Home
About
About IFS About Capacity Enhancement About Jay Earley About Bonnie Weiss
Courses Groups Professionals Products Calendar Contact

 

 

 

 

Legacy Burdens

Legacy Burdens are beliefs and emotions that are absorbed from our families, peers, ethnic groups, and cultural contexts.


They often affect our work with Parts by increasing the amplitude of a Parts reactivity or resistance. Clients can feel that the Part’s experience of forcefulness is out of proportion with their own lived experience. 

 

ABOUT THIS COURSE

 We can divide burdens into 3 categories: Personal or Accumulated burdens, Shaped Burdens, and Inherited Burdens.

  1. Personal Burdens are those that result from our lived experience. They result from things that have happened to us in our lifetime. The Parts take on the burden because of their natural proclivities coming up against the realities of their environment. This creates exiled parts that hold childhood memories and pain: e.g.“I carry the trauma from my childhood in my body. It makes me fearful of intimate relationships.”
  2. Shaped Burdens result from the contact with our caretaker's burdens. Our beliefs and behavior are reinforced by their accepting or rejecting our attitudes or behavior. We learn what is acceptable and desired, and mold ourselves accordingly; e.g. “It’s not safe to talk about your feelings. “Always wait for permission before asking for something.”
  3. Inherited Burdens are passed down through the generations. They result from the experiences of a family line over lifetimes. These burdens affect our views of the world, our expectations for ourselves, our level of reactivity, and our responses to stress. They impact our feelings of personal worth, value, and possibility.

Legacy Heirlooms are the hidden gifts that we have as a result of being in this family.

 

Meetings


Class 1 Legacy Heirlooms: What are the traits that I have inherited from my family that I value?

Meditation, discussion, teaching, demo. 

Class 2 Shaped Burdens: What did I learn from my experience in my family that has shaped who I have become? Things that were reinforced and supported. Things that were not mirrored or discouraged. How has that impacted my sense of myself and my experience of the world?

Meditation, discussion, teaching, demo.

Class 3 Legacy Burdens: What are the legacy burdens that have been passed down through the generations that have impacted by the sense of self and my experience of the world?

Meditation, discussion, teaching, demo.

Class 4 Your Legacy: What is the legacy you want to leave? How can you support the development of that legacy?

Meditation, discussion, teaching, demo.

Upcoming Legacy Burdens Courses 

TO BE ANNOUNCED

JOIN WAITING LIST

 

Course Logistics

  • There are two requirements for participating in the Legacy Burdens course - 1) that you complete a Safety Questionnaire, and 2) sign a disclaimer. These two documents will be part of your registration process. 
  • Classes meet weekly, online, on Zoom, for 2 hours; see course descriptions for details
  • The Legacy Burdens course is limited to 18 participants
  • Tuition for the four-session Legacy Burdens course is $325.00 ($300 if paid more than a week in advance).
  • All course materials, including videos of each session, will be available to registered students on a dedicated Legacy Burdens homepage.
  • The course is experiential, including group discussion and exercises 
  • Between classes, participants will meet in pairs to practice assigned homework and IFS processes taught in class.

What People Are Saying About the Legacy Burdens course:

Sharon 

IFS Therapist, NH

I was startled to see the impact that these legacy burdens had on my daily attitudes. I love watching Bonnie work. I learned a lot from her gentleness and pacing.

 

Harris

LCSW, CA

"I often feel so burdened by my family history. It was enlightening to uncover the Legacy Heirlooms and feel a deeper appreciation for my history. Thank you for this class."