A lot of the time, we are Focusing with something holistically, being with the whole of it. But sometimes, what comes forward are particular “parts” of ourselves. In a way patterns or habitual ways of reacting or thinking in given situations. There are many ways to work with these parts, and this blog will dive into ways that Focusing can be used to help.

To start, find a part by noticing a pattern

The first thing we want to do to work with parts is identify a part. And I have found there are two main ways we can do this by identifying patterns. First, we can identify a particular perspective we repeat a lot, such as a belief or thought we hear ourself saying to ourselves. For example, most people have an inner critic that at some point will tell us something like “What’s wrong with me?” The second way we can identify patterns is noticing our physical or emotional reactions. When we notice a change in our heart rate, or our arms are suddenly cold, or we notice fear, this is a sign that a part might be activating.

The video below has an exercise that uses these patterns to identify a part (exercise begins 28 minutes in).

Get specific

The next step is to get to know the part. Who it is? What does it feel like? What does it say? When does it come and where? And a lovely way to do this is with Focusing practice, by being with a specific moment or instance of its activation. By holding space for yourself or with a partner to be with a memory of an experience of this pattern, we can really get to know how it feels in our body AND what thoughts go with it. This is integrating work, as often we don’t know or have both the physical and thoughts at the same time. We are aware of only part of the way the part shows up, and some of it remains unconscious. By having a Focusing session where you stay with one memory, we can get the full felt sense: the physical sensations, emotions and thoughts that go with the memory (Winhall, 2014).

Once we have a feel of the part, we can ask it what is its name. By asking the body for a specific symbolization of how we have it right now (a handle in Focusing speak), we capture what this energy is for us—at least right now. This might come as a word, but can also be a phrase or image. As parts can change, as we’ll see next, the symbol is how it is now. More like a picture, rather than a permanent description.

Does it like this job?

We can then ask for other instances, other memories of where else it has shown up. And from there we can notice another pattern: why it shows up? In other words, the role it plays for us. The Focusing question that I really like at this point is:

What is it not wanting for you? (or “to happen” as Ann Weiser Cornell originally phrased it)

Typically, the part has been very helpful to us at some point. I love how Stephen Porges says “Let’s take a few moments now and celebrate what your body did”. The job it has played protecting us from what it didn’t want to happen. Because we really needed the body to be able to do that at the time. And yet now, perhaps that role isn’t needed in the same way now—maybe the environment has changed or we have changed.

In Internal Family Systems, some questions that are used to determine if a new role is now possible are “Is it happy with its job? Or would it prefer something else?”

If it turns out that the part wants to change, then we can go through a process of seeing what the possibilities are, then practicing being that way, to eventually achieve praxis or embodied transformation, where most of the time we can be the new way (see my blog on How to shift habits with Focusing for more on this work).

Tools that help identify, know and map parts

The following are a few tools that I like to use to supplement our Focusing work with parts. They can both help us to notice parts, learn more about them as well as understand them from a systems perspective, enabling us to re-tell our stories.

Felt Sense Body Cards

I created the idea of felt sense body cards in 2015. The cards are a way of capturing where in the body we feel physical sensations with colour or quick drawing, as well as documenting with words the aspects of the felt sense that come up. What is lovely about using body cards is that we can, over time, identify more parts, as we notice physical sensations that re-occur. See my worker bee example.

We can also see change in ourselves as our felt senses change. In my own cards, I’ve noticed that overtime the anxiety balls that I draw are getting smaller. Note: technically the anxiety ball is an arrow to the deeper meaning that comes in the felt sense. Gendlin calls it a thud. I’m not so fussed about “is it a felt sense?” and know what is important is to stay with what is there, and watch for the more that then comes from it.

When using felt sense body cards to capture a part, as I said above, we are taking a picture of it. From there, we can use them in a few ways. When we re-experience the part, we could create a new card (take a new picture) of how we have it today. Or we can use the body card as a living document of the part’s journey, and add to it. I have done this sometimes to add new memories I notice go with a part, for example.

System Mapping

I have mapped my parts a number of ways over the years of working with them with Focusing and the felt sense body cards.

Dialogue Map

I first got the idea of dialogue maps from Jenna Chevalier. It was a top-down process of noticing the main thoughts that we have, and noticing who they are talking to. From there, it emerges what parts are in the system and how they interact. The example below uses a simple classification of grounded (green), hurt (blue) or protector (orange) to classify the parts (Note: some prefer to call grounded qualities of Self rather than parts).

Autonomic Nervous System

There are many models of the autonomic nervous system, and in particular ones that integrate Polyvagal Theory. I often use Jan Winhall’s Felt Sense Polyvagal Model. You can view below a mapping where the felt sense body cards are mapped onto her model, according to their state (main or blended states).

Timeline

Once we have most of our parts mapped out (on felt sense body cards) and we know what memories are associated with their activation, it is also possible to create a story of our life, by placing the cards on a timeline connected to when they first showed up. This example shows images from the back of the felt sense body cards, which are a form of handle for the part.

Learn more

The following is a video that shares some of this content and an exercise to get to know a part of you.

I also have a few courses that work with parts. In particular the Understanding who you are: mapping your nervous system, parts and timeline is a course where we explore our autonomic nervous system, and better get to know our grounded, hurt and protective parts with felt sense body cards. Also, in my Transform Yourself with the 8Cs of Self-Leadership we use Focusing to get to know the “C” quality of the week, and then cross it with a large issue we’re working on over the whole course or the issue you’re bringing that week. These courses build on the beginner Focusing courses (8 week and 4 week options) where you learn to Focus and use the felt sense body cards.

Presentation at the Embodied Dialogue Series (formerly the Polyvagal Institute (PVI) Meet Up) in August 2022: Using Felt Sense Body Cards to Map Your Parts & Tell Your Story - Annette Dubreuil. Exercise begins 28 minutes in.

Using Focusing with parts