The traditional wisdom in the psychotherapy world is that real change is generally slow going. “Ah ha!” moments, and shifts of all kinds small and large can and do happen. And sometimes wild, even mystically-flavored breakthroughs can come about at any time. But generally, for any human struggle with legs, tangible progress in therapy is considered a slow and steady wins the race-type journey. And a mostly unpredictable one at that, no matter what type or what methods are being applied. And there’s real truth in this. Because, as hungry and ready for change as we might be, we all have parts of us that are wary of it, that fear it; that resist the unknow.
All of us, period. Full stop.
My experience has also shown me time and again that the more urgency to change we have, the more severe the resistance there is lurking in the shadows, ready and waiting to sabotage that change.
Because parts of us have agendas, while for the most part, the Self does not.
Paradox.
IFS Paradigm Shift
This is where the Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy model is, in my view, a real gift. Because change can happen much faster in the internal world than the outer. In other words, just talking about our problems, talking about change, or engaging cognitive-only interventions…versus taping and utilizing the body-based knowing, going within and making direct access to the very parts of us that hold the story— the truth of the pain— and working with those parts to safely release those burdens? No contest.
Flowing from the philosophy of Multiplicity of Mind, IFS presupposes that parts with various beliefs, agendas and ideas of their own exist in all of us. IFS normalizes and safely introduces us to our internal parts, or ‘subpersonalities’ in ways we haven’t known before. From a position of acceptance (the prerequisite of all true change), curiosity and compassion, we turn inward with a reverential attitude, welcoming ALL parts of us— from the youngest, most vulnerable carrying the deepest pain, to the potentially most aggressive, punchy, hypervigilant parts hell bent on protecting us, even in the most self destructive of ways.
There are no problems in living that cannot be addressed using the IFS approach. PTSD, childhood emotional traumas, depression, anxiety, codependency, addictions, intimacy blocks, shame, low esteem, abundance barriers, you name it. Because these syndromes are understood as parts of us with a story, either carrying the pain of trauma, managing and protecting those parts, or parts whose function it is to sound the alarms when the most vulnerable parts threaten to flood the Self System.
When IFS is mindfully and intentionally approached with a heightened somatic awareness, it’s even more potent, more alive, and potentially even faster. Faster in that the deeper, more visceral the felt-sense experience of meeting our parts in an embodied way, the sooner we can get into the real meat and potatoes of what the approach is about: the unburdening of our “exiles” (generally our youngest “inner child” parts holding the deepest pain), relieving them of their original “burdens” (a combination of emotional pain and extreme beliefs), helping them to adopt new, updated functions to play in the Self system, increasing harmony amongst our parts, and ultimately freeing up additional “Self Energy.”
To become more and more “Self” led is the true penultimate goal from the IFS perspective. The Self being defined as the true essence of who we are— the larger, undamaged, infinitely whole Self, characterized by what its creator, Dr. Richard Schwartz calls the 8c’s:
Compassion, Calm, Curiosity, Clarity, Confidence, Compassion, Creativity, and Connectedness.
(When’s the last time you felt any of these?)
In short, when we feel and act from any of these states or qualities, we know we are in our Self. We are Self led. Anything else, we can be sure there’s a part (anger, fear, disgust, etc) in the driver seat.
There’s also Dr. Charles Bonner’s nice addition: The 5P’s:
Playfulness, Patience, Presence, Perspective and Persistence.
(When’s the last time you felt any of THESE?)
There’s so much more to IFS, notably the relational component of how it’s conducted, which places great emphasis on the therapists being acutely somatically aware and inhabiting their own Larger Self during the process. Being originally trained as an interpersonal/relational therapist, this is part (no pun intended) of why I took to IFS so swiftly once I became aware of it, back in 2006 or so.
It’s inherently a two-person, relational therapy.
somatic (i.e. soma--the body)
I’ve been familiarizing myself with the many creative offshoots of IFS, notably Susan McConnel’s Somatic Internal Family Systems Therapy: Awareness, Breath, Resonance, Movement and Touch in Practice. This prolific author and practitioner beautifully expounds upon and enriches IFS to include a multi-dimensional embodied, and acutely trauma-aware approach that leaves virtually no stone unturned as far as what’s possible with this model at the root.
The term somatic, hardly new, has become increasingly associated with trauma. Especially as recent neuroscience advances have led to more and more ‘trauma-informed’ therapy models, somatic and trauma have become intertwined, for better or worse. Better because awareness has increased in the pubic consciousness as to the prevalence of trauma and its effects on us individually and collectively. Worse, perhaps, because there emerges a tendency to view nearly every human expression, habit, pattern, or quirk of behavior as a trauma response.
(Spend enough time on Instagram, you’ll see what I mean).
While there are countless ways and methods of addressing and healing our little t or big T traumas in a therapeutic context, always more than one way to skin a cat. And while no one method or approach speaks to all, the theoretical basis of IFS is so inherently simple and intuitive there’s hardly a child that cannot understand its implicit assumptions. I mean, who doesn’t understand, and who hasn’t thought or said:
“There’s a part of me that…”
And we all have a body, right? So with the addition of an intentional, mindful somatic emphasis to an already relational and highly intuitive therapy approach, you might think, how could it get any better?
enter higher guidance
As I’ve revealed and described elsewhere on this site, I ‘came online’ with a direct connection to higher guidance via non local consciousness and my ‘spirit team,’ so to speak, out of a proufound Dark Night of the Soul/Awakening phenomenon a few years back. I’m still integrating and seeing through the ongoing spiritual emergence, near daily sub/superconscious-level downloading, and ostensible ongoing initiation/preparation for some kind of multidimensional channeling that’s flowed from this experience. Or so it seems.
This guidance, that comes through most automatically as a binary YES/NO via involuntary head movement, like an auto-kinesiological muscle testing, along with occasional quiet bursts of intangible insight, mental, quasi-visual impressions, and even more occasional blasts of ‘inner vision,” qualifies I suppose as a kind of claircognizance/clairsentience.
This capacity, not without it’s challenges, is my main weapon (for peaceful purposes) in the Energy Healing method I’ve named Subconscious Heal and Release® —a somatic, energy psychology and solution-focused approach to quickly identify, heal and release the ‘energetic signatures’ of subconsciously-held traumas, limiting beliefs, and trapped emotional energies that keep us out of alignment with our goals and dreams.
However, as part of my general therapy arm— Integrative Counseling— I’ve been experimenting, with great success, with applying this higher guidance to intuitively direct the process of my Internal Family Systems work.
And it’s kinda fucking magical.
To have the privilege of utilizing this access to the ‘Cosmic Reservoir’ (As William James called it) that contains all the information that ever existed/exists, and bring that through in the service of guiding healing, embodiment, unburdening of pain and outdated beliefs, creating harmony amongst parts, and aligning with Higher/Larger Self…what beats that?
Not much, if you ask this therapist.
curious? ready to heal?
If you’re looking for a Somatic Therapy experience, or have wanted to test drive Internal Family Systems Therapy, or just seeking a Nashville Therapist or a Therapist in Franklin and want to learn more about what I offer, visit my website at Therapy Outside the Box or email me at chris@therapyoutsidethebox.com or call me at 615.430.2778 to set up a FREE 20 MIN PHONE CONSULT.
I also have some services available virtually the world over via Telehealth/Video.
Peace, Parts, and Embodiment—
Chris Hancock, LCSW, ACMHP
Franklin, TN