What I’ve Learned From Two Months of Root Work
“I can say without a doubt that this was one of the most intensely profound experiences of my life. While it was immensely challenging, I am floored by how much lighter I feel - like I dropped a bowling ball I'd been carrying for the past 15 years.”
- JS from Los Angeles, a participant in Root Work
I can’t believe it’s been almost two months since I’ve last sent off a newsletter! I’ve been busy with IFS coaching, both individually and in groups, but most of all I’ve been focused on building and facilitating our new program at Yes Collective called Root Work.
We’re finishing our third cohort this weekend, and I’m finally getting a little bit space to breathe and reflect. I want to start the reflection process here, out in the open, and start letting others in on what I think is a really special way to leverage the power of Internal Family Systems, Authentic Relating, peer support, and psychedelic medicine.
First, let me tell you a little bit about Root Work. It’s an 8-week program, based in Internal Family Systems, that brings six people together online for three weeks of preparation and intentions setting before meeting in-person at a multi-day retreat that includes group-based IFS processing, Authentic Relating, breathwork, somatic movement, and a safe, guided psychedelic experience (the psychedelic experience is facilitated outside the Root Work program by experienced professionals). The six members in the cohort then go through 5 weeks of online group-based integration. All of this is guided by experienced, trained facilitators.
We’re a ways from having all of the survey data in, so I don’t know what the totality of the feedback will be. But I’d like to share my experience and impression so far. So, what have I learned?
#1 - Root Work is a good name for what we’re doing
I first head the phrase “root work” years ago from my friend Jenny Walters. It stuck with me as a way of describing what I was doing in my own personal therapeutic work. I wanted to dig deep, get into the dirt of my inner world, open things up, and clean things out, all so that I could grow.
I didn’t want to “transcend,” achieve “enlightenment,” or become spiritually “purified.” I wanted to learn how to live more firmly rooted in this world, on this earth, with the people around me. And this personal root work has turned out to be a surprisingly spiritual journey, which is why I feel so aligned with Carl Jung’s quote: “It is said, no tree can reach to heaven unless its roots reach to the underworld.” (I swap out the word “hell” for “underworld,” because I and many others grew up in Christian churches and have young inner parts that are activated by the word “hell.”)
When I reflect on each member of each cohort, I see how the Root Work program blended IFS group and individual work with their personal psychedelic experience in ways that allowed for them to experience new and totally unforeseen avenues of healing and growth. And these avenues weren’t about transcendence, enlightenment, or some other mystical escape from the messiness of this world. In fact, in each case it’s been the opposite.
I’ve had the honor of witnessing people turn toward parts of themselves holding grief, pain, confusion, and even terror, and in the process discover the deeper Core Self inside that can hold it all. This Core Self (or True Self or Essence or Spirit or just Self––whatever you want to call it), far from bypassing any of the grief, pain, etc., can compassionately witness all of our parts no matter what they’ve been through and what they’re holding.
This is root work.
#2 - We need a community as we heal and grow
I do a lot of one-on-one IFS coaching, and it’s powerful stuff. I’ve witnessed people gain incredible levels of self-awareness and self-compassion as they heal wounds that go back to early childhood. But maintaining this healing and growth requires a community of some kind. If they’re lucky, their partner starts doing IFS or some other healing modality, and they at least have one other person to connect with around their journey.
However, until now I haven’t yet witnessed what happens when six individuals go through an IFS journey (plus a psychedelic experience) together over a longer period of time. I am confident that the social/emotional support of others, learning alongside you, sharing extraordinary experiences, and witnessing each other’s highs and lows and twists and turns––this all opens up more space for the Core Self’s courage, compassion, and clarity.
Humans are the “ultra social animal” as one scientist put it. In WEIRDmodernity, we’ve fallen into an individualist framework for mental/emotional healing and personal growth, but we’re meant to do this deep work TOGETHER.
#3 - Psychedelics are the gateway drug into Internal Family Systems
I don’t have the data on this yet, but my sense is that most participants signed up for Root Work because they wanted to experience psychedelics in a safe, supportive container. I think the unstated assumption was that IFS was just the therapeutic framework for preparation and integration––the real agent of change would be the psychedelic.
The feedback I’ve received so far is that IFS has been the game-changer, with the psychedelic acting as a catalyst to open up more emotional space inside, allowing for more Core Self to access the inner parts ready for connection, compassion, and healing.
I’ve witnessed first hand how each person who’s gone through Root Work has become more self-aware, self-compassionate, and courageous in stepping into who they really are. From my vantage point, this has come from IFS aided by the heart-opening catalyst of the psychedelic.
#4 - Gül Dolen is right
The Root Work program was inspired by the science of Johns Hopkins researcher, Gül Dolen, MD, PhD, who has shown that psychedelics open in the brains of animals critical windows of development that are usually only open when animals are young. When these windows are re-opened, we can get freedom from stuck patterns, thought loops, habits, etc. and we can more easily step into new ways of thinking, feeling, and acting.
So, we wanted to develop a program that could take advantage of the opening of these critical windows of development. This meant that we’d treat the psychedelic experience as simply an important catalyst for the real change that takes place over the following 4-5 weeks.
What I found was that in the weeks following the psychedelic experience, participants’ inner systems were so much more open than before. It was so much easier to notice and access parts, as well as to access Core Self. Sessions would go so much faster, exile parts were easier to access, and unburdening happened so much more smoothly.
It was shocking, really, how much easier inner work became in those weeks following the psychedelic experience. And IFS is really the perfect framework to support participants in those weeks, with its blend of incisive power and gentle compassion.
#5 - Compassion, courage, and connection can take us incredibly far in our own healing and growth journey
There is growing attention paid to the risks and adverse experiences related to psychedelics. And I of course take these risks very seriously. We spend the first three weeks in group sessions and peer-to-peer connection focusing on parts of us carrying concerns, letting those parts speak, processing their concerns, and then ultimately seeking these parts’ permission to take the psychedelic medicine.
At the retreat, we use IFS-based practices, Authentic Relating, breathwork, and somatic movement to bring ever deeper levels of compassion and connection within and between each participant. And this compassion and connection then allows for greater levels of courage: to be vulnerable; to speak one’s truth; to go to the places inside that have been exiled and hidden.
In the presence of continuous compassion, connection, and courage, it has felt like every challenging moment—both in the psychedelic journey and beyond—opened people up to greater awareness, deeper self-acceptance, and more True Self.
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As I reflect on the past two months, there are of course things that I (and my colleagues) would like to change and improve. But I know beyond doubt that we’re on to something very special. The healing and growth I’ve witnessed in this program isn’t dependent on a medicine, a guru, or tips and tricks. They’ve come from the powerful framework of Internal Family Systems, boosted by a psychedelic experience, blended with facilitated peer support.
It’s not magic. It’s not rocket science. It’s just bringing the right psycho-spiritual framework together with the right heart-opening medicine, and the right peer-supported container. There are still so many questions to answer, but for now, I’m feeling really excited about this thing called Root Work.