Guided IFS Therapy Session / Exercise for Inner Healing | Dr. Richard Schwartz & Dr. Andrew Huberman

00:00:00.000 | Would it be possible to just pose the questions to them as an exercise that they could do

00:00:08.340 | in real time?

00:00:09.340 | Totally.

00:00:10.340 | Yeah.

00:00:11.340 | Thank you so much.

00:00:12.340 | I think that would be tremendously valuable.

00:00:13.600 | So I'm going to have to erase myself here for once.

00:00:16.680 | I'm going to be quiet for a little while, folks.

00:00:18.920 | And you are the lucky patient that gets to talk to Dr. Schwartz here, and he's going

00:00:27.920 | to pose a series of questions.

00:00:30.400 | And we'll allow some moments of break or silence for you to be able to tap into the

00:00:35.680 | answers to these in real time.

00:00:37.720 | That way, you don't have to create a parallel construction of what we did earlier.

00:00:42.960 | Yeah.

00:00:43.960 | And let me lead by saying, please don't do this if you have fear about doing it.

00:00:51.120 | But if you're interested in some inner exploration, then I'll lead you through some of the steps.

00:01:00.600 | So as you've been listening to our conversation, I'm speaking to listeners, you may be thinking

00:01:09.000 | about some of your own parts, particularly your own protectors.

00:01:14.360 | And if you can't think of any, most people have a kind of critic inside or part that

00:01:19.480 | makes them work too hard or a part that takes care of too many people.

00:01:27.440 | So I'm going to invite you to pick a protective part to try to get to know for a few minutes.

00:01:35.400 | And just notice that inner voice or that emotion, that thought pattern, that sensation.

00:01:47.880 | Just focus on it exclusively for a second.

00:01:52.760 | And as you do that, notice where it seems to be located in your body or around your

00:01:59.480 | body.

00:02:00.480 | And just take a second with that.

00:02:03.800 | And some people don't find a location.

00:02:07.000 | Some people, they still sense it, but it's not clear where it seems to be located.

00:02:11.880 | But if you do find it in or around your body, then just focus on it there.

00:02:29.920 | And as you focus on it, notice how you feel toward it.

00:02:36.600 | And by that I mean, do you dislike it and want to get rid of it?

00:02:44.680 | Are you afraid of it?

00:02:46.720 | Do you resent how it dominates?

00:02:52.680 | Do you depend on it?

00:02:58.400 | So you have a relationship with this part of you.

00:03:08.640 | And if you feel anything except a kind of openness or curiosity or willingness to get

00:03:15.000 | to know it, then that's coming from other parts that have been trying to deal with it.

00:03:23.560 | And we're just going to ask those other parts of you to relax back for just a few minutes

00:03:33.020 | so you can get to know it.

00:03:34.440 | We're not going to have it take over more.

00:03:38.800 | We're just going to get to know it better.

00:03:41.840 | So see if they're willing to let you open your mind to it.

00:03:47.880 | And if they're not, then we're not going to pursue this.

00:03:52.520 | And you can just get to know their fear about letting you get to know this target part.

00:03:59.960 | But if you do get to that point of just being curious about it, without an agenda, then

00:04:11.360 | ask it what it wants you to know about itself.

00:04:16.240 | Just a kind of nice open-ended question.

00:04:19.840 | And don't think of the answer.

00:04:21.240 | Just wait and see what comes from that place in your body.

00:04:26.400 | And don't judge what comes.

00:04:27.880 | Just whatever comes, we'll go with it.

00:04:33.720 | What does it want you to know about itself?

00:04:38.720 | And what's it afraid would happen if it didn't do this inside of you?

00:04:52.920 | If you got an answer to that question about the fear, then it was telling you something

00:04:58.740 | about how it's been trying to protect you.

00:05:02.040 | And if that's true, then extend some appreciation to it for at least trying to keep you safe,

00:05:12.520 | even if it backfires or it doesn't work.

00:05:16.280 | Let it know you appreciate that it's trying to protect you.

00:05:21.520 | And see how it reacts to your appreciation.

00:05:32.140 | And then ask if you could go to what it protects and heal or change that so it didn't need

00:05:41.840 | to protect you so much.

00:05:45.080 | What might it like to do instead inside of you if it was released from this role?

00:05:49.840 | And I'll repeat that.

00:05:53.160 | If you could go to what it protects and heal or change that so it was liberated from this

00:05:59.920 | protective role, what might it like to do instead inside of you?

00:06:17.260 | And then ask it this kind of odd question.

00:06:20.420 | How old does this part think you are?

00:06:24.220 | Not how old is it, but how old does it think you are?

00:06:28.460 | And again, don't think.

00:06:29.820 | Just wait and see what comes.

00:06:47.260 | And if it got your age wrong, then go ahead and update it and see how it reacts.

00:07:13.100 | And the last question for this part is what does it need from you going forward?

00:07:20.340 | What does it need from you?

00:07:24.580 | And again, just wait for the answer.

00:07:30.340 | And when the time feels right, thank your parts for whatever they let you do in this,

00:07:47.100 | and then begin to shift your focus back outside and maybe take some deep breaths as you do

00:07:53.540 | that.

00:08:01.420 | Thank you for that.

00:08:02.420 | That was awesome.

00:08:03.420 | I also was able to get some, I think, good work done in that.

00:08:08.100 | Is that true?

00:08:09.100 | Yeah.

00:08:10.100 | Yeah.

00:08:11.100 | Totally different location, totally different set of dynamics.

00:08:18.740 | Even though what you just took us through is very experiential, what, if any, value

00:08:25.260 | do you think there is to writing down sort of key takeaways?

00:08:27.780 | A lot of value.

00:08:28.780 | Yeah.

00:08:29.780 | Okay.

00:08:30.780 | Yeah.

00:08:31.780 | So it's great to do the work in a session or this exercise, but ideally it's the beginning

00:08:39.180 | of a new relationship with this part.

00:08:43.100 | And that takes work on your own.

00:08:45.540 | So what I advise people is as you get that ball rolling in that good direction, it'll

00:08:52.020 | reverse if you don't stay with it for a while.

00:08:56.180 | So every day, like you were saying, you wake up, rather than what am I going to do today

00:09:01.020 | or what problems do I have in my life, how's that part of me doing that I've been starting

00:09:06.380 | to work with?

00:09:07.380 | What does it need from me today?

00:09:09.900 | What does it want me to know?

00:09:11.660 | Is it still feeling better?

00:09:14.940 | Do I still have compassion for it or appreciation for it?

00:09:21.060 | So like I said earlier, this kind of becomes a life practice.

00:09:25.260 | [Music]

Guided IFS Therapy Session / Exercise for Inner Healing | Dr. Richard Schwartz & Dr. Andrew Huberman

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