Developing IFS Sovereignty
2 hours on Zoom
$165 investment
Interested? Click below to email or schedule a quick call to inquire!
Ask Me to Offer this Workshop! Email me
How do you access Self-leadership when no one else is in the room?
Many of us have experienced moments of profound Self-energy inside structured environments — therapy offices, inpatient settings, and high-stakes situations where containment was externally enforced.
I’ve had this experience myself, particularly when I isolated myself from everyday life on IFS retreats. Like others, I have also experienced this in high-stakes situations where I felt like I had to do the inner work under the threat of extreme symptoms, or even death. Some people have also experienced this in inpatient settings, where there were walls, surveillance, and isolation from day-to-day pressures.
In all these situations: something in the system relaxed.
But what happens when those structures aren’t present? Why can Self feel accessible in a contained setting — and harder to embody alone at home, even with parts that aren’t nearly as dangerous?
This class explores that question. We will examine how external containment works on the nervous system and on protectors — and how to internalize those conditions so that Self becomes a credible source of authority from within.
This is not anti-therapy. This is not a substitute for clinical care. This is advanced parts work for people who want to understand:
- How to generate internal containment
- How to negotiate and assess safety
- How to work with activation without external surveillance
- How to help Self lead as a clear inner authority
Sovereignty doesn’t mean “I never need help.” Sovereignty means: over time, I create containment from within.
We will explore how protectors learn to trust internal leadership. How does Self become a deeply credible container — the parts’ first line of support, safety and attachment?
If you’ve ever wondered why Self felt so accessible under high stakes… and harder to access in the quiet of your own room — this class is for you.
You’ve already experienced Self. Not the concept; the real thing — clear, calm, unshakable.
Maybe it showed up in a therapist’s office, a retreat, a meditation, falling in love, or winning a basketball game. Maybe it showed up under high stakes. Maybe it showed up when there were walls and rules and someone checking every fifteen minutes.
No matter how you encountered Self, you knew: this IS me.
So why does Self feel harder to access in your own house? Because containment matters.
Protectors don’t relax because you “understand IFS.” They relax when they trust structure. Hospitals provide structure. Therapists provide structure. Authority provides structure. Retreats provide structure.
Sovereignty is when YOU become that structure.
This class is for people who want to develop the inner structure that allows protectors to relax — and Self to lead.
We will explore:
- How to internalize the container
- How to negotiate with activated protectors alone
- How to very organically evolve your own safety parameters
- How to strengthen Self as a leader, not just a compassionate witness
This is advanced work for people already seeking to create their own personal IFS practice outside of the therapy room. It’s not dramatic, reckless, or grandiose (although I’ve made some mistakes in that direction along the way and will share them in the class as examples of what not to do!).
Ultimately, it’s about Self becoming sovereign in your own inner world.
So let’s start the journey together!
From a Fellow IFS Therapist
“Melissa is on my Mount Rushmore of people who have made me FEEL the most Unconditionally Positively Regarded, ‘professional’ or otherwise.
In IFS-speak, she is one of two people who I say being around their Self energy FEELS like a warm hug. And I’ve only shared virtual spaces with her.
I have learned to access more and more Self energy over the years of my journey since discovering IFS, and I’ve experienced the jolt to the system and kickstart of being in the presence of someone who carries that proverbial ‘critical mass’ of Self energy.
This is what Melissa brings to the table.”
— Jesse Daso, MS, LPC, SAC
All About Melissa’s IFS Classes!
An intimate, live 2-hour experiential workshop
for only five people on Zoom!
- You have some experience working with your parts and want to go deeper.
- You want more confidence doing IFS on your own between sessions.
- You’re a healer who feels safest with other people who are already on the healing journey.
- You’re an IFS coach or therapist seeking guidance in a low-key, friendly setting with a master IFS practitioner.
If you’re looking for a place to hone your IFS skills with emotionally mature, IFS-savvy folks in a safe container of mutual support and encouragement — I invite you to consider this group!
If you want to learn more, sign up for a free Zoom with me, or watch one of my YouTube interviews to get a better sense of me as a teacher!
Click here to schedule a free chat to see if this group is for you
Common Reasons to Join This Group:
“I enjoy parts work with my practitioner / coach / therapist, but then I don’t tend to check in with them between sessions.”
“I want to be able to connect more deeply with my parts but my protectors won’t let me.”
“I just don’t feel like journaling.”
“I want to learn from someone who has experience working directly with their parts on their own. I don’t want to just read about the IFS steps from a book.”
“I’d like to connect with other like-minded people who also see IFS as a way of life, not merely something theoretical they’re learning to use with clients.”
If you resonate with any of these statements, then this drop-in group is ideal for you!
Imagine having a 24-year expert in IFS support you
in developing your OWN relationship to your parts
• Get questions answered right when they arise, before they begin blocking your work
• Bring compassion to your DIY IFS process
• Provide Self-energy to enhance yours, to create more access to deeper parts
• Help you make IFS a way of life, not just something you do one hour a week with a practitioner
• Build a supportive community: Connect with other IFS folks and also to other IFS resources
Melissa
Learn from a 24-year IFS Expert:
Melissa Sandfort has been an IFS Certified Practitioner since 2010.
From 2002-2017, Melissa dedicated herself to learning IFS from the inside out, taking 20 IFS trainings with the Institute for Self-Leadership. Specifically:
• 2 Level 1 IFS trainings
• 5 Level 2 IFS trainings, including all 3 levels of Intimacy from the Inside Out
• 13 Level 3 IFS trainings with Richard Schwartz
With over 1,000 hours of in-person training with the founder of IFS, Richard Schwartz, and over 2,350 hours of IFS training including dozens of retreats and workshops, she has a depth of IFS training few can match!
However, what truly sets her apart is her profound personal commitment to the practice of IFS in her own life.
Building on a very solid foundation of IFS training, she has slowly increased her capacity to do IFS by herself, on herself, and now has a daily self-IFS practice of 2-3 hours of intensive IFS work on herself every day.
She has currently done over 8,000 hours of her own, personal IFS work. And that number increases by 730+ hours a year!
To get a sense of this work, you can listen to a free podcast of one of her personal IFS sessions.
As a passionate advocate of the power of IFS to transform lives, unravel trauma, and help us all come home to our Self, Melissa is dedicated to sharing her IFS expertise in the most creative and loving ways possible!
To that end, she offers her own work as a model for DIY IFS — how to do your own IFS work with yourself! She has two Substacks where she shares this work:
Radical IFS - https://radicalifs.substack.com/about
Radical IFS podcast - https://radicalifs.substack.com/podcast
This class is your chance to learn from a Master IFS practitioner about how to work with your own parts, based on decades of radically intense IFS practice.
Looking for a Smaller Class?
If you’re seeking a 2 hour group with even more time to practice, consider creating
a 3-person DIY IFS Practice Group which meets once a month or quarter for two hours.
Learn more here: www.athousandpaths.com/small
FAQ
What is the refund policy?
There are no refunds. If you must miss a class, you can transfer your registration to a future class!
I have done everything I can to provide an affordable class full of value.
If a refund policy is important to you, I am the wrong teacher for you. I ask that you think carefully before purchasing a class so that it is the right match for you.
Thanks for understanding!
Class Safety Agreement
Clarity about our purpose:
To deepen our capacity to do IFS and to develop our Self-leadership as human beings.
Privacy and Confidentiality:
These classes require a private, confidential space. A private room in your home or office. Or a private conference room in a library or your car parked in a quiet space. This is for the safety of all participants, as we can not open and focus inside if we are distracted by external environments.
If you join the Zoom from a public place, like a cafe, store or park, you will be asked to leave the group.
Zoom Video On:
Being able to see everyone in the group enhances safety, so plan to have your video on during most of the class, which is not recorded. Turning video off during personal practice time is fine.
Choice:
You are free to censor what you disclose. No is a complete sentence. Choose to share ONLY what you feel comfortable with.
Confidentiality:
All material everyone shares should not be shared with people who are not members of this group, even if you don’t use their name. You’d be surprised how far stories can travel. To read more, visit https://www.athousandpaths.com/safety-story.
Speak up for Safety:
If you are having difficulty with something that’s triggered you, PLEASE speak for your parts, either directly in the group or as soon as you can afterwards. Please LISTEN to your parts when they tell you what they need in order to feel safe. Safety is our number one value. When you speak for your safety needs, you speak for the safety needs of the whole group.
Speaking for parts, not from parts:
To the extent that you can, speaking for parts, not from them, will help us maintain safety when sharing in the group.
Embodying parts:
During coaching demos, in distinction to other times during the group, feel free to speak FROM parts and to experiment with embodying them. The difference between blending and embodying is: when you are blended, you are in a part and you don’t know you are in a part. When you embody a part, you are in a part and YOU and the part BOTH know you are ‘being’ the part.
No Coercion:
“Thank you, for letting me, be myself!” In this group, there is “no crosstalk.” This means when one person shares, no one judges, gives advice, or reacts against what they shared.
Feedback: Share how you are inspired or how you resonate with others. DO NOT share judgement, advice, or criticism. If you criticize others in the class, I reserve the right to determine that you may not be the right fit for my classes. Thank you for understanding.
https://radicalifs.substack.com offers endless examples of how parts crosstalk and then repair, if you’re interested in a deeper dive.
Timeliness:
We commit to start and end on time. We start on time; this increases safety and strengthens the container.
Support and responsibility:
Ultimately, the only person who can keep you fully safe in a group is you. I want to do everything I can to make this group a safe space to learn, to go inside, and to share, in whatever ways feel right for you — but you are responsible for listening to the sometimes difficult-to-hear voices who tell you what they REALLY need to be safe.
You are not crazy if you get triggered, it’s ULTRA NORMAL in IFS work. So take care of yourself, and possibly give yourself extra support on days when you do IFS!
Thank you for your commitment to this safety agreement!
For more information about safety, which I take very seriously, here are more links!
Melissa’s DIY IFS courses gave me a quantum leap in my inner work practice.
Before, although I had a daily journaling practice, I was pretty reliant on life coaching for doing deep work.
Now, thanks to the DIY IFS beginner and advanced course, I have the skills to be my own therapist.
My own practice and my relationship with myself are so much deeper, more trusting, and more productive.
The courses epitomize Melissa’s motto, “Work smarter, not harder,” making inner work more fun and more efficient.
Every part of me recommends them with great enthusiasm. They have totally changed my life!
—Liv Love