Today we're going to do a parts work inspired mini meditation together.
And this meditation is informed by the internal family systems model.
And while it's not IFS therapy.
Parts work,
Parts language,
Which is what IFS teaches us about having access to.
The idea of our parts,
It can allow us self-awareness.
Maybe inner spaciousness,
Maybe self-compassion,
Maybe even an experience of wholeness as we perhaps open up to the idea that We are multifaceted and we're allowed to be that way.
We are made up of many different layers,
Experiences,
And parts.
We don't have to be one way.
And there's room for everything.
So to begin this meditation,
You'll start by making room for yourself.
Finding a place to be where you can be awake and aware,
But settled and supported at the same time.
You can position your arms and legs in any which way.
You can sit on any kind of support or even lie down if that feels most spacious,
Most resourcing to you right now.
But you begin to configure yourself in a way where you have room to soften.
Specifically,
Maybe starting by softening the weight of your tailbone a little closer to whatever support you're on.
Softening that tail toward the earth.
And then up out of that.
.
.
Floating your spine long.
And long doesn't have to mean stick straight,
Just making some room for yourself here.
And then maybe you begin to settle into the room you're making for yourself.
By closing your eyes here.
Or if you don't want to close your eyes,
You don't have to.
You could instead choose a soft gaze looking down with unfocused eyes.
Just choosing a position for your eyes that signals to yourself that.
This moment,
This practice is set apart.
It is different from the rest of your day.
It is in contrast to all of the external information and stimuli and demands,
All the doing.
Everything that you contend with out there.
This is a contrast to that as we begin to in our own time,
Pull some focus inward and toward ourselves.
And as we turn the focus inward,
We just start with some presence.
We just arrive together.
You might begin just by noting where your hands are and you don't have to make any changes,
Just touching some awareness into the position you've chosen for your hands.
Maybe noticing what the hands are touching.
Any textures you can feel.
There might even be some tingling in the hands as you notice them.
They have a lot of nerve endings.
And then you might begin to drop that same awareness,
That same noticing down towards your feet,
Noticing where they've landed without having to change it.
Maybe places where your feet intersect with your legs or with the earth.
If you feel any warmth or pressure,
Any textures.
And then you take that same noticing and you just bring awareness to the presence of your right sitting bone up against the support that you're sitting on.
And then you do the same for your left sitting bone,
Just acknowledging that side of your root system here.
And as you start to gather some awareness of the kind of the outline of your body as a presence practice.
You might begin to draw that awareness even closer to you by beginning to make contact with your breath.
You don't have to change the breath either,
Unless you want to.
But you might be following it,
Just starting to follow this cycle of expansion and release.
Expansion.
And release over and over again.
The cycle that is always happening.
Happening in the field of your body and happening in the present moment all the time.
And maybe you just note what you feel as it's happening,
Like the touch of air on your nostrils or the temperature of each inhale and exhale as a way of participating in that continuous cycle on purpose.
Participating to draw yourself toward a little more presence,
One breath at a time.
And presence doesn't mean you have zero thoughts.
It just means your mind,
Which can often be a place that is.
You know,
Busy,
Maybe chaotic,
Maybe fast-paced.
We're just telling ourselves that the mind is not the only place we can be.
So we don't have to push away thoughts to meditate.
We just notice whenever our awareness has gone inside a thought.
And as soon as we notice,
We're already back.
And we use that awareness to just kindly expand the focus back outward to the cycle of breath.
To the container of the body.
Returning as many times as we need to.
Throughout this practice.
And as you land in your body and sit with your breath to whatever degree those things are happening for you today.
Maybe you begin to draw in one more point of awareness for this meditation.
We have the hands and the feet and the sitting bones and the breath to notice.
But maybe you also notice if there is an experience that's standing out for you,
A way that you feel that feels really apparent right now.
Maybe there's a persistent theme in your thoughts that you keep thinking over and over.
Maybe there's a strong emotion.
Maybe there's a part of your day that really impacted you and you're still feeling that.
There's no right or wrong,
But just scanning through your system for any part of your experience that really feels prevalent,
That really feels like it's at the forefront and it's impacting you,
Maybe driving your thoughts or feelings or decisions.
And once you have that point of awareness in mind,
Maybe you give yourself some parts language for it.
If perhaps you notice you're anxious today,
Maybe you say to yourself,
Almost like an affirmation,
I'm noticing the part of me that's feeling anxious today.
There's a part of me that's anxious.
Or if you had a really amazing moment in your day,
If you got a promotion or something,
Maybe you are really feeling that.
And so you say,
Oh,
I'm really,
I'm feeling the part of me that's so happy about this promotion.
You can use this parts model for any experience.
Whatever you're noticing is really prevalent about your experience right now.
You give yourself that parts language to say.
Oh,
This is the part of me that's experiencing this or feeling this.
You use your words,
But you name that prevalent experience that you're aware of as a part.
It's a part of you.
And once you've given yourself the space to.
.
.
Experience this as a part.
You notice if this part of you,
This part that is kind of driving the experience.
You notice if it's taking up space anywhere in particular,
In or around your body.
If thinking about this part evokes strong sensation in a certain place in your body or draws your awareness to a specific place,
Just scanning.
Is this part manifesting in a particular place in your embodied experience?
And once you have that sense,
Just like you noticed your body and your breath at the outset of your meditation,
You start to concentrate your focus in this area of your body.
Where the part of you you are most aware of today.
Is taking up space.
You imagine some focus traveling toward this part of your body.
Your physical breath still happens in your lungs,
But you could imagine the energy of the breath.
Breathing toward this place in your body,
Just feeling toward this part of you that you are most aware of in your meditation right now.
And as you feel toward whatever part of you and your experience you're currently working with,
Now you listen as well.
You see if this part is communicating anything to you today.
Communication comes in many forms.
It could be auditory or thought-based.
It could be.
.
.
A memory,
A smell,
A color,
A texture,
A song,
A feeling.
The list could go on.
Communication takes all forms.
No matter what.
The form is.
Just opening yourself up to receptivity by listening for What is this part of me that I'm aware of right now communicating to me?
Just taking that time to listen.
Maybe you notice that the part of you that's feeling anxiety,
If that's what you're working with,
That it has a specific story about what's scary right now.
The part of you that's experiencing tiredness is telling you,
You know,
What kind of rest you need or.
Giving you a memory about a time you were tired before.
Just listening.
What is the part saying?
Inherently,
This is a practice of receptivity and a practice that can build some self-awareness and compassion.
Being with our experiences in this way.
So once you've taken some time to listen for what's being communicated,
Now you communicate back to the part of you that you're working with.
Saying to the part internally.
Will you remove some of your energy from my body so I can be with you more?
You could choose different words,
But we're essentially asking this part to give us some space so we can be even more present with it,
Look at it clearly.
You ask the part for some space and you see how it responds.
Maybe there's a sensation in your body or a visual in your mind,
Just noticing how it responds to your request.
Maybe continuing to notice your breath as you do so,
Supported by presence as you work to be present with the part of you you're aware of today.
And this part might give you some space.
You might notice a release.
It might not.
Both are okay.
The point is the awareness,
The tending to and taking care of our parts by just being with them as they are.
So no matter what kind of space your part is giving you today.
The next bit of curiosity you can introduce is,
How do I feel toward this part of me right now?
Whatever part you've chosen,
The part that's anxious,
The part that is having an amazing day,
The part that is noticing some past memories,
Whatever part it is,
You just ask yourself,
How am I feeling toward this part of me?
Almost like it's a person.
You notice what feelings arise again just using this model to cultivate presence,
Because your body is going to tell you.
Your embodied experience will likely tell you how you feel toward this part.
If it doesn't feel like you have access to what your body is saying,
We're just inviting the possibility of that,
Maybe someday,
By asking,
How do I feel toward this part of me right now?
And you notice,
Maybe you feel compassion.
Maybe you feel neutral.
Maybe you feel care,
Maybe you feel frustration,
Exhaustion.
The point is the presence.
There's no right or wrong way to feel in this moment.
It's cultivating a deeper,
Receptive,
Maybe even caring awareness toward how your experience is impacting you and how you feel about your multifaceted layers of being right now.
And maybe you also return to your breath.
To your hands,
To your feet,
And your sitting bones.
And you allow yourself the space to be.
In the fact that you're sitting here.
You're breathing.
You're noticing whatever part you're noticing and you're sitting with it in some presence.
You're feeling however it is you feel as you sit with this part.
And there's nothing we have to do with that right now.
The space for all your parts and all that you feel is the point.
Can be representative of an experience of wholeness,
Allowing room for everything.
Just by noticing it.
Tending to it with some presence.
So maybe one more offering to this part.
If it feels available,
If it feels right in this moment for you.
You say,
Thank you.
Thanks for showing up.
Thanks for telling me more about what we're experiencing right now.
Thank you.
Inviting the possibility of gratitude into your experience as maybe another access point to some spaciousness,
Some wholeness,
Some care.
And then you zoom out a little bit.
From that particular point in your body,
You might've been noticing the part,
You come back again to the hands,
To the feet,
To the sitting bones and breath.
Maybe we add a little sound to help us come back into our present moment sensory experience.
If we want to inhale through the nose.
Exhale with an audible sigh.
And you don't have to jump out of this practice,
Out of any of the wholeness,
Presence,
Awareness you cultivated.
You just transition with it as you take some time to blink your eyes into focus.
So just to your visual senses again,
Come back into the room.
But maybe you come back into the room with a little more space for all that you feel.
And all that you are today.
And even if those don't feel available right now,
Know that you have done good work to cultivate just the possibility of those things.
And that matters.
