A Lantern in the Woods

IFS/parts-work coaching and intuitive guidance to journey through the shadow to find clarity and healing.

SUPPORT TO ILLUMINATE YOUR WAY FORWARD.

Jennifer Hinckley Baglia

We all find ourselves in a dark wood at times and can use a lantern to light our way. 

When we face challenging times, we need support and guidance, and I’m here to help when you feel lost or unsure, or you want to make your life happier and more fulfilling, and less plagued by doubt. Our fears of change, loss, and rejection make it hard to be aware of and potentially defy family, societal, or religious messages and expectations. We all have past wounds that reinforce these beliefs. This fear and self-doubt create inner conflict, with some parts of us wanting to play it safe and others wanting to grow, making it hard to move forward and holding us back from living our best lives.

IFS, or Internal Family Systems, a therapeutic method developed by Richard C. Schwartz, PhD., several decades ago, explores internal, often subconscious, conflict. IFS views everyone as having a core, whole, and healthy Self. IFS, or parts work, helps people connect with that healthy Self and those parts that might have great intentions but often block real growth and fulfillment because outdated stories, wounds, and trauma burden them. Talking about our stories (talk therapy) can reinforce them rather than transforming them. With IFS, the goal is not only to understand and release the past but to embrace and integrate all the elements of our personality, including our shadow.

It’s a tool for introspection, radical self-acceptance, self-compassion, and self-love—a powerful combination that results in lasting change.

When we try to eliminate unwanted aspects of our personality (our shadow), we often inadvertently strengthen them by shaming them, keeping us even more “stuck.” Instead, when we learn how to embrace all aspects of ourselves, we can work with them to ultimately release the stories and wounds and find new ways of being. This self-awareness and self-love become a way of living, but deep work on our own is difficult; we need someone to facilitate our journey inward and guide us in discovering the intricate elements of our internal system.

I can help you if: 

• You’re struggling, and you don’t know how to move forward. 

• You know at some level that you’re not living your truth.

• You feel like you are ruled by fear and anxiety.

• You feel like something’s missing in your life, but you can’t figure out what that is.

• You know there are choices, but you don’t know what they are or how to make them.

• You’re looking for support in seeing things more clearly and developing trust within yourself.  

• There are circumstances in your life that you cannot change, for the time being, and you need help finding acceptance and coping strategies. 

• You want to learn how to connect to and trust your intuition and inner knowing

When we work directly with the parts of ourselves that hold the limiting beliefs, and befriend them, we can integrate them as allies within our internal system. We can also gain greater access to Self, which can also be described as the soul, the “watcher”, one’s divine nature, or true spirit untainted by the accumulated wounds and stories of our past, an intrinsic guide always there, ready to help light our way forward.