Introduction to IFS & Legacy Burdens
This class can be attended live or via the on-demand recordings. All class times are posted in Eastern Time / New York time zone.
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These Master Classes are offered exclusively for Embody Lab Members.
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ABOUT THIS MASTER CLASS
This experiential workshop offers an introduction to the transformative Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz. Tailored for clinicians, helpers, and anyone seeking profound personal or collective healing, the workshop provides a supportive space to explore the psychological and emotional burdens we carry—both personal and inherited.
Central to the IFS model is the understanding of the mind as made up of distinct “parts,” each playing a role in shaping our inner experience. Some parts carry personal burdens—painful emotions, limiting beliefs, or protective strategies formed in response to difficult life experiences. Other parts may hold legacy burdens—emotional imprints passed down through generations, shaped by familial, cultural, or societal histories.
Legacy burdens encompass inherited patterns of thought and behavior that often operate unconsciously. These may include shame, fear, scarcity, or mistrust rooted in racism, oppression, intergenerational trauma, or collective historical events. Despite their origins in the past, legacy burdens are often reactivated by present-day experiences, especially during moments of social or political stress.
Working with legacy burdens within the IFS framework invites a compassionate and non-pathologizing inquiry into what has been carried—and why. Through this lens, participants are supported in recognizing inherited emotional pain, understanding how it functions in their internal system, and exploring the possibility of meaningful release.
The process of unburdening offers a path toward greater clarity, resilience, and connection within. Cultivating Self-energy—IFS’s term for the natural state of inner leadership characterized by calmness, compassion, and curiosity—enables individuals to meet both personal and collective challenges with deeper wisdom and care.
This workshop is appropriate for those new to IFS as well as experienced practitioners seeking to deepen their understanding of personal and legacy healing. Participants can expect an engaging and inclusive experience grounded in psychological insight and practical tools for transformation.
ABOUT YOUR TEACHER
Richard C. Schwartz, Ph.D.
Developer of Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Dr. Richard Schwartz began his career as a family therapist and an academic at the University of Illinois at Chicago. There he discovered that family therapy alone did not achieve full symptom relief and in asking patients why, he learned that they were plagued by what they called “parts.” These patients became his teachers as they described how their parts formed networks of inner relationship that resembled the families he had been working with. He also found that as they focused on and, thereby, separated from their parts, they would shift into a state characterized by qualities like curiosity, calm, confidence and compassion. He called that inner essence the Self and was amazed to find it even in severely diagnosed and traumatized patients. From these explorations the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model was born in the early 1980s.
In 2013 Schwartz left the Chicago area and now lives in Brookline, MA where he is on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.