Bringing Your Inner World to Life: A Six-Week Group Experience

Most of us carry a few familiar voices inside. One that keeps things running. One that second-guesses. One that goes quiet when it's hurt, and one that gets loud. You probably know them well, even if you've never given them names. What's less familiar is what they're actually protecting, and what happens when they're listened to instead of managed.
This series is an invitation to find out, together.

Much of our inner work tends to happen alone: a journal, a podcast, a pile of half-read books. We get better at describing our patterns without necessarily feeling change or improved agency. This is a chance to try something else: gently bringing that inner world forward, and seeing what shifts when it's not just you and the page.
The series is especially well suited to anyone who tends to live in their head (thinking, analyzing, working things out mentally) and who's curious what it might feel like to build a bit more attunement with what's happening underneath the thinking.

How it works
Each week comes with a short reading, drawn from Internal Family Systems, that gradually builds out a map of the inner world and a deeper understanding of IFS and its process.

Then we meet for two hours: an authentic relating game to help us arrive and be present with each other, a conversation about the reading and where it showed up in your week, and a practice that brings the idea off the page and into felt experience.

Over the six weeks, there's room to meet some of your more difficult parts on purpose, understand what your coping habits have been trying to do for you, and see a stuck conflict met with some compassion rather than more pressure.

The premise we're working with is simple: every part of you is trying to help, even the ones that cause the most trouble, and something tends to soften when they're finally understood for their intentions. We'll explore that in your lived experience.

Nothing more is asked of you than showing up and a little willingness. What you choose to share is entirely up to you.

The six weeks

• Week 1: The map. Why "part of me wants to, part of me doesn't" is more literal than it sounds. We'll meet the three kinds of parts everyone carries and begin sketching a first map of your own.
• Week 2: What's underneath. There's a calm, steady presence in each of us that doesn't need to be built, only found. We'll explore what it feels like when it's present, where it tends to go, and how to notice the difference.
• Week 3: Stepping back. When a part takes over, it can feel like it is you. We'll practice a small shift in language and attention that opens a little room between you and whatever's running the show.
• Week 4: The ones that keep things under control. The planner, the critic, the one that can't quite let anything be imperfect. There's a chance to sit with one of yours and ask what it's been trying to prevent all along.
• Week 5: The ones that react. The phone, the fridge, the shutdown, the overwork. We'll look, without shame, at what these habits help us not feel, alongside others who recognize the pattern in themselves too.
• Week 6: When parts pull against each other. The stuck decision, the mixed feeling, the freeze. We'll give voice to both sides of a real conflict, then step back together and listen for what each one is actually asking for.

Details - Please see intake form at the bottom

• This is my inaugural run of this offering, so a few details are still settling into place.
• My intention is to meet in person on Tuesday evenings starting in October in inner NE Portland, but I’m holding space to adjust based on the needs of the group.
• You will receive six digital reading packets for prior to the in-person sessions and printouts to assist with the sessions.
• The 6 weekly sessions will be two hours, from 7 – 9 pm.
• Group size will be limited to 9.
• This is a founding cohort, offered at $200 (reduced from the standard rate $300) in exchange for your honest feedback and, if you're willing, a testimonial afterward.
• Scholarships are available. Message me directly.
• If it's not the right fit after Session 1, let me know and I'll refund the remainder.
• Please register on Meetup to signal your interest. Payment through PayPal or Venmo will secure your spot.
  PayPal - geofffalkenberg1
  Venmo - @Geoff-Falkenberg
• This is an educational, facilitator-led experience — not therapy, and not a substitute for it. If you're navigating something heavier right now, I'm happy to point you toward a referral.
• Please fill out this Intake Form to signal interest and receive more information - this is mandatory if you would like to attend.