Exploring IFS Therapy: Resources for Self-Guided Practice
There are a range of resources to embark on your personal journey of IFS therapy, either as a standalone practice or as a complement to therapy sessions. These resources offer practical guidance to help you start to get to know your system of parts.
Guided IFS Meditations
There are many guided IFS meditations designed to introduce you to its core concepts in an experiential way. Here are four IFS meditations to get started with.
Get to Know One of Your Parts Through a Protector Interview
Take a moment of calm to explore your protector parts, particularly the influential manager parts that play a significant role in your daily life. Examples of managers are parts that try to plan and control, manage different situations or people, procrastinate or avoid certain activities or be perfectionistic or critical.
There are two ways to do this exercise. You can either go inside and get in touch with this part, ask it the questions and wait for the answers. If this feels difficult, you can also just think about the part and how it has shown up before, and see what you can understand about it based on your previous experiences with it.
Reflect on specific parts, jotting down their characteristics. This exercise serves as a starting point for deeper exploration.
Protector Interview:
How does the part try to help you manage your life?
How does it help you interact with the world?
How does it relate to other people?
How long has the part had this role?
What made the part take on the role?
What is its positive intent for you?
What is it afraid would happen if it didn't do its job?
Is the part happy with its job or would it rather do something else?
Learn more about doing protector interviews in my article here.
Establish a Daily Check-In with Your Parts
Create a regular practice of checking in with your parts, allowing them to be heard and acknowledged. Even though deeper work is often needed to have parts completely change their roles, the experience of being listened to and validated can help parts start trusting Self more.
Here is a simple guide to establishing a daily IFS check-in routine.
IFS Practitioner Michelle Glass has wonderful resources on creating a daily parts meditation practice that you may find helpful. She has written a book on the topic and she also shares some free resources on her website for keeping track of parts through parts mapping and other methods.
Read “Self-Therapy” by Jay Earley
Delve into the practical wisdom of Jay Earley's popular book Self-Therapy. The book provides step-by-step guidance for those interested in working with their own parts within the IFS framework. The book is a great resource for those wanting to both understand the model and to work with their own parts.
Do the Exercises from "No Bad Parts" by Dick Schwartz
Explore the exercises presented in Dick Schwartz's book No Bad Parts. These exercises offer practical tools for getting to know your system of parts within the IFS approach.
Self-guided IFS therapy can be a powerful tool for increasing your understanding of your parts and accessing more compassion for them. While these resources can support your progress, it's important to note that working with an IFS Therapist or Practitioner is often essential, particularly in cases involving trauma.
