This meditation is intended to be accompanied by the book No Bad Parts,
Healing Trauma and Restoring the Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model by Dr.
Richard Schwartz.
As I was reading this book,
Working on myself as well as learning about it to utilize with clients,
I felt the exercises were incredibly powerful,
But would be even more powerful if I was able to listen to the guidance versus reading it and trying to apply it.
So my intention for these exercises and meditation is for you to just be able to put the book down,
Get comfortable,
Follow along,
And explore your parts just as Dr.
Richard Schwartz intended.
The following exercise by Dr.
Richard Schwartz is Unblending and Body.
Dr.
Richard Schwartz says that this is a brief meditation that he does a version of each day,
As do many people who follow the IFS path.
I encourage you to try it out as a daily practice.
Get comfortable,
And if it helps,
Take deep breaths.
Then start by focusing on and checking in with whatever parts you are actively working with.
To do that,
See if you can find each of them in or around your body,
And get curious about how they're doing.
That is,
Ask each if there's anything it wants you to know,
Or if it needs anything,
Just like you might with a child that's in your care.
If you need any more time here in this part,
Express itself.
Go ahead and pause the meditation here.
As you're getting to know it,
At some point,
Help this part get to know you better,
The you that's with it now.
Since most of the time,
These parts don't really know you.
Instead,
They've been interacting with other parts in there,
And they often believe that you are still a young child.
Often,
This is their first encounter with you,
The you who's curious about them,
Cares about them.
So let them know who you are,
And how old you are,
Since they often think you're much younger.
Let them know that they're not alone anymore.
See how they react.
You can ask if you like how old they thought you were.
You can even ask them to turn around and look at you,
And if you need more time here,
Go ahead and pause the meditation.
Come back to it when you're ready.
After you've checked in with the parts you've begun working with,
Open your space.
Invite any other parts that need your attention to come forward.
Just wait and see what trailheads emotions,
Sensations,
Impulses emerge in a similar way.
Get to know these new ones,
And help them get to know you.
You need more time here exploring these parts.
Go ahead and pause the meditation.
Back to it when you're ready.
This next piece is optional,
May or may not happen.
Revisit each of them one at a time.
Invite them to relax and open space inside,
So you could be more in your body.
If the 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.
If that doesn't happen,
Don't despair,
Because they may not know you well enough yet to trust that it's safe to do that,
And that's just fine.
And again,
If you need to spend more time here,
Go ahead and pause the meditation.
Come back when you're ready.
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,
Your mind now?
Notice that spaciousness,
That sense of well-being and enoughness,
That you are enough.
Also notice the feeling that there's nothing to do right now,
Everything is okay.
Some people spontaneously feel 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 it 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,
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 hearts 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 that,
That they don't have to,
And it's safe to unblend at least for the duration of this meditation.
Afterward,
They can jump back to attention if they really want.
I have found,
However,
That through this practice,
Hearts gradually increase their trust that it's safe and beneficial to let the self embody.
They also trust that the self is remembering,
Checking on them,
That it's being a good inner parent.
All this self-leadership helps them step out of their parentified roles and consider unburdened.
In the next minute or so,
I invite you to shift your focus back outside.
Before you come back though,
Thank your parts either for letting you embody more,
Or if they didn't,
For letting you know they were too afraid to do so just yet.
You can either pause the meditation back to it when you're ready.
Otherwise,
Come back when it feels right for you.
Just take a moment to just observe and feel the body breathing for you here.
Be even noticing the rise and fall of the chest and abdomen,
Full breath cycle,
Feeling textures against your skin,
Temperature surrounding your body.
Just begin to track any movement your body needs or wants from you here.
If it's safe,
Go ahead and honor that movement.
Take your time,
Move slowly.
You may want to take a few breaths,
Letting all of this land in you,
Perhaps journaling or savoring this moment,
Integrating it some way that works for you.
