Working with a Trailhead.
After a stress filled, system activating, two-hour ride with someone whom my parts felt they did not get along with, I decided to spend a session working with those activated parts. In starting my system check-in, I noticed a whole collection of strong somatic reactions to the memory of the ride. As I examined my experience, I realized a deep and nearly all-encompassing trailhead, blending and possessing much of my body, bringing up physical tension in my head, neck, and lower back. As I sat with these activated parts/areas, I found a triggered collection of parts, ranging from an analytical part making moment by moment assessments to a friendly protector that felt completely exhausted from carefully tailoring every word I spoke during the ride.
Gathering Around a Table
To work with these parts calmly without reliving the full experience, I visually invited them to sit around a large, round, customized picnic table where each part could be seen and heard by each other. There was my scared part, my perfectionist part, my friendly part, and a dismissive part that initially tried to laugh off the intensity of the whole experience. By offering curiosity to the dismissive part, I learned that it was scared of feeling my feelings—it was a dissociating part—as the trailhead experience was embedded in some early childhood feelings of neglect, disconnection, and feeling forgotten.
Reconnecting and Moving Forward
As I spent time listening to each part, they expressed deep gratitude for my consistency and actually showing up to be with them. By seeking to provide a welcoming and therefore safe space for these exiles and protectors to feel heard, my whole system began to relax, with even my inner critic shifting into a more supportive role. We ended the session with a deep sense of internal connection and mutual appreciation, leaving all these parts feeling safer and heard and more ready to move forward in my life, whatever that might entail.