IFS Enlightenment Snacks

10: Somatic Tracking: Stop Arguing With Your Body

Your body has been speaking all along. This episode invites you to listen — without fixing a thing. In Episode 10 of IFS Enlightenment Snacks, Shankari guides you into somatic tracking: a gentle Somatic IFS practice of turning toward sensation in the body with curiosity and kindness, rather than analysis, urgency, or the impulse to make it stop. No dramatic experience required. No special training needed. Just presence — at whatever pace feels right for your nervous system today. Drawing from her years in Gestalt practice at Esalen Institute, Somatic EMDR training, and her own healing journey after being struck by a car as a pedestrian, Shankari shares why the body doesn’t always heal through insight alone — and what becomes possible when we stop arguing with sensation long enough to truly accompany it. This is not a trauma-processing session, and it is not a replacement for skilled support. It is an invitation to begin befriending your body’s present-moment intelligence — slowly, consensually, with nothing to perform and nothing to perfect. Reflection questions and a tiny daily practice included. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Somatic Tracking 04:53 The Healing Power of the Body 12:58 Reflection and Practice Invitation

9: The Fear Is Here. So Are the Cherry Blossoms.

When dread becomes the default, your nervous system isn't broken. It's just gotten very good at one thing. Here's a gentler way through. What do you do when your nervous system is stuck in future-tripping — scanning for everything that could go wrong, even when nothing is actively threatening you right now? In this episode, I'm sharing a practice I've been leaning on heavily in my own life: glimmer hunting. It's a gentle way of widening attention when survival mode has narrowed the lens — and it doesn't ask you to be positive, fix anything, or feel grateful on command. We'll talk about why "just look for the good" can backfire when you're anxious, what your nervous system actually needs instead, and how neutral — yes, neutral — can be genuinely healing. I'll also share what the cherry blossoms here in Portland have been teaching me about making real, somatic contact with the present moment, even when dread is sitting right alongside it. This one is for you if you've been feeling that particular kind of weight — the constricted, future-oriented, what-if-it-all-goes-wrong kind. You're not alone in it. And there's a way to be with it that doesn't require you to bypass a single hard feeling. In this episode: * What glimmer hunting is (and what it isn't) * Why neutral counts as much as beautiful * A guided practice you can do sitting, walking, or commuting — eyes open * How to hold fear and the present moment at the same time, without pushing anything away * Episode length: 15 minutes CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction to Glimmer Hunting 03:14 Understanding Dread and Anxiety 05:56 The Practice of Glimmer Hunting 09:11 Neutrality and Its Importance 12:08 Embracing Both Fear and Joy 15:12 Closing Thoughts and Invitation ---------------------------------------- 🎧 New here? Download my free audio series — Unwind & Unblend - 3 Short Practices to Soothe Your Nervous System [https://www.wildwisdomguide.com/3-short-practices] — and get started with small, steady support right away.

8: A Place to Rest Inside the Fire

What if even in the middle of the hardest season, there was a part of you that didn't hurt? This episode was born from a message that stopped me in my tracks — a former client sharing how he got through cancer and treatment using one simple idea from IFS parts work: he went to the part that didn't hurt. In this snack, I unpack what that means, why it's not toxic positivity, and how you can find that inner resting place too — even when life is on fire. We cover: * Why your nervous system says "this will never end" — and why that's not a character flaw * The IFS concept of unblending: how to be with pain without becoming only pain * A guided Voo breath practice (popularized by Peter Levine) you can do anywhere — walking, sitting, even in your car * Three reflection questions to gently close the loop This one is for the season when everything feels heavy. You don't need to fix it. You just need one more inner place to stand. 🎁 Want three short, repeatable practices for hard seasons? Grab my free guide "3 Short Practices to Soothe Your Nervous System" at https://www.wildwisdomguide.com/3-short-practices [https://www.wildwisdomguide.com/3-short-practices]. ⏱ Timestamps  00:00 Introduction to Wild Wisdom and Personal Reflection 01:13 Finding Strength in Pain: A Personal Story 03:33 Understanding Inner Parts and Their Roles 04:57 The Concept of Unblending: Navigating Pain 06:57 Guided Practice: Noticing Support and Heaviness 09:30 Breath Practices for Nervous System Relief 10:32 Reflective Questions and Closing Thoughts

7: When Your Super Co-Regulator Status Gets Revoke

You know the feeling: you’re usually the steady one — the lighthouse, the calm nervous system in the room — and then suddenly… you’re not. Your “super co-regulator status” gets revoked, the dread returns to your belly, and a protective part starts whispering, “If I’m not in charge, we’re not safe.” In this 12-minute IFS Enlightenment Snack, Shankari (Wild Wisdom Guide™) gently translates what’s happening through an IFS lens — the Super Co-Regulator identity part, the belly alarm system, the tuning-fork sensitivity to the collective, and the “In-The-Loop” part that only wants a few headlines… until even that crashes your calm. You’ll leave with a grounding reframe: needing regulation doesn’t mean you’ve lost power — it means your system is asking for a new kind of support. And dread is a signal, not a prophecy — it can help you sort what’s yours to carry, and what isn’t wise to take in during tender times. Plus: a short, soothing Belly + Heart Reset practice (hands on belly and heart, longer exhales, and a gentle “stream re-route” for your attention) to help you come back to center — one breath, one kindness at a time. Try this for the next 24 hours: catch where your attention is flowing… and re-route it once toward something nourishing. If this helped, leave a review and share this episode with someone who needs a lighthouse today. 00:00 Navigating Emotional Turbulence 03:57 Understanding the Need for Regulation 06:31 Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Practices 12:43 Rerouting Attention for Nourishment

6: Be the Lighthouse, Not the Storm

Are you absorbing the world's pain as if it's happening inside your own body? This episode is for you. The news is heavy. The world feels uncertain. And your nervous system — bless it — may be treating every headline like a five-alarm fire happening inside your chest. This isn't weakness. This is what an open, empathic system does. But it's not sustainable. In this episode, I share the 3:30am dream that woke me with a message I couldn't ignore — become the lighthouse in the storm — and why those five words became medicine for my own dysregulated nervous system in the middle of an overwhelming world. Together, we explore why your body struggles to tell the difference between a threat happening to you and one you're reading about — and how that merging, that loss of inner shoreline, keeps so many of us flooded, exhausted, and unable to show up the way we long to. Then we go into the body together. This guided somatic practice will help you locate the storm in your nervous system, draw a felt boundary between the world out there and the ground in here, regulate through breath, and turn toward the steady light that is already — always — present inside you. You'll leave with a practice you can return to anytime the world gets loud. And a felt sense of something true: your steadiness isn't indifference. It's the foundation of your care. In this episode: * Why empathic nervous systems lose the shore — and how to find it again * The neuroscience of where you place your attention (and how to gently rewire it) * A full guided somatic practice: The Lighthouse After the News * The concept of titration — why small, repeated doses of calm build lasting change * Why becoming the lighthouse is one of the most important things you can do right now — for yourself, and for the world 00:00 Introduction: Navigating Stormy Times 01:18 Understanding Your Nervous System's Response 02:43 The Power of Repetition and Neural Rewiring 04:20 The Practice of Titration: Small Steps to Grounding 08:13 Arrival and Body Awareness Exercise 09:10 Identifying the Storm in Your Body 10:01 Drawing the Line: Out There vs. In Here 12:28 Breathing as a Signal of Safety 14:32 Finding the Ground: Neutral and Steady Experience 16:23 Imagining the Lighthouse: Steadiness in the Storm 18:30 Extending the Light: Intention and Connection 21:13 Balancing Waves and Ground: Dual Reality 22:46 The Long-Term Practice of Steadiness 23:18 Invitations for Daily Practice and Reflection