How IFS coaching works: an introduction in video clips
These quick video clips from a demo session show what IFS coaching can be like. Clear, easy-to-read explanations of the concepts in each clip show why the session goes the way it does.
Ash Chudgar
Demo session 8: Planning for the week to come
A coach or therapist can help you make sense of your own inner world, but you’re the only person who can make the choice to pay attention. In this final moment in our demonstration, “Michelle” and I negotiate a daily practice of internal inquiry that feels doable for her. Do you think she’ll do it?
Demo session 7: Paying attention to inner wisdom
When we’re trying to heal hurting parts of ourselves, “slow is fast.” If we rush toward our pain too quickly, protective parts of us will redouble their efforts to keep the pain at bay. That’s why we insist on honoring every protective impulse as it appears — just as we do in this clip.
Demo session 6: Learning about positive intentions
In Internal Family Systems practice, we take it as given that every part of who you are is doing its very best to keep you alive and safe — but when parts of you are causing you pain, it’s hard to believe they mean well. Listen to how “Michelle” is wary of some of her parts.
Demo session 5: Explaining the theory
The idea that you can heal just by making friends with various parts of your inner life — how can that possibly be true? The skeptical parts of us are wise to demand an answer. Here I explain exactly how the IFS model is supposed to work by explaining how it’s similar to my client’s line of work.
Demo session 4: Honoring protective responses
The part of “Michelle” who’s giving her intense nausea clearly has a lot of information for her — but before she can inquire, another part of her intervenes to put “shields up” against the bad feeling. Rather than persisting, we honor its protective wisdom and back off. See what happens when we do.
Kindness in Space
My husband recently told me about a memory-care facility in the Netherlands that’s made to look like a tiny town, so it feels more familiar to the people who live there. That got me thinking about my mother-in-law, dementia, and the ways our physical environments can make us seem foolish or wise.