Somatic Internal Family Systems
“Parts Work” Therapy
Our inner parts are created and affected by our life experiences. They show up as tension or unease in your body, as well as in thinking, behaviors, and the way we relate to ourselves and others.
In Somatic Parts Work Therapy we will explore practices that promote a felt connection to your body, self, help to heal, and integrate the mind and body towards an increased sense of wholeness and compassion for yourself and your experience.
Through Parts Work we will learn to “see” and explore pains and unmet feelings and needs, and work to support your internal world and system moving towards a greater sense of internal harmony, acceptance, confidence, calmness, wisdom, compassion and connectedness.
No Bad Parts
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No Bad Parts 〰️
What is Somatic Parts Work?
Somatic Parts Work or Somatic IFS is a branch of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy model. IFS is a psychotherapeutic model that normalizes multiplicity of the mind and views each person as having a Self that the therapist helps lead to uncover so that it can fully lead the system of parts, or subpersonalities.
IFS holds that we all have “parts” or aspects of ourselves that manifest and hold different memories, experiences and behaviors. IFS encourages that all parts regardless of how they may express themselves hold a positive intention to your “system” or the way you move and navigate through the world.
Utilizing IFS principles and techniques Somatic IFS or Somatic “Parts Work” therapies utilize embodiment and exploration of the body with the goal of bringing harmony to the self by allowing parts to express through the body and come into relationship and alignment with the system as a whole.
Somatic IFS presents five practices that lead to Embodied Self Energy.
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Somatic Awareness is the foundation of Somatic IFS. All four practices flow from the foundation of Somatic Awareness and lead to an experience of Embodied Self. In Somatic Awareness we cultivate being conscious of our breath, connecting with our body to promote resonance, integrated movement to promote openness and increased sensitivity to communicate within ourselves. We become in tuned, tolerant, and grounded in our body sensations.
When we are cut off from our sensory experiences we are cut off from our inner deepest knowing. Somatic Awareness promotes intimacy and understanding with out bodies.
Through this awareness we can begin to “unearth” from our somas, the trauma, trapped emotions, forgotten memories, as well as our joys, our creativity, the capacity to love ourselves and extend that love to others.
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Conscious Breathing helps to uncover and develop our innate capacity to be present and aware of our bodies. The act of breathing is largely outside of our awareness, however, it is a bodily function we can alter and regulate when brought into our awareness. Brining consciousness to the breathe awakens our bodies, nourishes and energies and creates spaciousness for calm. We use the breath as a tool to help unburden bodily sensations, behaviors, memories, and troublesome part, but also we use the breath to breathe life into the parts of ourselves long forgotten, who long for revival.
Try it out now. Just simply notice that you are breathing. Does anything change for you in your body and mind. Continue to notice the breath as you scroll.
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Radical Resonance is a phenomenon which bodies impact one another at a vibrational and energetic frequency. It brings forth empath, attunement and kinesthetic sensations. We begin to physiologically witness the nonverbal implicit stories within our parts and begin to move them to integrated into a state of Embodied Self Energy. Not only do with listen with our bodies, but we listen to our body.
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Mindful movement brings self awareness to spontaneous gestures and movement to witness, access, and unburden parts within our system. This involves re-embodying early developmental movement patterns that may be associated with trauma and attachment patterns, and incorporates movement practices that stabilize and encourage self energy.
Movement can access the parts, help them unbend and enhance your inner relationship and knowing between your self and these parts. This can include spontaneous movement, habitual gestures, protective stances, and frozen or blocked impulses. We invite awareness, exploration and mirroring to help move through the IFS process.
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Attuned Touch brings forth the importance of touch for human development and healing. Touch is our first language, the first sense to develop in the womb, and all other sense are derived from it. It maintains itself as a important conductor for communication and understanding. Attuned Touch is used for healing, through being guided by the therapist to which part wants or needs the kind of touch the part wants. The client embodied in self, connects with the body through touch. This can be a simple hand over the heart or as complex as an entire movement sequence.
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Self energy is an embodied state that an be desribed as a state of sensation in the chest, and abdomen, a vibrating vibrant energy that flows through the body. Calm, spacious, clear, these are experienced in and with the body. It promotes full embodiment into our body experience and discourages dissociation and dislodgment from within the body.
The term embodied Self accentuates the understanding that Self is not an idea but rather a lived experience. The kind of knowing, understanding, and compassion that arises from a full-bodied resonant listening has an authentic immediacy that is transformative.
How can Somatic IFS help me?
Within each of us, various parts coexist, representing diverse facets of our emotions, experiences, and identities. Somatic Parts Work delves into this rich tapestry, unraveling the connections within our inner world to promote more inner dialogue, understanding, and harmony.
There are parts of us that hold our anxieties, fears, depression, and traumas, and there are also parts of us that hold our joys, passions and love for ourselves and others.
When these parts are disjointed by inner conflict and disagreements, that can manifest in many ways. Physical sensations, chronic pain, self sabotage or waves of emotion that seemingly come out of nowhere. In Somatic IFS we listen and embrace all parts as valid, listening and encouraging the unfolding of the stories they hold.
By engaging with these somatic parts, you open a dialogue with the unique voices and energies that shape your inner world. In connecting with them, we can create inner harmony that may release physical sensations, or help move across barriers that feel ever present.
This transformative process isn't just about understanding. It's a journey toward integration. We delve inward to Identify sources of tension, trace the origins of stress, and discover the art of releasing and managing these embodied expressions. In embracing somatic parts work, you empower yourself to foster a harmonious relationship between mind and body.
Whether navigating personal growth, seeking stress resilience, or aiming for heightened self-awareness, somatic parts work becomes a gateway to a more interconnected and fulfilling life by connecting and embracing your inner wisdom.
What is a Somatic Parts Work Session Like?
In Somatic Parts Work, we work with the knowledge that your body knows where to go. You have the space to safely explore your experiences and feelings without fear of judgment. In the Somatic IFS session, you are encouraged to embrace all of your emotion and sensations into the room to be processed in the moment within the therapeutic process. This will look like engaging in body work such as meditation, mindful breathing, mindful movement, and explorative dialogue. We will collaborate to increase self-awareness and explore what each part is holding to unburden and integrate each part towards embodied self-energy.