Internal Family Systems Meditation

In this module, Dr. Richard Schwartz narrates a guided meditation focusing on Trail Heads and how to engage them. He helps the listener show compassion to their parts and engages them through compassion and loving energy.

Transcript

So let's just take some nice deep breaths for a little while.

Notice your body and your chair.

And as you're breathing deeply,

Scan your body for what we call trail heads,

Which could be points of pressure,

Congestion,

Stiffness,

Pain,

And pain.

Anything in or around your body that doesn't feel like you exactly.

And your mind also.

Places of agitation in your mind or dullness,

Fogginess,

And anything that doesn't feel quite like you.

And as you do that scan,

Settle on one of those.

And then go ahead and just begin to gently focus on it,

That place in your body or your mind.

While you breathe deeply.

And as you notice it,

See if you can help it notice you.

Help it notice that it's not alone.

And if it's possible,

And don't force anything,

But if it's possible,

Extend a kind of loving energy to that place in your body or your mind.

And at this point there might be something that it wants you to know,

Which is fine,

But the main purpose of this meditation is really to help that part of you that's manifesting that way.

To know that it's not alone,

That you're there with it.

You can do that by,

Again,

Extending a loving energy to it.

Maybe some comforting words.

Maybe even breathing into it,

Using your lungs almost like a bellows.

Just try one or all of those with this place in your body or your mind.

Because the purpose of this one right now is to help these parts know they're not alone and know that they're loved and that they can relax.

Because they're not alone,

Because you're there too.

They can trust that.

And some of them,

As you extend the loving energy of the comforting words or the breath,

You'll sense it immediately relaxing.

There'll be a shift in that place in your body or your mind.

But others won't shift,

Which is fine.

It just means that they need more attention before they can relax.

They may need for you at some other point to hear more of what they need you to know.

So as you stay with one trailhead and it doesn't relax,

You can kind of make an appointment to talk to it later and then move on to another.

When you get to the other,

Extending that loving energy,

Comforting words,

Breathing into,

Until you sense a shift.

When a part does relax,

You'll notice a little more space in your body or your mind.

A little more openness.

And as you sense the spaciousness,

It's possible to also focus on that,

On that space inside.

Just noticing what that's like.

What you'll find is that it becomes a kind of virtuous cycle where the more spacious you feel,

The more loving energy you bring to the parts.

The more they trust you,

The more they relax.

To the point where you feel increasingly in your body,

Embodied,

Because it's the parts and their burdens that keep you a little bit out of your body.

So if your parts have relaxed,

Then just also notice what it's like to be in your body more.

This becomes a kind of cycle also where you feel embodied and then you bring that awareness to your parts.

And they relax more and allow you to be in your body more.

It's useful just to be very familiar with this state of embodiment.

So you can tell day to day,

Hour to hour,

Minute to minute,

How much you are and how much you're not.

And when you sense that you're not,

You just go to the parts that are taking up space and help them relax just this way.

It becomes a kind of practice.

And with practice,

You'll find that you can spend more and more time in your body even when you're not meditating like this,

Even when you're in the world interacting with people.

And when the time feels right,

Begin to shift focus from our bodies and minds to the outside.

First opening your eyes,

Noticing it's possible to stay in your body even when you open your eyes.

And if not,

To go back in,

Again helping parts trust that it's safe to let you lead even when your focus is outside.

Thank you.

Reviews

This is so incredibly powerful. Thank you, Dr. Schwartz 🙏

I love Dr. Schwartz’s pacing. Slow, with enough time and space after each of his suggestions for me to practice what he’s saying.

Best in class concepts and tools for grounding and healing. I’m in awe of your work and insights.

An incredible agitation arose during this one. A feeling I’ve had in meditation before. I will definitely come back to this and again and work with it more as I have a feeling that the agitation resolving will release something. I did enjoy the meditation in spite of this. Many thanks.

And now on repeating on a different day, my body calmed and relaxed. Simple and powerful. Thanks

Wow, I didn’t want to open my eyes but like you guided, I could stay within my body. This is profound. Thank you

A really useful embodiment practice which I will use before a meditation to get more benefit from my Self and it's parts

Found this to be a very helpful meditation (and practice) to connect with a part of me when I notice tension in my mind and body - and to affirm to my parts that I see them and love them. IFS has been one of my continued practices. Thank you Dr. Schwartz

I’ve been doing theses practises for a while and it’s like a self-therapy session. Each time I discover and uncover a new part of myself and befriend it in ways I didn’t expect. Thanks Dr Schwartz for your remarkable work 💛

I was so delighted to find you on here, Richard. I’ve long been a fan of your work. I’ve just found your book, no bad parts and I’m loving it. You’ve contributed so very much to healing. Respect 🫡 🤩🤩

Very helpful. I could feel the shift and it helped me release my tension. Thank you so much!

Amazing. I am having relationships with parts of myself I haven't looked at in decades. Thank you for your work!

This man’s research has been life changing. Thank you Richard Schwartz.

My sacral tension released when I felt safe. Thank you. 🙏🏼

Thanks I’ve worked with IFS in therapy and this is a really good accompaniment

Perfectly paced and gentle — experienced a very strong soothing and grounding. Thank you!

Very helpful practice that marries with something I've recently noticed. Being in the small things, rather than mentally skipping ahead, or onto a different task, or imaginary multitasking. This is sufficient for the moment, if I am doing it. So I might as well be present in the doing of it. I had to grow into this simple ability to be in the little things, here and now.
Thank you. 🙏🏻 💞

Loved the cadence and depth of voice. The pauses and timbre of breathes were relaxing.

I had noticed that the parts get active and triggered again throughout the day. I was struggling to keep connected to my core self. But with this I have had a glimpse of how this can become more possible. Thankyou.

I think I finally get what my therapist has been talking about when she says to “get into my body”!! Thank you for what feels like the start of a beautiful new practice, and a tool in my toolbox of wellbeing.

That was wonderful. Simple and beautiful and deep. Thank you 🙏