Longevity Elixirs ~ IFS
Hello My Friend & Happy 2025,
Right out of the gate, let’s go!
If you have connected with me any time since November 2024, you’ll know I’m currently prototyping and obsessed with Internal Family Systems (IFS).
So what is IFS for all of you who ask?
It is a therapy/healing modality that works on the premise that all of us have younger parts inside of us.
Founded by Dr. Richard Schwartz – I’ll link him on Rich Roll’s podcast and provide one of his meditations below – this body of work was developed after working with eating disorder patients to understand the restriction and binge patterns.
He discovered in his research that we all have multiple personalities, called “parts” and some have more fully formed parts than others. These younger parts were created at various stages of development when we were forced to cope with something a protective parental figure would have otherwise mitigated.
This part adapted to a traumatic activation and now lives inside us, on the lookout to prevent something similar from happening. This young part cannot separate timelines (aka the past from the present) – meaning in 2025, when it starts to detect the same conditions as the original threat, that part of us takes over our system, in an attempt to protect us.
This is fascinating because we all have them and once we become aware they are there, build trust with them, and tend to their needs (reparent) we begin to see shifts in our everyday life.
Also, to make this personal, I attended a lovely event back in November where I felt chaotic, threatened, and insecure, even though my rational mind was very clear that I would not die. Everyone was welcoming, and it was seemingly safe. Yet part of me felt unsafe, and in my attempts to pacify, dismiss, and even negotiate with that anxious part – I made it worse.
Why?
Because I hadn’t developed a relationship with that younger part – who was super-imposing the past on the present – and she didn’t trust adult me (36 yr. in 2024) to cope with the conditions that felt all too familiar.
My favourite thing about IFS is it’s completely somatic and you never need to know the origin story/memory. Instead, you work with the present to determine who is “online” (which younger part) and bring your adult Self online to tend to that inner child – rather than repress their feelings.
There’s so much I could write about this, but instead, I’ll share some resources and let you know I’m on Day 56 of meeting with my parts every morning before I get out of bed. I have noticed truly wild repercussions in my waking life.
If you feel stuck in any aspect of your life, my advice is to dip your toes into IFS. You are stuck because a younger part does not know it is safe to have the thing that would make you unstuck.
P.S. It’s based on Shamanic Journeying, so if we know each other from there – welcome home!
Elixir 1 ~ Dr. Richard Schwartz on the Rich Roll podcast
Really I’d say listen to this whole episode however if you are super impatient and just want the goods, scroll to 1:25:55 where Dr. Schwartz takes Rich through the exercise. Also, I highly recommend watching it because you can see the shifts.
Check it out here.
Elixir 2 ~ Sarah Baldwin’s You Make Sense
Shoutout to Sarah Baldwin. I was introduced to and educated on IFS through her course You Make Sense. She is an LA-based somatic practitioner who was mentored under Peter Levine, Martha Beck, and Deb Dana.
For Calgary friends, Sarah is coming here on Feb. 8 with Mark Groves here.
Elixir 3 ~ IFS Meditations on Insight Timer * free *
I started with The Path meditation by Dr. Schwartz which I believe is recommended to do at the end of his book “No Bad Parts”. I wouldn’t recommend starting with this because I went nowhere thanks to my parts . All of his are short and worth trying – BUT my top recommendation to start with is Robyn Gray’s Getting To Know Your Protectors. Also, her Unblending one is great!
Start with Getting To Know Your Protectors here.
Dr. Richard Schwartz’s meditations are here.
Bonus Elixir 4 ~ Lessons in Chemistry on Apple TV
If you are looking for something great to watch and to inspire your reparenting of your younger parts. I highly highly highly recommend this show. It is exceptional!
Watch it here.
If you try IFS let me know. If you're already working with it, let me know. If you don’t care, well, that’s a younger part and I honour their resistance
Happy soon-to-be Lunar New Year,
Justine