Becoming Whole Again After Trauma (Somatic IFS Parts Work)

Trauma can make us feel like we have many parts of ourselves fighting against each other. We often reject the "ugly" parts, and only want to feel the "beautiful" parts. The more we push away the parts of us that we don't want to feel – anger, sadness, fear – the louder they become, and the more depressed and stuck we feel. In this movement meditation, we will feel into what parts of you are currently conflicted and how to integrate them harmoniously so you can start feeling whole again.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Ori Krug,

Board certified dance movement therapist and trauma and relationship expert.

Today,

I would love to guide you through a movement-based meditation on becoming whole again after trauma.

In this experience,

I would love to help you explore and understand the parts of you that feel disconnected,

That you're still rejecting,

And that prevent you from feeling whole and full and integrated mind,

Body,

And soul.

Because this is so common amongst trauma survivors to try to only bring in the quote-unquote positive feelings,

The feelings of happiness and love and success,

And push away all those uncomfortable feelings,

All the difficult feelings that inevitably as humans,

We will always feel.

So we will begin by allowing your body to come to a position that feels comfortable for you right now.

You can choose to sit,

Lie down,

Or stand up.

And with your eyes closed or your gaze lowered,

We're going to take three breaths together.

Breathing in and breathing out.

And again,

Breathing in and breathing out.

One more time,

Breathing in and breathing out.

I'd like to invite you now to imagine,

Visualize,

Or think about an issue that you feel really conflicted about.

Specifically,

One that makes you feel like there's a part of you that wants something and a part of you that doesn't want something.

Or a part of you feels safe in this situation and a part of you does not feel safe in a situation.

So if it's in regards to a relationship,

There may be a part of you that feels really safe and comforted in this relationship and a part of you that feels scared and anxious.

Or if you're thinking about a promotion,

There may be a part of you that feels confident in asking for this promotion and a part of you that feels worried that you'll get rejected.

So bring that in,

An issue or conflict where there are two parts of you that feel conflicting.

Don't question what comes up,

Just bring in the first thing that comes into your consciousness.

Now I'd like to invite you to bring in the part of you that feels safer and confident and happy and secure,

Or whatever the words are for you.

But that part of you that feels better,

Bring that into your right hand.

You can imagine this coming to you from the sky,

From the earth,

Or maybe it's something that you bring into your hand from inside of your body.

Using your imagination here.

Bring that part of you into your right hand.

And once you have it,

Hold onto it in there.

Now bring the part of you that feels unsafe or unhappy or scared,

Fearful or anxious into your left hand,

However your imagination desires and however your body leads you to do this.

And once you have it in your left hand,

Hold onto it there.

And so here you are,

This safer,

More secure,

Confident,

Happier part of you that you are holding in your right hand,

And the less safe,

Scared,

Anxious,

Fearful part of you that you are holding in your left hand.

Without thinking about this too much or at all,

Without trying to make anything happen or not happen,

I want to invite you now to move both of your hands however your body leads you.

And really let your body lead this.

Do not let your mind try to control the direction or the movement or anything that happens.

Let your body lead.

In this experience right now,

You might find that your hands are moving independently of each other and that they're doing something different.

I want to invite you,

If you aren't already,

To see how your body might allow each of your hands to interact,

To connect.

There's no expectations,

No right or wrong,

But let your body respond to this invitation now to connect your hands,

To interact in some way and see what happens.

There may be resistance,

There may be hesitation,

There may be a full leaping into connecting.

Any of those experiences are okay.

How are these parts of you interacting right now?

Is one more dominant than the other?

Are they equally initiating contact?

Is one part of you,

One hand,

Leading the way?

Are either part of you comforting one another?

Keep allowing your body to lead this experience.

And now take the next minute to find some kind of closure.

See how your hands want to end this experience together.

They might stay connected,

They might go their separate ways.

What really wants to happen here?

In this ending position,

Notice how your hands that represent these two parts of you are positioned and what that might mean,

What this whole experience might have meant for you.

Let's take a deep breath together here,

Breathing in and breathing out.

Allow your hands to relax and let go of the roles that we just assigned for them and let them be regular,

Everyday hands.

Look around your physical space,

Get reacquainted with the here and now.

And check in with how you feel.

Maybe you have clarity about this experience,

Maybe you're not sure.

Either way,

I would like to invite you to leave a comment on this meditation and share the experience that you had with your hands.

You can narrate it,

You can say something like,

My hands were moving apart and away from each other at first,

But then they came together and intertwined.

They became whole.

You can share anything,

Whatever happened for you.

And I would love to respond with my reflections,

If you would be interested.

Thanks so much for exploring this,

For going there.

It's not always easy,

And I really appreciate you being open to this.

Until next time,

You deserve to feel whole,

Happy,

And free in your body,

In your life,

In your relationships.

Reviews

I love how this guided meditation brought in some IFS parts work. I am dominantly left-handed, but it was interesting to hold safety in my right hand. It made me realize that the part of me that struggles that I held in my left hand has really been dominating my life. Having those two parts work together felt like my safety hand found a way to exercise and strengthen itself. That was a really cool feeling!

What a lovely approach to parts work. I so appreciate this meditation.

That actually made me cry. My right hand comforted my left which was closed and tight and this brought me to tears for some reason. Thank you!

Powerful stuff, my right hand embracing and comforting my left. One of the most profound practises I’ve done so far… excited to try more, thank you! 😊

This was very interesting. I found that my hands stayed in constant contact but there was a definite fight over which one would be on top. It seems that they don't understand that maybe they can exist side by side. Thank you for sharing this meditation for deeper insight. It is greatly appreciated. 💛🙏💛🙏💛🙏💛🙏

My hands came together tenderly with a lot of movement, and my body was swaying. Tears too. Thank you ❤️🙏

Thank you that was pretty cool my hands just came straight to my heart 💜 thank you 🙏🏻