Easing Worry & Anxiety With Internal Family Systems

The first lesson explores the evolutionary and neurological roots of anxiety to explain why we feel this painful, but vital emotion. You will learn all about the neuroscience of anxiety, what happens when you feel threatened and your fight-flight-freeze response is triggered – and why this was crucial in the wilds, 10,000 years ago, but is not so helpful when you feel threatened by a critical email, say. You will also learn and practice Compassionate Breathing, a powerful breathwork technique to help you calm and soothe your anxeity.

In today's lesson, we explore the impact of childhood trauma on chronic anxiety in adulthood. Sadly, research like the Adverse Childhood Experiences study show that trauma is much more widespread than previously thought. And if you did experience trauma as a child, becoming highly anxious was an adaptive, self-protective way of coping. We also look at the impact of trauma on your nervous system, before guiding you through a powerful breathwork practice to help you calm and soother your nervous system, and feelings of stress of anxiety.

In today's lesson you will learn about internal family systems (IFS) therapy, which is one of the fastest-growing therapy models in the world. It's so popular because it offers a powerful but compassionate way to work with common psychological problems, like chronic stress, depression – and anxiety. You will learn about the different parts involved in your worry and anxiety, as well as the Self – the warm, compassionate, healing inner resource that you can tap into to help your anxious little parts feel calmer, safer and more at peace.

Viewed through the lens of the IFS model, your worries come from a Worrier part, who is hypervigilant, worrying constantly about everything that could go wrong on the horizon. As with all your parts, this protector is not bad or mean – it's trying to protect you from harm. It's just the way it does so can be stressful and exhausting, as chronic worry can make life a real struggle. In today's lesson you will learn all about this part and be led through a powerful guided-imagery practice to help the Worrier relax and stop bombarding you with worries.

According to the IFS model, we all have young parts inside, many of whom are wounded by the trauma we experienced in childhood. And one or more of those young parts are probably anxious, being fearful about the difficult things you went through as a child – and that they might get hurt again now. Learning to connect with and soothe this anxious little boy or girl inside is a key goal of IFS therapy – and a simple but powerful way to help yourself feel less anxious. In this lesson you will learn how to do that, as well as being led through a step-by-step guided-imagery practice on helping your inner child feel safe.

The final lesson focuses on how to access your Self – and the healing Self-energy this calm, compassionate and loving you offers. In IFS, Self is who you are deep down, before anything difficult happened to you. And this inner version of you is always there, always available, if you can just learn to access it. You will be led through this process with a powerful guided-imagery practice that gives you a taste of Self-energy. And all of the six days' teaching are summarised and brought together, giving you a clear roadmap for your healing journey.