Somatic Parts Work: How to Practice Embodied Internal Family Systems
We all have many “parts” within us — aspects of our personality, formed through our life experiences, that each carry their own feelings, needs, and perspectives. In Internal Family Systems (IFS), these parts are welcomed and understood as valuable, even when their strategies no longer serve us.
Somatic parts work brings this process into the body, allowing you to connect with parts through sensations, posture, and felt experience. This makes the process more grounded and often leads to deeper shifts, because you’re engaging the mind and body together.
What is Internal Family Systems (IFS)?
IFS is an evidence-based therapeutic model that helps you build a compassionate relationship with your inner parts. These parts fall into two main roles: the ones that are holding the pain, and the ones who are protecting the pain. All parts are trying to keep you safe in their own way.
In IFS, you develop a closer connection with your Self — the calm, compassionate, and centered awareness that can guide the process of healing. This Self energy is the aspect of you that can listen without judgment and offer the support your parts have always needed.
Why Work With Parts Through the Body
Emotional experiences live not only in the mind but also in the body. Often, the first sign that a part is active is a physical sensation: a knot in the stomach, a tightening in the chest, or a heaviness in the shoulders.
By noticing and staying with these sensations, you create a direct connection to the part that’s holding them. This approach helps the process feel less abstract, making it easier to stay present and access what the part wants to share.
Step-by-Step Guide to Somatic Parts Work
Step 1: Get Grounded
Take a few slow breaths, feeling your feet on the floor or the weight of your body in the chair. Let yourself orient to the present moment by noticing what's around you.
Step 2: Notice What's Arising
Bring to mind a recent situation where you felt emotionally charged. Notice what sensations appear in your body — tightness, heat, pressure, or any other feeling.
Step 3: Connect with a Part
Ask yourself gently: "Could this be a part of me that's showing up?" Stay curious. You might sense a feeling, memory, or image connected to the sensation. Then notice how you feel toward this part — compassionate? Curious? Annoyed? This will help you know whether you're in Self energy or if another part is interacting.
Step 4: Listen and Witness
Let the part know you're here to listen. Ask what it wants you to know. No pressure to change or fix — your role is to witness and understand.
Step 5: Offer Compassion and Choice
Thank the part for sharing. Ask what it needs right now. In somatic parts work, this is where a powerful corrective experience can occur — your Self with a capital S can offer the support, protection, or reassurance that was missing in the past.
Step 6: Integration
Let the part know it can stay close or rest — whatever feels best. Take a final breath and notice how your body feels now.
Common Challenges and How to Navigate Them
Feeling Nothing or Disconnection
If you don't sense any parts or bodily sensations, you're not doing anything wrong. Sometimes our nervous system needs more safety before it allows us to feel deeply. Start with smaller triggers rather than major life events, and spend more time grounding yourself in the present moment before beginning.
Overwhelm and Intense Emotions
When parts release emotions they've been holding, it can feel overwhelming. If this happens, pause the practice, open your eyes, and ground yourself by naming five things you can see around you. Remember that you can return to connect with this part later when you feel more resourced—this is wise pacing, not avoidance.
Parts That Don't Want to Engage
Some parts are naturally protective and may not trust this process initially. If you encounter resistance, honor it completely. Thank the part for protecting you and let it know there's no pressure to share. Sometimes simply acknowledging a part's boundary is exactly what it needs to feel seen.
Benefits of This Practice
Quicker Access to Emotional Root Causes
Traditional talk therapy can sometimes keep you circling around issues without getting to the heart of what's driving patterns. Somatic parts work cuts through mental defenses because parts communicate through the body first. When you connect with the physical sensation a part creates, you're often able to understand its core message much more quickly. This direct access can help you identify what's really underneath recurring conflicts, triggers, or stuck places in your life.
A Stronger Connection to Your Self Energy
The more you practice distinguishing between your parts and your Self, the more you'll recognize this centered, compassionate awareness in daily life. You'll start to notice when you're operating from a part (maybe the perfectionist or the people-pleaser) versus when you're responding from Self. This awareness gives you choice in how you show up in relationships and challenging situations. Over time, you'll find yourself naturally accessing Self energy more often, even in stressful moments.
Release of Tension and Old Protective Patterns
Parts often hold tension in specific areas of the body as a way of staying vigilant or protecting against old wounds. When these parts feel truly heard and supported, they can begin to relax their grip. You might notice chronic shoulder tension easing, jaw tightness releasing, or breathing becoming naturally deeper. This isn't just physical relief—it represents a fundamental shift in how your nervous system relates to old threats that are no longer present.
Greater Trust and Harmony Between All Parts of Yourself
As you practice welcoming all parts with curiosity rather than judgment, you develop an internal environment of acceptance. Parts that have been in conflict—like the part that wants to rest and the part that feels guilty about not being productive—can begin to communicate and find collaborative solutions. This internal harmony often translates into feeling more integrated and at peace with yourself overall, rather than feeling pulled in different directions by competing inner voices.
Closing Thoughts
Somatic parts work offers a way to connect with your inner world through the wisdom of the body. By engaging both sensation and Self energy, you create opportunities for understanding, compassion, and healing that can ripple into every area of life.
While you can explore somatic parts work on your own, going deeper with a skilled practitioner can open layers of insight and healing that are hard to access alone. A professional can help you stay grounded, navigate intense emotions safely, and guide you through more complex parts work processes. If you ever feel stuck or overwhelmed, it’s a sign that your system might benefit from that kind of compassionate support.
