Last summer I got to sit down with my dear friend and colleague, the poet and counselor Dr. Simona Chitescu Weik. And through special arrangement with the Mystics Summit I co-hosted, I can now share our full dialogue with you!
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a more than a psychological modality. It’s a way of seeing and perceiving ourselves, the world, and the Divine.
Simona names it as an inward journey that connects us to the various fragmented parts of our being, moving us toward harmony and wholeness. Its goal is not to get rid of our various parts and become some kind of mono-mind, but instead to connect each part to genuine Self energy, help unburden it from its habitual messaging, and allow it to play the role it desires to have in the overall system of you.
This conversation was my first sustained engagement with IFS, and you can palpably hear Simona blowing my mind and heart open in this dialogue. I’ve since explored my own “internal family” parts with her directly, as well as with a Group Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Cohort in the mountains of western North Carolina, combining IFS with this potent neuroplasticity-enhancing medicine. I’ll be sharing about my powerful experience in this cohort soon!
After our dialogue last summer, a number of viewers asked me how they might engage further with Simona’s work. Now I’m happy to share that Simona is offering a three-part online series, The Heroine’s Journey.
What’s this all about?
The Heroine’s Journey is the archetypal blueprint for the awakening and healing of the Feminine Principle or Energy as it exists in the universe and expresses itself in everything from the cosmic dance of planets, to our human bodies, to the microcellular structure of a fern.
It’s a map to the growth and development of our inner being, our psyches/souls and consequently bodies, a leaving of the external (masculine) world and entering the deep nourishing dark, in order to encounter the Mother/ Divine Feminine and heal the wound of separation.
It a spiral shaped descent into self-emptying (kenosis) so that our True Blueprint Self might be awakened and restored.
It is also the root system for a sustainable and honest Hero’s Journey (the manifestation of our unique work and purpose in the visible world) which leads to the integration of the Masculine + Feminine energies and the birthing of the New— the Third Way.
Sadly, the Western patriarchal model has taught us to be externally-focused. We are seduced by expressions of success, fame, visibility, and productivity that often cause dysregulated nervous systems, feelings of emptiness, listlessness, and shame. Depending on a person’s natural wiring, we may be navigating our lives in a state of mild freeze, or in a highly anxious sympathetic overdrive that tells us we must do more, learn more, and try harder.
What is given back to us when we surrender to the descent?
- rhythms & cycles
- rest
- connection
- deeper meaning
- gentleness & slowness
- a creative mind & a vital body
- integration of work, play, and relationships
- reconciling of the Shadow
- courage to grieve
- the re-membering of our parts back to our Self
If this sounds intriguing to you, here are the details:
Part I of The HEROINE’S Journey Series
When: April 21st, 12:30 pm EST/9:30 am PST
Length: 75-ish minutes
Exchange: $45/for part one; $120/for all 3
Venmo or PayPal: simona.chitescu [at] gmail.com
Please reach out to bonjour [at] simonaweik.com if funds are scarce in this season of life. Simona wants everyone interested to have access to this.
To sign up, please complete this form and complete the monetary exchange, after which you will receive a welcome email with the zoom link and any other pertinent information.
There will be reflection questions to take with you between each part of the series to help locate yourself on the journey and provide some sense of how to move through in a gentle and supported way.
If you can’t attend live, or desire to return to the session, a recording will be available for all who sign up.
Dr. Simona Chitescu Weik, PhD, is a poet, somatic practitioner, teacher, and holistic creativity coach born in Romania, currently living in Atlanta, GA with her husband and their wild & beautiful daughter. Her work focuses on the integration of research-based therapies such as IFS (Internal Family systems), Somatic Experiencing, and nervous system recalibration, with ancient wisdom modalities and spiritual companionship.
Her passion is for each of her clients and students to come into experiential knowledge of the richness and beauty of their being, of other creatures, and of the Universe. She further invites them to offer their gifts to the world from a place of wholeness and belovedness.
She is currently editing her full-length poetry collection, teaching, leading sacred circles, building a sustainable client practice, and nature bathing as often as she can. Her poems and essays appear in Rattle, The Allender Center Blog, The Cimarron Review, Terminus, The Adirondack Review, and The Harvard Review among others. You can find out more about her work at simonaweik.com, and read some of her musings & whimsies on Instagram at dr.simonaisabella.
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