Recorded IFS Basic

Class Information

Jay Earley, Ph.D and Bonnie Weiss, LCSW

www.personal-growth-programs.com

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 Recorded IFS Basic Class Information
Jay Earley, Ph.D and Bonnie Weiss, LCSW
www.personal-growth-programs.com

Table of Contents

Text Reading Assignments....................................................................................... 3

Be Careful .................................................................................................................. 4
The Importance of Homework .................................................................................. 4
Working With Partners .............................................................................................. 4
Finding Partners ........................................................................................................ 4
Cueing for Basic class .............................................................................................. 5
Definitions of Terms .................................................................................................. 7
HELP SHEET: Basic Class ...................................................................................... 10
Homework after Class #1 ........................................................................................ 12
Homework after Class #2 ........................................................................................ 14
Homework Class #3 ................................................................................................ 17
Homework Basic Class #4 ...................................................................................... 19
Homework Basic Class #5 ...................................................................................... 21
Homework Basic Class #6 ...................................................................................... 23

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1
Recorded IFS Basic Class
Purpose of Class
This is the Recorded (IFS) Internal Family Systems Therapy Basic Class. It is
designed to introduce participants to the principles of the IFS model. This class is
based on the Internal Family Systems Model which is the signature work of
pioneering psychologist Richard Schwartz. This is a self-help program where you
can learn the basic methodology of IFS and apply it to your own growth process.
This is a not a training to become an IFS therapist. For information about
professional training visit the website of the Center for Self-Leadership at
www.selfleadership.org.

Who We Are
This program is designed and presented by Jay Earley, Ph.D. and Bonnie Weiss,
LCSW. We are IFS therapists who specialize in teaching IFS to the general
public. For more information on our work, please visit our website
www.personal-growth-programs.com.

Class Downloads
This class is a set of six (6) downloadable tracks, covering six classes. Each
class consists of an opening meditation, a lecture, and exercise and/or
demonstration of an individual IFS session, and homework assignments to be
done individually and with a partner.
Please note: The lectures and many of the demonstration sessions were
recorded during live classes and have been edited to remove identifying
information. The sound quality is often different from the discussions that follow
and they also may seem a little choppy at times.

There are two accompanying word documents. One is basic material on this
class including definitions of terms, and help sheets, and homework
assignments for each class. The second is a class manual. We suggest that you
print out the first document and use the second one for reference.

Text Reading Assignments

The text for the class is Self-Therapy, by Jay Earley.

Reading assignments for each class are as follows:

Class # 1 Introduction to IFS. Chapters 1-3, 16
Class # 2 Accessing a Part. Chapter 4
Class # 3 Unblending from a Target Part. Chapter 5
Class # 4 Unblending from Concerned Parts. Chapter 6
Class # 5 Getting to Know A Protector. Chapter 7
Class # 6 Developing a Trusting Relationship with a Protecter. Chapter 8

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 Be Careful
Painful and debilitating feelings can come up when working with emotional
material in any kind of therapy. Furthermore, some people have so much pain
and trauma in their background that it isn’t safe to do experiential IFS work
without a trained IFS therapist. If you are one of these people, you could become
upset or seriously depressed or feel confused or dissociated. You also could be
triggered to start engaging in addictive activity. If you sense that doing this work
might be dangerous for you, find an IFS therapist to work with. The Center for
Self-Leadership has a listing of trained IFS therapists organized by geographic
location at www.selfleadership.org. If you experience extreme emotional distress,
call a local hot-line or 911.

The Importance of Homework

To really learn IFS, you need to practice it on a regular basis, so the homework is
crucial for the class. Each class has individual and partnered homework
assignments that bring home the concepts, making them relevant to your psyche
and your life. For most people, it works best to do these with a partner. The two
of you take turns working on yourselves with the other as witness and facilitator.

Working With Partners

We encourage people to read Chapter 16 of Self-Therapy before working with a
partner. It contains tips for working with partners and descriptions of the various
stages in the partnering relationship.

We human beings are social creatures. Even when we are doing deep inner
work, we yearn to be seen and understood. When doing IFS work on yourself, it
feels supportive if you have someone listening to you who cares about your
feelings and concerns, and is interested in your personal journey to wholeness. It
isn’t easy to open up deep places of pain in yourself, even with the powerful and
respectful IFS method. For most people, when someone is there to witness you,
it makes the whole exploration more inviting. It provides a holding environment
for your wounded and defended parts.

Finding Partners
You can sign up on our website at
http://www.personalgrowthconnect.com/members/home to find partners who are
also taking the class at the same time you are. When you contact someone, offer
to make an appointment for a specific class homework assignment. You may
also ask a friend to take the class with you and be a steady partner for the
duration of the class.

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 Cueing for Basic class

Cueing time indicates where this section of the class is located on the recording.

Class Class Section Cueing Time

1 Introduction 0
Basic Meditation: Making Contact with 5:10
Parts
Lecture Part 1: IFS View of the Mind 13:20
Big Mind Exercise 31:34
Lecture Part 2: The IFS Process 42:45
Homework Class 1 46:57

2 Basic Meditation 2: Body scan :16

Lecture Part 1: Accessing of a Part 8:38
Demonstration of Accessing a Part 14:40
Lecture Part 2: All parts in the Moment 21:00
Demo: All parts in the Moment 23:17
Homework Class 2 36:14

3 Basic Meditation 3 The Guest House :08

Lecture 3: Unblending from Target Part 6:45
Demo Unblending from Target Part 26:02
Homework Class 3 40:55

4 Basic Meditation 4 Unblending from :18

Concerned Parts
Lecture 4: Unblending from Concerned 11:43
Parts
Demo: Unblending from Concerned Parts 27:57
Homework Class 4 39:03

5 Basic Meditation 5 Opening Your Heart :48

Lecture 5: Lecture Active Listening 8:45
Demo: Active listening 22:25
Lecture : Getting to Know a Protector 27:29
Demo: Full IFS Session 42:28
Homework Class 5 70:56

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Class Class Section Cueing Time
6 Basic Meditation 6: Appreciating :44
Protectors
Lecture 6 Part 1: Appreciating Protectors 7:40
Lecture Part 2: Protectors that Don’t Trust 17:08
the Self
Demo: Parts that Don’t Trust the Self 20:35
Lecture Part #3: Parts Detection 41:40
Homework class 6 54:07

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 Definitions of Terms

Accessing a Part
Tuning in to a part experientially, through an image, an emotion, a body sensation, or
internal dialogue, so you can work with the part using IFS.

Activation of a Part
A part can become triggered by a situation or a person so that it influences your feelings
and actions.

Active Listening
When you are the witness for someone doing an IFS session, you attempt to understand
their experience and reflect that back to them.

Blending
The situation in which a part has taken over your consciousness, so that you feel its
feelings, believe its attitudes are true, and act according to its impulses. Blending is a
more extreme form of activation.

Burden
A painful emotion or negative belief about yourself or the world, which a part has taken
on as the result of a past harmful situation or relationship, usually from childhood.

Childhood Origin
An incident or relationship from childhood that produced enough pain or trauma that it
caused an exile to take on a burden.

Concerned Part
A part that feels judgmental or angry toward the target part. When you are blended with
a concerned part, you aren’t in Self.

Conscious Blending
The situation in which you choose to feel a part’s emotions because doing so will be
helpful in the IFS process. You are aware that you are blended and can unblend easily if
necessary.

Exile
A young child part that is carrying pain from the past.

Extreme Role
A role that is dysfunctional or problematic because the part carries a burden from the
past or because a protector is trying to protect an exile. An extreme part is a part that
has an extreme role.

Firefighter
A type of protector that impulsively jumps in when the pain of an exile is starting to come
up in order to distract you from the pain or numb it.

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Generic Memory
An image that represents a kind of incident that happened many times during your
childhood.

Healthy Role
A role that is the natural function of a part when it has no burdens. A healthy part is a
part that has a healthy role.

Implicit Memory
A childhood memory that shows up as a vague body sensation or a fragmented image,
giving you only a partial sense of the actual incident or relationship.

Part
A subpersonality, which has its own feelings, perceptions, beliefs, motivations, and
memories.

Polarization
A situation where two parts are in conflict about how you should act or feel.

Positive Intent
All parts are playing their roles in an attempt to help you or protect you, even if the effect
of the role is negative.

Protector
A part that tries to block off pain that is arising inside you or to protect you from hurtful
incidents or distressing relationships in your current life.

Reparenting
The step in the IFS process in which the Self gives an exile what it needs to feel better
or to change a harmful childhood situation.

Retrieval
The step in the IFS process in which the Self takes an exile out of a harmful childhood
situation and into a place where it can be safe and comfortable.

Role
The job that a part performs to help you. It may be primarily internal, or it may involve the
way the part interacts with people and acts in the world.

Seat of Consciousness
The place in the psyche that determines your identity, choices, feelings, and
perceptions. The Self is the natural occupant of the seat of consciousness, though parts
can take over the seat by blending.

Self
The core aspect of you that is your true self, your spiritual center. The Self is relaxed,
open, and accepting of yourself and others. It is curious, compassionate, calm, and
interested in connecting with other people and your parts.

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Self-Leadership
The situation in which your parts trust you, in Self, to make decisions and take action in
your life.

Symbolic Memory
An image that represents a memory through symbols, as in a dream, rather than
showing exactly what happened.

Target Part
The part you are focusing on to work with at the moment.

Trailhead
A psychological issue that involves one or more parts. Following it can lead to healing.

Unblending
Separating from a part that is blended with you so that you are in Self.

Unburdening
The step in the IFS process in which the Self helps an exile to release its burdens
through an internal ritual.

Witnessing
The step in the IFS process in which the Self witnesses the childhood origin of a part’s
burdens.

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HELP SHEET: Basic Class

You can refer to this summary while you are working on yourself to guide your
steps.
It can also be used when you are partnering with someone.

P1. Accessing a Part

If the part is not activated, imagine yourself in a recent situation when the part
was activated
Sense the part in your body or get an image of the part

P2. Unblending Target Part

Check to see if you are charged up with the part’s feelings.
Check to see if you are caught up in the part’s beliefs.
If you are blended with the target part, options for unblending:
Ask the part to separate from you so you can get to know it
Move back to separate from the part
Get an image of the part at a distance from you
Do a short centering/grounding meditation. Draw the part
If the part doesn’t separate, ask what it is afraid would happen if it did separate?
Explain to it the value of separating or reassure it about it’s fears

P3. Unblending Concerned Part

Check to see how you feel toward the target part right now
If you feel compassionate, curious, etc., then you are in Self-leadership, move on
to P4.
If you don’t, then unblend the Concerned Part:
Ask the concerned part if it would be willing to step aside (or relax) just for now
so you can get to know the target part from an open place
If it does, then check again to see how you feel toward the target part, and repeat
If it isn’t willing to step aside, explain to it the value of stepping aside
If it still won’t, ask it what it is afraid would happen if it did and reassure it about
it’s fears
If it still won’t, make the concerned part the target part and work with it

P4. Finding Out about a Protector

Invite the part to tell you about itself.
The part may answer in words, images, body sensations, emotions, or direct
knowing.
What do you do? What is your role?
What are you concerned about?
What do you feel? What makes you feel so (feeling)?
How do you relate to people? How do you interact with other parts?

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 How do you feel about (external event or feeling)?
How long have you been doing (your role)?
What do you want for us? What do you hope to accomplish by (doing your
role)?
What are you afraid would happen if you didn’t (do your role)?

P5. Developing a trusting relationship with a protector

You can foster Trust by saying the following to the protector (if true).
I understand why you (do your role).
I appreciate your efforts on my behalf.

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Homework after Class #1

We strongly encourage you to do the homework for this class. You can’t
learn IFS without practicing it. If you skip the homework, you limit what you can
get from this class to intellectual understanding only.

Individual Homework Class #1

1. Noticing a Part in Real Time.

It can be very useful to access a part in real time, at the moment when it is
activated in your life. We use the term “real time” to refer to working with parts
during the flow of your life as opposed to a scheduled IFS session.
At any point in the day when you notice that a part is activated, you can briefly
pay attention to how it is affecting you. This gives you information about how
often it is triggered, under what circumstances, and how it affects your emotions,
your behavior, and your life. For example, suppose your boss calls you into his
office. Before he even says anything, you notice that your palms are sweaty and
you feel anxious in your chest. This lets you know that a nervous part has been
activated.
Choose a part that is activated with some frequency in your life that you want to
learn more about.

Over the next week, practice noticing when this part is activated. It will help to
know what cues will tip you off that it is activated.

What body sensations, thoughts, or emotions will let you know it is up—for
example, a tight stomach, revenge fantasies, or feeling teary like a child?

What behavior will cue you that the part has taken over—for example,
withdrawing from your partner, taking over a conversation, or eating too much?

What situations or people tend to activate this part—for example, meeting

someone you are attracted to, giving a talk, or being disobeyed by your son?

When are these likely to occur during the next week?

Set an intention to be especially aware of whether this part becomes activated

during those times.

Each time you notice the part is triggered, take down brief notes about it.

If you can’t stop at the moment to make notes, do it at your next break or as soon
as you can. You want it to be fresh in your memory. At the end of each day, take
a few minutes to review the day for moments when the part was activated. Add to

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your notes at this time. This daily review will also help you to keep this exercise
in mind the next day.

Notes to take each time it happens:

Situation
How you experienced the part
What about this situation triggered the part

Don’t expect perfection. You probably won’t catch all the times this issue is
activated or be clear about what is going on each time. That is very difficult to do.
You may be driving or trying to get a project finished or talking with someone, for
example, so it may be difficult to be aware of much else. That is fine. Just do the
best you can.

2. Writing about your parts.

Make a list of some of your parts and write a few sentences or a paragraph about
each one. These are some questions you might answer in these notes:
What does the part feel?
What is it concerned about?
What does it want for you?
What is it protecting you from?

Partner Homework Class #1 Time: 30-45 minutes

We have a website where you can find partners to work with for your
homework—people who are taking the class at the same time that you are. You
can do it by yourself, but most people have a much better experience with a
partner. In working with partners, please make an agreement that anything that is
shared between you is kept confidential, which means that it is not shared with
anyone else.
Sit for a quiet moment with each other, allow yourselves to settle in before for the
conversation.

Take turns discussing your list of parts. Share whatever notes you took about
your parts and whatever else comes up in talking about them. You can also
discuss what happened as you began noticing a part in real time. Did this
awareness change anything in your experience or behavior?

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Homework after Class #2

Individual Homework Class #2

Exercise: Daily Parts Check-In

For the next week, take a little time each day to check in with your parts. Notice
which parts are activated at that moment as you learned to do in today’s class.
By doing this regularly, you will get used to paying attention to your inner family.

Plan a certain time each day to do this exercise. Make a list of each part that is
activated at that time. For each one, fill in the following answers, if you know
them:
Name of part
_______________________________________________________
What it feels
_______________________________________________________
What it looks like
_______________________________________________________
Where it is located in your body _____________________________
What it says
_______________________________________________________
How it makes you behave __________________________________

Partner Homework Class #2

45 minutes – 1 hour

This week you will start to do experiential IFS sessions for your paired
homework. We recommend that you read Chapter 16 in Self-Therapy to prepare
for this work.

In doing this session or any of the others in this class, be aware if exiles come
up, so you don’t try to work with them. As discussed in Class #1, Exiles are
young child parts that carrying pain from the past. These parts often contain
intense painful emotions and may not be safe to work with at this point, since we
haven’t taught you how. We recommend that you don’t try to work with an exile
unless you feel very comfortable with that situation. If you aren’t sure if a part is
an exile or a protector, treat it like a protector and see what happens. If painful
feelings start to emerge, then it is probably an Exile. Even when you do know
how to work with Exiles, IFS still recommends that you start a session with a
protector, if at all possible.

Sit for a quiet moment with each other, allow yourselves to settle in before for the
conversation.

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This week we are asking you to begin exploring a part.
When you are the explorer, you are in charge of the session and responsible for
what happens. This is different from being in therapy, where the therapist has
more responsibility for the work. You are in charge of keeping track of what is
happening in the session and where you are in the IFS procedure. You are
responsible for choosing what parts of yourself to explore and how far to go into
painful or vulnerable places in your psyche. You can ask your partner for help if
you need it.

When you are the witness, you are to be silent unless the explorer asks you for
help. You can give your feedback after the session. If the explorer gets stuck or
lost, it is their job to figure out how to proceed. The explorer might be confused
for a while and have to work it through. You aren’t obligated to “fix” them or
remove their pain or get them out of a stuck place.

The skill we are learning this week is accessing parts.

When you are ready to begin, start by doing a short meditation together to get
into Self.

Witness:
For the most part, the witness stays in Self and remains quiet until feedback time
unless the explorer explicitly asked for your guidance. During this process you
can notice what parts come up as you listen. Ask those parts to relax and let
YOU be there. You might want to explore them later.

Explorer
Do any one or more of the following. Each of these is an exercise in Chapter 4 of
Self-Therapy.

a. Access a part you already know about.

b. Access all the parts that are activated at the moment.
c. Access all the parts that come up around a particular trailhead.
For each part that comes up:
Use as many of the four channels as you can for each part, and also see if it has
a name. However, don’t be concerned if you can only access it using one or two
channels.
As a reminder, the 4 channels are body sensations. emotions, image, and what
the part says.

It is important to show gratitude to your parts.

Thank each for coming up and making itself known to you.
If more than one part comes up, take them one at a time.

If you have extra time, you may choose to get to know one of your parts in more
detail. We will teach you later on how to do this in detail.

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Take notes on what you learn about each part and add it to your list of parts from
last week’s homework.

Discuss what happened with each other after each person’s work. Include how
the witnessing affected each of you, if that is relevant.

Find a gentle way to close and thank each other for being your witness.

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Homework Class #3

Individual Homework:
Continue Your Parts awareness practice and Parts journal.

Parts Map
An interesting way track your parts is to work with a large sheet of paper and
Post-it notes. Place the paper longitudinally. First draw a large heart in the top
center of the page and write your name in the heart.

Write the name of a part on each post-it and place it randomly on the sheet of
paper.
When you have all the parts that you are currently aware of on the paper, take a
moment to sit back to notice all the parts. How does it impact you to see them
there? What do you feel? What are you aware of in your body?

Now begin to look for patterns of activation or alliances. Which parts naturally go
with each other? Which ones are constantly at odds with each other? Which
ones protect each other? Hide each other?
Move the parts around until they more realistically represent the way the system
works in your psyche.
Again sit back and take it in. How does it make you feel to see your parts
organized in this way? How does it feel in your body?

Partner Homework Class #3 45 minutes – 1 hour

Sit for a quiet moment with each other, allow yourselves to settle in before for the
conversation.

Check in with each other how much facilitation you prefer during this
conversation. (Chapter 16 on Partners is important to have read before this
experience.)

Work as explorer and then as the witness with a partner.

Use the Help Sheet provided for this exercise.

Exercise: Unblending from the Target Part

Do a short IFS session with a part that is blended with you at the time. There are
three ways to do this:
(1) When you are starting the session, see if there is a part blended with you.
Choose that as your target part.
(2) If there is a part that is blended with you a lot and you know what external
events tend to trigger it, arrange to do a session on a day when it is likely to be

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activated and blended with you. For example, if you have a part that gets
activated by someone at work, you could schedule a homework time after work.
(3) Try to do a session on the spur of the moment when a part is blended with
you.
Practice unblending as discussed in class #3. Then go ahead and get to know
the part a little. Ask what it is feeling or what it is concerned about. Ask it what it
wants you to know about it.

Share with your partner both how it was for you to unblend from the part and how
their role as witness worked for you.

Change places and repeat exercise.

Acknowledge your partners for the time spent with you today.
You might each appreciate one or two things that were significant for you in this
experience together.

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Homework Basic Class #4

Individual Homework Class #4

1. Continue with your parts journal. If you are so inclined, you may use art
materials or other creative expressions of your parts to further facilitate your
understanding of them.
We have created a website for Part Artists www.selfexpressionsartgallery.com
where people can view or share their Part Art.

Partner Work Class #4 45 minutes – 1 hour

Sit for a quiet moment with each other, allow yourselves to settle in before for the
conversation.

Check in with each other how much facilitation you prefer during this
conversation. You may be more willing by this time to allow for facilitation and
more confident in being able to facilitate. Remember that the explorer is always
the guide as to how much facilitation takes place.

Work as explorer and then witness with a partner.

Use the Help Sheet provided for this exercise.

Exercise: Unblending from a Concerned Part

Choose a protector that you don’t like or have concerned feelings about. For
example, you might judge it or be angry at it or want to get rid of it. You also
might feel distant from it or scared of it. These attitudes come from a concerned
part of you.
First access the protector (P1), and then unblend from it, if necessary (P2). Then
practice unblending from the concerned part (P3), as you have learned to do in
this class.
Now go ahead and get to know the protector at least a little (P4). Even though we
haven’t covered this step yet, you probably have some idea about how to do this
from the demonstration sessions in class. Ask the part some questions to learn
about it and its role in your life. Use the Help Sheet to guide your steps. Refer to
the sheet after each Share with your partner both how it was for you to unblend
from the part and how their role as witness worked for you.

Share with your partner both how it was for you to unblend from the concerned
part and get to know the protector. Talk about how their role as witness worked
for you.

Change places and repeat the exercise.

Acknowledge your partners for their time spent with you today.

19
You might each appreciate one or two things that were significant for you in this
experience together.

20
Homework Basic Class #5

Individual Homework

Sometimes you are aware of a trailhead you want to work on, an issue you are
concerned about in your life, but you aren’t sure what parts are involved. In this
case, it can be useful to access and learn about these parts in real time, as they
are activated in your life.

Pick a trailhead that you are curious about. Set an intention to notice when this
trailhead is activated in your life. When you realize that it is activated, take some
time to notice all the parts that are activated at that moment, and access them
briefly. If you are too busy at that exact moment, use the next time that you have
a few minutes. Write notes about each part.

To help you keep on track with this exercise, take a little time each night before
you go to bed (or the next morning) to think about whether this trailhead came up
that day. If so, did you access the parts involved? If you didn’t, what kept you
from doing this? Did you fail to notice that is was activated? Did you notice, but
not do the exercise? If you did the exercise, what did you learn from it? Take
notes on this each night.

Partner Homework Class #5 45 minutes – 1 hour

Sit for a quiet moment with each other, allow yourselves to settle before for the
conversation.

Check in with each other about how much facilitation you prefer during this
conversation.
Work as explorer and then witness with a partner.

Exercise: Getting to Know a Protector

Choose a protector to get to know. Do a session in which you follow all four steps
you have learned so far, P1-P4. Both of you use the Help Sheet to keep track of
the steps.

When you are finished, write down what you learned about the part:
Name _______________________________________
What it feels
_______________________________________________________
What it looks like
_______________________________________________________
Where it is located in your body

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What it says
_______________________________________________________
How it makes you behave
What situations activate it
What concerned parts react to it
What its positive intent is
What it is protecting you from

After each session, take 5 minutes for feedback and discussion about the work
that happened. Then take another 5 minutes for feedback and discussion about
the partnering experience. In this five minutes, the witness should first reflect on
how much you were able to stay in Self and any parts that got activated. Also
reflect on what it was like to practice active listening. Then the explorer gives
feedback to the partner on how the active listening worked (or facilitation if you
asked for help).

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Homework Basic Class #6

Individual Homework

Exercise: Helping a Protector to Relax in Real Time

Think of a situation in which a protector gets triggered that causes you to behave
in a problematic way.
______________________________________________________________

Do a session in which you get to know the protector that is causing the difficulty.
Form a trusting relationship with this protector.
Name of protector
_______________________________________________________________
Describe how it behaves
_______________________________________________________________

If you were able to act from Self, how would you like to behave?
________________________________________________________________

Ask the protector if it will let you lead the next time you are in such a situation.
(Make sure you have the life skills to pull off the positive behavior you are aiming
for.) If it says no, ask why, and then work with that protector to get to the point
where it will agree.
Think about when this situation is likely to occur over the next few weeks.

Set an intention to be aware of whether this protector takes over at those times.
When it does, work with it as described above to help it relax and let you lead. If
this works, take notes on what happened as soon as you can. What did your
behavior look like when you were leading from Self?
________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

What were the were the results?

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

Continue to track this kind of situation over the next few weeks, doing this
exercise each time the part is activated. Each evening before you go to bed,
review the day to see if the situation arose, and take notes (or expand your
notes) on what happened when you did this exercise. If the protector allowed you
to lead and things turned out well, check to see if it now trusts you more. If you
didn’t notice the situation at the time or you didn’t do the exercise, explore what
got in the way. If this is a situation that doesn’t come up very often, it wouldn’t

23
make sense to do this review every night. You might decide to review once a
week. Choose a time frame that is appropriate.

Partner Homework Class #6 45 minutes – 1 hour

Exercise: Developing a Trusting Relationship with a Protector

Do a session in which you get to know a protector, using steps P1-P5 that you
have now learned. Pay particular attention to step P5 from this chapter. Follow
the Help Sheet to keep track of the steps. When you are finished, write down
what you have learned about the part:
Name ___________________________________________________________
What it
feels____________________________________________________________

What it looks like

________________________________________________________________
Where it is located in your body
________________________________________________________________
What it says
________________________________________________________________
How it makes you behave
________________________________________________________________
What situations activate it
________________________________________________________________
What concerned parts react to it
________________________________________________________________
What its positive intent is
________________________________________________________________
What it is protecting you from
________________________________________________________________
What you understand or appreciate about the part

________________________________________________________________
How the part responded to your saying that
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Change places and repeat exercise.

Acknowledge your partners for their time spent with you today.
You might each appreciate one or two things that were significant for
you in this experience together.

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Next Steps

This is only the first class-if you want to do more learning and exploration you
can take another one of our classes. The next in the series is the Exiles Class.
Also available shortly the Inner Critic Class, and Polarization.

Also, people sometimes find work partners during this class that they want to do
some ongoing exploration with. You may have found someone you have a good
connection with and feel comfortable working with.

You might also be interested in moving on to doing IFS therapy with a trained
professional,. You can locate an IFS therapist on the Center for Self Leadership
website www.selftherapy.org.

If you are a professional and want to consider IFS training the CSL website
(www.self leadership.org) has this information.

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