The Internal Family Systems (IFS) Model is a map and practice based on somatic awareness (inner listening to the body’s wisdom and subtle sensations) and co-regulation (safe connection with another person). It arises from two understandings: (1) that we have a Core Self, which is already whole, healed, complete, inextinguishable, unblemished, our source of clarity, courage, curiosity, creativity, confidence, calm, compassion. And (2) that we carry within us a multiplicity of parts, each of whom carries a multi-dimensional perspective shaped by different agendas, motivations, hopes, dreams, fears, memories, challenges, gifts.

We’re always expressing ourselves through our parts. It’s like the Core Self is the conductor and our parts make up the orchestra. Without our parts, we would have no sound. Without the Self, we would have no harmony. It’s not a problem that we have parts of Self, but it can be a cause for suffering in our lives when we get identified with one and lose a kind of shape-shifting flexibility in stepping in and out of our parts, taking on and off their costumes, picking up and putting down their lenses, agendas or roles. When our consciousness becomes blended with a single part or subset of parts, we lose some access to our Core Self and its luminosity, warmth and guidance. What began as a creative act between the Self and the part, can lead to a falling asleep in the Dream (the perspective or single story) of that part. We’re limited in our ability to perceive our wholeness and the full spectrum of experience, information and possibility that’s actually available to us in a given moment.

This can be what’s happening when we feel stuck.

This experience of stuckness can just be a natural constriction that precedes an expansion and blossoming. IFS is a practical way to un-blend or de-role from a part, shaking off the tyranny of the single narrative and restoring both internal coherence, spaciousness and diversity within our system.

SOmatic Self-Inquiry & Embodied Astrology

I want the many aspects of our universal nature, mythical creatures of the Zodiac or planets in our birth chart to be able to tell their story on their terms, in their mode of communication, from their place and particular experience of consciousness — not just told from the perspective of the dominant narrative that currently organizes us and our reality.

To support this kind of radical listening, IFS offers a powerful method for cultivating a felt-sense of safety at each step and acknowledging, honoring and collaborating with our inner protectors. These guardians carry their own story, insight, gifts and genius, and we practice not going anywhere without their permission and connection.

As an experiential astrologer, what I want is more space for the body’s intelligences. I want to lift up the body’s capacity to move with astounding precision in response to an invitation, exploration or inquiry. The body-mind speaks through image, sensation, impulse, words, thoughts, memories that are deeply intimate and meaningful to the topic or question at hand — and yet simultaneously remaining mutable and multivalent in their meaning, metamorphosing as our lives continue to change and unfold, offering a wellspring of spiritual sustenance.

And, as a Sagittarius Rising, I want to empower us to be able to pair our capacity to empathize with many stories with the capacity to somatically dis-embed from any single story, so that we can experience the freedom of moving in and out of and learning from many story-spaces or many dreams and keep moving with the fluidity and dynamicity of Truth or Love in all its evolving forms, without codifying or imposing a single narrative structure upon Life.