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Explore a sample system

Hard place, okay place

Notice your hands, then a place in your body that feels hard and one that feels okay, and move your attention gently between the two.

6 steps, drawn from 3 books on IFS.

Checked: each step was read against the book passages it rests on, and stays inside them.

Read every step first
  1. Your hands. Start with your hands. Notice the skin of one hand: warm or cool, tingling, the air on it. Then the other hand. See what feels different between them. Nothing needs to change.
  2. A place that feels hard. Now find a place in your body that feels hard right now: sore, tired, tense or aching. Stay as close to it as feels okay. Describe it plainly: is it tight or loose, heavy or light?
  3. A place that feels okay. Now look for a place that feels okay, even a little. It can be tiny: an earlobe, the tip of one finger. Notice what is there. Is it tight or loose, warm or cool, heavy or light?
  4. Back and forth. Go to the hard place for a few breaths, then over to the okay place and stay a moment. Back and forth like that, slowly, for a short while. This might not take the pain away. Some people find it feels a bit more manageable.
  5. How loud is it now? The same scale you used at the start. Less is worth noticing, and the same is fine too: you stayed with it, with the okay place beside it.
  6. Back to the room. If it feels right, rest on the okay place one more time. Then let your attention widen: your feet on the floor, what you can see and hear around you.