IFS Therapy Activities: IFS Exercises to Try At Home
Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy offers a compassionate and non-pathologizing way to understand the inner world. At the heart of IFS is the idea that we all have different “parts,” each with its own perspective, emotions, and protective role. While learning the theory of IFS can be helpful, many people find that real transformation happens through lived experience. This is where therapy activities come in.
IFS therapy activities are practices that help you connect with your internal system in a gentle, embodied, and meaningful way. These activities are not about fixing or forcing change, but about building relationships with your parts and allowing healing to unfold naturally. Whether you are working with a therapist or exploring IFS on your own, these activities can deepen self-awareness, increase self-compassion, and support emotional regulation.
Understanding the Role of Activities in IFS
IFS therapy emphasizes that insight alone is often not enough. Healing happens through connection—connection with parts that may have been ignored, judged, or pushed away for years. IFS therapy activities help translate abstract concepts into lived experiences, allowing you to sense parts in your body, hear their concerns, and respond to them with curiosity and care.
Many parts developed during times when emotional support, safety, or attunement was missing. These parts often communicate through sensations, emotions, impulses, or repetitive thoughts rather than words. Activities create space to slow down and listen, helping parts feel seen and understood. Over time, this process allows protective parts to soften and vulnerable parts to release the burdens they have been carrying.
Creating a Safe Inner Environment
Before engaging in IFS therapy activities, it is important to establish a sense of safety. This does not mean everything must feel calm or resolved, but there should be enough internal stability to explore without becoming overwhelmed.
A simple starting point is grounding. This may involve noticing your breath, feeling your feet on the floor, or placing a hand on your chest or abdomen. The goal is to access Self energy—qualities such as curiosity, calmness, compassion, and presence. When Self is leading, IFS therapy activities feel supportive rather than activating.
If intense emotions arise, it is often a sign that a part needs reassurance or pacing. IFS honors the idea that parts move at their own speed, and activities should always be approached with respect for internal boundaries.
Mapping Your Inner System
One of the foundational IFS therapy activities involves identifying and mapping your parts. This is not about labeling yourself, but about becoming aware of internal patterns.
You might begin by reflecting on a recent situation that felt emotionally charged. As you recall it, notice what shows up internally. Perhaps there is an anxious voice, a critical thought, a tightness in the chest, or an urge to withdraw. Each of these experiences may represent a different part.
Mapping can be done mentally, through journaling, or visually by drawing or writing down parts and their roles. Over time, patterns often emerge. You may notice protector parts that work hard to manage emotions, prevent rejection, or maintain control. You may also sense younger, more vulnerable parts that carry sadness, fear, or loneliness.
This activity builds internal awareness and helps you step out of identification with any one part, allowing Self to observe the system with curiosity.
Befriending Protector Parts
Protector parts are central in IFS and often the most active in daily life. They may show up as anxiety, perfectionism, people-pleasing, avoidance, overthinking, or self-criticism. While their strategies can feel exhausting or limiting, they are always trying to help.
An important IFS activity is intentionally befriending protector parts. This involves turning toward them rather than trying to silence or eliminate them. You might internally say, “I notice you’re here,” or “I see how hard you’re working.”
As you focus on a protector part, notice how it feels in your body. Does it have a shape, temperature, or energy? You can gently ask what its role is and what it is afraid would happen if it stopped doing its job. Often, protector parts are guarding against emotional pain rooted in earlier experiences.
This activity builds trust. When protectors feel understood rather than judged, they are more likely to relax and allow access to the vulnerable parts they protect.
Dialoguing With Parts
IFS therapy activities often involve internal dialogue, but this is not forced or imagined in a rigid way. Dialogue can be verbal, sensory, emotional, or symbolic.
Once you are connected to a part, you might ask simple, open-ended questions such as: What do you want me to know? What are you trying to protect? What do you need right now? The key is to listen without trying to change the answer.
Sometimes parts respond clearly in words. Other times, responses come as images, emotions, or bodily sensations. All forms of communication are valid. The goal is not to analyze the response, but to stay present and curious.
Over time, dialoguing helps parts feel acknowledged, which can reduce internal conflict and emotional reactivity.
Working With Exiles Gently
Exiles are parts that carry vulnerable emotions such as grief, fear, shame, or loneliness. These parts are often pushed away because their feelings felt overwhelming at the time they were formed. IFS therapy activities involving exiles require particular care and pacing.
Before approaching an exile, it is essential to check in with protector parts and ensure they feel comfortable with the process. If protectors are hesitant, their concerns should be addressed first. This respect for the internal system prevents re-traumatization.
When an exile is present, activities often focus on witnessing rather than fixing. You might simply sit with the feelings, offering compassion and presence. Letting an exile know it is not alone anymore can be profoundly healing.
Reparenting activities, such as imagining offering comfort, safety, or validation, can help exiles release burdens they have carried for years.
Somatic IFS therapy activities
Many parts communicate through the body, making somatic IFS therapy activities particularly powerful. These practices involve tuning into physical sensations with curiosity rather than judgment.
You might notice tension in your shoulders, heaviness in your chest, or restlessness in your legs. Instead of trying to relax the sensation, you can ask what part is present there and what it wants you to know.
Movement can also be an IFS activity. Gentle stretching, rocking, or walking while staying internally curious can help parts express themselves nonverbally. Some parts need physical expression before they can articulate their experience.
Somatic activities are especially helpful for individuals whose parts formed before language was fully developed or for those who feel disconnected from their bodies.
Journaling as an IFS Activity
Journaling can be a powerful way to engage with parts outside of formal therapy sessions. Rather than traditional reflective journaling, IFS journaling involves writing from different parts while maintaining Self leadership.
You might begin by writing from Self, acknowledging what you notice internally. Then you can allow a specific part to “write” its perspective, followed by a compassionate response from Self.
This back-and-forth process helps externalize internal experiences, making them easier to understand and integrate. Over time, journaling can reveal recurring themes, unmet needs, and shifts in how parts relate to each other.
Visualisation and Imagery
IFS therapy activities often incorporate visualization to help parts feel safe and supported. This might include imagining a calm internal space where parts can rest or picturing a boundary that protects vulnerable parts from overwhelm.
Some people find it helpful to imagine parts as younger versions of themselves, animals, or symbolic figures. The form does not matter as much as the felt sense of connection and respect.
Visualization can also support unburdening processes, where exiles release painful beliefs or emotions they no longer need to carry. These activities should always be approached gently and ideally with professional support when dealing with trauma.
Integrating IFS Into Daily Life
IFS therapy activities are not limited to structured practices. Everyday moments offer opportunities to connect with parts. When strong emotions arise, pausing to ask “Which part is activated right now?” can shift the experience from reactivity to awareness. For example, we might have an anxious though or an intrusive thought that says “people don’t like me”, when this happens we can catch ourselves and say “ah, this is anxiety talking”.
Noticing internal responses during relationships, work stress, or moments of self-doubt helps build an ongoing relationship with your inner system. Over time, Self leadership becomes more accessible, and parts feel less extreme in their roles.
Integration also involves honouring parts’ needs through rest, boundaries, creativity, and connection. Healing is not confined to introspection; it unfolds through lived experience.
When to Seek Support
While many IFS therapy activities can be practiced independently, working with a trained IFS therapist can provide guidance, safety, and depth. Therapy offers a relational container where parts can emerge and heal in the presence of attunement and compassion.
This is especially important when working with trauma, intense emotions, or long-standing patterns. A therapist can help pace the work, address protector concerns, and support integration.
Closing Reflections
IFS therapy activities offer a gentle yet profound way to relate to yourself differently. Rather than seeing symptoms or struggles as problems to eliminate, IFS invites curiosity about the parts that carry them. Through consistent, compassionate practice, inner conflict can transform into inner collaboration.
Healing through IFS is not about becoming someone new, but about reconnecting with who you already are beneath protective strategies and old wounds. With patience and care, IFS therapy activities help create an internal environment where all parts are welcome, heard, and supported.
If you’re interested in exploring IFS therapy activities more deeply or would like support in working with your internal system, working with a trained practitioner can help you navigate the process with clarity and compassion. You can get in contact here to see if you resonate with my energy and see what it would be like working with me.