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Explore a sample system

Walks ยท one sitting, about 13 min

Who lives where

A slow body scan, feet to head, looking for where your parts show up: what clenches, braces, fidgets or goes quiet. No fixing. Say hello to the busiest place, breathe toward it, and jot down a rough map of who lives where.

16 steps, drawn from 9 books on IFS.

A draft: every passage it quotes is in its book, but its own wording has not yet been checked against them.

Read every step first
  1. A census, not a repair. This is a slow trip from your feet to the top of your head, looking for where your parts live in your body. Some sit in the jaw, some in the belly. If a place has nothing to report, let your attention sit there a moment and move on. If a place hurts, ask it to wait in the back for now, and tell it you will come back.
  2. Lie down, or sit. Lie on a bed or the floor, or sit if lying down is not for you. Eyes closed, or resting on the ceiling. Shift until you are comfortable. A few breaths, four in and four out if counting helps, and skip the count if it does not.
  3. Feet. Begin at the toes and the soles. Warm, cool? Heavy, light? Is anyone there, a part that wants to run, or one that has gone very still? Stay a few breaths, or just keep your attention there. If the breathing does not help today, skip it.
  4. Legs. Move up into your legs and thighs. Which parts use your legs? The knee that bounces under the table. The legs that want to stand up and leave the room. Let them be there while you notice them.
  5. Hips and belly. Now your hips, the bones you sit on, and your belly. Knotted, fluttery, hollow, quiet? Notice it without trying to change it. Breathe into the area, or simply rest your attention there. If the breathing does not help today, skip it.
  6. Back and shoulders. Travel up your back, slowly, then into your shoulders. Are they hunched up toward your ears, or loose? Some parts carry things there. Whatever you find is fine.
  7. Heart. Come to the middle of your chest. Feel your heartbeat if you can find it. Open or shut, tight or roomy? Notice it and let it be. If the breathing does not help today, skip it.
  8. Arms and hands. Let your attention run down your arms into your hands. How do your parts use your hands? A fist under the desk, or a thumb that picks at a nail. Notice who is there.
  9. Throat, face, head. Now your throat, with air going through it. Then your jaw: clenched or slack? Your eyes and forehead. Last, the top of your head. Are parts using any of these? Just notice them. If the breathing does not help today, skip it.
  10. The busiest place. Of all the places you passed, which one had the most going on? Go back there. What is it like: knotted, buzzing, heavy, numb, something else?
  11. How do you feel toward it? Notice how you feel toward the part in that place. Not how it feels: how you feel toward it. Answer with what is true rather than what sounds right.
  12. Say hello. Stay at that place a while. Let the part there know you found it. There is nothing to ask it today. Breathe in where you feel most settled, and breathe out toward the part, as company. If the breathing does not help, just keep your attention there, friendly. If the breathing does not help today, skip it.
  13. The whole body breathing. Now widen out. Feel your whole body breathing at once, and every part you met on the way breathing along with it. Then sweep back down, head to toes, and notice how your body feels now. If the breathing does not help today, skip it.
  14. Who lives where. Jot down where you found parts today, a word or two each. Jaw: the one that braces before calls. Belly: something fluttery. A rough map is enough, and you can add to it next time.
  15. How loud is it now? The same scale you used at the start. A drop is worth noticing, and no change is fine too: you know a little more about who lives where.
  16. Back to the room. If there is a place you want to come back to, tell the part there that you will, and only if you mean it. Thank whoever showed up. Feel the bed or floor under you. Take one breath with the whole room in it. Let your eyes open when you are ready, if they were shut.
  17. It can stay. Then let it stay. It does not have to go anywhere or explain itself. You can say hello to both of them from where you are, and carry on.
  18. Ask the other part for some room. Turn toward the part that has strong feelings about this one. Ask if it would give you a little room, just for a few minutes. It can stay nearby. If it worries the first part will take over, let it know you will not let that happen.