The Art of Parts

An art-based guide to explore, befriend, and harmonize your inner parts through creative expression

Two women are seated at a table engaging in an art activity. One woman, with curly dark hair and a white top with a turquoise necklace, smiles as she watches the other woman, who is reaching across the table. The table has paints and art supplies, and there is a colorful painting with trees and a bear in the background.

If…

  • You are drawn to IFS but are not sure how to actually apply it to your own system,

  • You already work with an IFS practitioner but want more support for doing parts work on your own,

  • You find it challenging to distinguish between parts or to express your emotions through words,

  • You want to incorporate more art-making or creativity into your life and personal growth journey,

    THen…

The cover of the Art of Parts workbook with the title and an image of two hands holding chalk pastels over paper

See what’s included:

Three pages from the Art of Parts workbook showing chapters 1, 2, and 3

Exercises for any situation

Six art-based exercises organized into 3 sections for working with a single part, a pair of parts, or a group of parts. Each exercise can be returned to again and again.

Pale pink headphones

Optional audio guidance

Each exercise has detailed written instructions but you also have the option to click on a link to an audio recording of me guiding you through the the process.

Three pages from the Art of Parts workbook showing body outline and mandala templates

Printable templates

Optional printable templates make it easy for you to translate your thoughts, emotions, and body sensations into powerful visual representations.

Benefits of art-based IFS parts work include:

  • Enhanced neural plasticity and adaptive information processing from the bilateral stimulation (BLS) of using both hands. BLS is the mechanism used in EMDR therapy for resolving trauma.

  • Body-mind integration as a result of both bottom up (kinesthetic and somatic) and top down (cognitive insight and integration) processing.

  • A tangible record of parts you’ve explored that you can share with others, such as your IFS therapist or coach, or reference later for your own purposes.

  • Easier avenues for self-expression for parts that struggle to communicate with words—for example, very young or alexithymic parts may prefer communicating with color, shapes, and images.

  • A picture speaks a thousand words. Sometimes our internal landscapes and embodied emotional experiences are so complex and multidimensional that words alone fall short.

A laptop on a wooden table with the Art of Parts pdf workbook shown on the computer screen