourself from head to toe as a living,

Breathing being with many parts,

Many complex facets,

As one being.

Whenever you're ready,

You can very slowly,

Gently,

Without rushing,

Start to flutter your eyes open.

Take in the world around you.

And as you go back out into your day,

Remember the transformative power of self-love.

Thank you.

Reviews

Very well done and I found this helpful to use with IFS work. Your kind tone is worth emulating when we work with our parts. Thank you. 🙏

Well, this is brilliant. I've been using metta meditation for years. It never occurred to me to send mettla to the various parts of myself. Thank you.🙏🏻🩷

May you be happy, may you be well, may your be free from suffering, may you be at peace. New mantra for me…thank you! I will return to this to work through the very many parts of me that feel overwhelming to sort through.

This may well be the most healing meditation ever. I love the combination of IFS and loving kindness. Thank you.

Thank you, Emma! I found this to be most helpful, especially in connecting to the darker, more negative parts. Very much appreciated! 😊

Beautiful meditation. Very healing! It was my first time doing this style of meditation but I will be returning to this one again! Thank you so much.❤️🙏

I like the idea very much to give metta to the parts. Beautiful spoken, thanks a lot.

Magnificent. Opens up an inner greatness to be transformed.

Such a nurturing, helpful meditation - thank you. 🙏

Kind. Thank you.

I’m grateful for this opportunity to help my parts feel a deeper love and connection.

Amazing. Thank you.

I loved this! Very helpful! Thank you for your gift!

I really appreciated the combination of IFS parts works with loving kindness toward some of my parts

Amazing. So healing. Exactly what I (and my parts) needed.

As I explore the world of my parts this is very very helpful identifying more parts and continuing to understand the parts I'm more familiar with; both the parts I like and the parts I struggle with.

Lovely IFS metta meditation-sending love 💕 and peace ✌🏾 to my parts thank you 🙏

I love her voice and energy

Very powerful. I will be revisiting this meditation often. Thank you! ❤🙏

I loved this practice. Learned a lot from these parts who also melted, softened, relaxed when receiving this much needed deep love. Thank you! Namaste 🙏 💕