What does Spiritual Parts Work look like in practice?

A session usually begins by quietly turning inward and noticing who is present. A part might initiate contact through an image, a feeling, a voice, or a presence. We approach it with curiosity rather than judgment; listening to what it has to say, where it came from, what it has been guarding, and what it needs. We develop a two-way relationship: sharing with our parts the truth of our lives, and letting them share their truth with us. We begin to trust our parts, and they begin to trust us. From that place of trust, anything becomes possible: extreme parts soften, banished parts are found and welcomed home, and wounded parts are freed from the burdens they've been carrying far too long. The ecosystem, when listened to, reveals what it needs to heal.

What are the benefits of Spiritual Parts Work?

Spiritual Parts Work can help you develop a relationship with yourself that is sacred rather than critical. You can learn about yourself on the deepest level; everything about you, your gifts, your wounds, your contradictions, will begin to make sense. You can transform patterns that have felt fossilized for years. You can set down the burdens of trauma that you've been carrying your whole life. Your intuition deepens. You come into deeper relationship with the spirit world and with the living world around you.

Is Spiritual Parts Work therapy? Can Spiritual Parts Work treat mental illness?

Spiritual Parts Work is a spiritual practice, not psychotherapeutic practice. I am not a mental health professional, and I do not diagnose or treat mental illness. Our sessions aren't tailored around any clinical framework or diagnosis. Sessions are led entirely by the parts themselves - we follow where the spirits lead us.

What is the difference between Spiritual Parts Work and Internal Family Systems (IFS)?

IFS and Spiritual Parts Work both involve interacting with parts, but they do so in different ways, and have different goals.

IFS views parts as internal (hence Internal Family Systems). Every person is seen to contain an inner mental family of parts, which contrasts with their physical family on the "outside". The word "internal" reflects IFS's effort to speak the language of psychology and psychiatry. IFS is sometimes used as clinical treatment for mental illness. This has brought parts work to many people who needed it, but something important is also lost in that translation.

I practice Spiritual Parts Work from an animist, spiritual perspective; I believe that all parts have a spiritual nature. Parts may be entities birthed from our own spiritual essence, or parts may be spirits from elsewhere: ancestors, the dead, guides, angels, elementals, archetypal deities.

In Spiritual Parts Work, parts are seen as spirits with own independent existence - they don't live inside our heads as mental constructs. We may hear their voices in our minds, but that does not mean that parts live in our minds. Similarly, when my brother calls me on the phone, I hear his voice in my ear, but that doesn't mean my brother lives in my ear.

In my experience, every person is an ecosystem of spirits, with no hard boundary between inside and outside: an open forest rather than a sealed terrarium. Some parts may come and go from our system like migrating birds, but other parts stay in one place, rooted like trees. Some parts arrive mysteriously from other lands, summoned by great need. Some parts are so far away that they reside in other realms entirely, yet still remain connected to us. Parts are mysterious spiritual beings with free agency - they are unlimited by concepts of internal and external.

The goal of Spiritual Parts Work is similar to many other spiritual paths - to find connection, to relieve suffering, and to achieve self actualization.