How is Chi for Two like Internal Family Systems (IFS)?
Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) was created by Richard C. Schwartz. A version of Internal Family Systems Therapy that specializes in work for couples was created by Toni Herbine-Blank.
Both Chi for Two and IFS appreciate the therapeutic value of picturing parts of ourselves.
When we trace back to its origin the idea of picturing parts of ourselves, we can recognize how cultures have used storytelling for processing traumatic events. Listeners sense parts of themselves as they picture various characters. Picturing the wrestling of the characters toward the story’s resolution helps the listeners with their internal wrestling such that they find internal resolution. In the idea of watching parts of ourselves wrestling, we can recognize Eastern meditative techniques that cultivate a witnessing of our thoughts and feelings.
We might begin to recognize the value of picturing an internal interaction between child and parent parts of ourselves. In the 1950’s, the psychotherapy model called Transactional Analysis was developed by Eric Berne. Berne suggested we think of ourselves as having an inner Child, Adult and Parent. Berne’s Child, Adult and Parent somewhat align with Freud’s idea of people having what he called The Id, The Ego and The Superego.
IFS invites clients to recognize that they have a core Self. It can be difficult to sense the core Self because we are more aware of the parts of ourselves that exist for survival. In IFS, those parts are called Exiles, Managers and Firefighters.
Chi for Two embodiment coaches invite clients to picture an infant self and inner parents. Coaches also invite awareness of nervous system functioning as identified by scientist Stephen Porges, creator of the polyvagal theory.
As we do Chi for Two practices with a coach, we can recognize:
Movement expressions inhibited by what Porges calls Shut-down. These movement expressions can feel like the characteristics of different parts of ourselves—what IFS calls the exiled parts.
Various ways people work to regulate the awakening of those “exiled” movement expressions, moving through the Fight/Flight feeling of, “Is this okay now?!” to integrate those movement expressions into our movement vocabulary. IFS invites awareness of parts called Managers and Firefighters as a way of helping clients sense the pathway for awakening the “exiled” movement expressions.
As we integrate more movement expressions into our movement vocabulary, it becomes more okay to “be a Star” as we say in Chi for Two. A freer flow of energy from the core helps us find our Star—our unique being—what IFS calls the core Self.
In 2018, Dee Wagner, originator of Chi for Two, wrote an article with Stacey McGinn Hurst called Couples Dance Movement Therapy: Bringing a Theoretical Framework into Practice published in the American Journal of Dance Therapy. In the article, Wagner and Hurst draw from the work of Herbine-Blank’s IFS for couples.
Chi for Two helps romantic partners recognize how romantic dances trigger unfinished infant/parent dances. Partners take turns healing their infant trauma in practices with the embodiment coach, in the presence of their lovers. As partners heal infant trauma often passed down over generations, they can return to the romantic dance feeling more post-pubescent.
