Welcome and thanks for listening.
As I mentioned in the previous meditation,
These meditations have been inspired by the work of Dr.
Richard Schwartz,
The developer of IFS,
Internal Family Systems.
I made these recordings after reading his most recent book,
There Are No Bad Parts,
And found the exercises and meditations in the book quite profound.
I also realized I had an even more profound experience with them when I could listen to them and engage in them like a meditation versus reading about them and intellectually thinking about them.
So for more information on Internal Family Systems,
I encourage you to check out Dr.
Richard Schwartz's newest book,
There Are No Bad Parts.
And as you read,
You might want to use these meditations as a way to enhance what you're integrating from the book.
Unblending and Embodying.
This is a brief meditation that is encouraged for you to engage with every day,
As do many people who follow the IFS path.
And I encourage you to try this out as a daily practice.
Just observe and notice what happens.
Go ahead and get comfortable making sure that your body feels supported here.
So whether that's being in a traditional meditation posture,
Or perhaps lying down,
Or just being supported by a comfortable chair.
Take this time to just adjust your body in any way that it needs you to so that you can be present.
If it helps,
Go ahead and take a few deep breaths.
And just bring your awareness to your out-breath,
Just seeing if you can grow your exhale to become a little bit longer and slower than your inhale.
Then start by focusing on and checking in with whatever parts you are actively working with.
So perhaps go back to the part of you that you identified in the previous meditation,
The thought,
Feeling,
Sensation,
Emotion,
Or impulse.
Just go back to this part of you that you start to build a relationship with.
To do that,
See if you can find each of them in or around your body.
And just try to get curious about how they're doing.
Go ahead and ask each if there's anything they want you to know,
Or if it needs anything.
Ask it as if it's a child that's in your care and you're just checking in on them.
As you're getting to know it,
At some point,
Help it get to know you better,
The you that's with it now.
Since most of these parts,
They really don't know you or us.
Instead,
They've been interacting with other parts in there and they often believe that you are still that young child.
Often this is their first encounter with you,
The you who's curious about them and cares about them.
So go ahead and let them know who you are,
Even how old you are,
Since they often think you're much younger.
Let them know that you're not alone anymore and see how they react.
You can ask if you'd like how old they thought you were.
You can even ask them to turn around and look at you,
Seeing who you are right now in this moment.
After you've checked in with the parts you've begun working with,
You can open space and invite any other parts that need attention to come forward and just wait and see what trailheads,
Thoughts,
Emotions,
Sensations,
And impulses emerge.
In a similar way that you've done before,
Try to get to know these new parts and help them get to know you.
This new piece is optional and may or may not happen.
Try to revisit each of them one at a time and invite them to relax and open space inside so you can be more in your body.
If a part's willing to do that,
You'll notice a palpable shift in your body or your mind toward more spaciousness and peace in that place where the part seems to reside.
And if that doesn't happen,
Try not to despair as those parts may not know you well enough yet to trust that it's safe to do that and that's just fine.
That trust will build the more you engage in these exercises,
Getting to know your parts,
Establishing relationship with your parts.
If they do separate,
Notice that more embodied,
Spacious sense of who you are and the qualities you feel when you're in that place.
What's it like in your body and mind now?
Notice that spaciousness,
The sense of well-being and enoughness,
That you are enough.
Also notice the feeling like there's nothing to do right now and everything is okay.
Some people feel spontaneously a vibrating energy running through their body,
Making their fingers and toes tingle.
This is what some people call chi or Kundalini or prana,
But in IFS we call this our self-energy.
I'm inviting you to get a felt sense of what it's like for you,
Yourself,
To be more embodied.
If you can become somatically familiar with this state,
Then you can notice when you're there and when you're not as you go through your day.
Any departures from that state are usually due to the activity of parts that have blended to some degree and are giving you distracting thoughts,
Blocking the flow of energy,
Closing your heart,
Making you feel pressure in different places,
Etc.
You can notice those activities and then reassure the parts doing them that they don't have to.
It's safe to unblend at least for the duration of the meditation.
Afterward,
They can jump back to attention if they really want to.
I have found,
However,
That through this practice,
Parts gradually increase their trust that is safe and beneficial to let the self embody.
They also trust that the self is remembering and checking in on them,
That it's being a good inner parent.
All of this self leadership helps them out of their parentified roles and consider unburdening.
In the next minute or so,
I invite you to slowly begin to shift your focus back outside.
Before you come back to the outside world,
Though,
Thank your parts either for letting you embody more or if they didn't today,
Just thank them for letting you know they were too afraid to do just that right now.
Take your time and come on back when it feels right to
