Unburdening
In the Realm of Wounding & Healing
1: Learn about the many practices for releasing burdens through podcast, books and articles. Explore how they can support your healing
1: Learn about the many practices for releasing burdens through podcast, books and articles. Explore how they can support your healingBooks 📚
- Self-Therapy: A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating Wholeness and Healing Your Inner Child Using IFS, A New, Cutting-Edge Psychotherapy – by Jay Earley: shows how IFS is a complete method for psychological healing that you can use on your own. Self-Therapy is also helpful for therapists because it presents the IFS model in such detail that it is a manual for the method. the IFS approach includes the concept of “unburdening”.
- The IFS Online Bookstore: Internal Family Systems has a wealth of books that approach its various “parts” in diverse ways. Start here and follow the path that speaks to you. “Unburdening” is a core concept in Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy.
Videos 🎦
- Guided Meditation – Unburden Yourself on YouTube: This is a deep and calming guided mindfulness meditation to heal your soul and release difficult thoughts about the past.
- Unblending from Exiles – Healing Trauma in IFS Therapy on YouTube: a very helpful video. Understanding “parts”, understanding “exiles”, and well as “unblending” and unburdening.
- IFS + Unburdening on YouTube: Dr. Anderson outlines three core elements necessary for healing trauma: sharing (witnessing), a corrective experience, and release. He explores why trauma work must include separation (“being with” rather than “being in”), how unburdening occurs energetically and neurologically, and why safety and boundaries are foundational before accessing wounded parts.
Websites & Articles
- IFS Institute: resources, trainings, books, support, articles and more related to Internal Family Systems, of which ‘unburdening’ is a core concept.
- Lastest Articles from IFS Institute: check out what’s new on the IFS Institute Blog
Podcasts 🎧
- The One Inside – An Internal Family Systems Podcast: IFS can help you understand the tug-of-war within your mind and rediscover your natural calm, creativity, and clarity. Hosted by certified IFS therapist, Tammy Sollenberger, this show aims to educate, support, and encourage those who are curious about IFS
2: Try Somatic Healing practices to help release burdens you may be holding in your body.
Books 📚
- Full Catastrophe Living (updated) – by Jon Kabat-Zinn: Landmark work on how to connect your mind and body to reduce stress and lead a more fulfilling, healthy, and complete life. Included detailed instructions on body scanning.
- Body Scanning Audio Exercise (39 min) – from the Mindful Way Workbook – FREE & a great intro to body scanning practice.
- The Mindful Way Workbook – by John D. Teasdale, J. Mark G. Williams, and Zindel V. Segal: Get the benefits of MBCT (Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy) any time, any place, by working through this carefully constructed book. Introduces specific mindfulness practices to try (with accompanying audio downloads), reflection questions, and tools for keeping track of progress, which you can download and print for repeated use. Pretty cool!
- The Breath of Life – An Introduction to Craniosacral Biodynamics – by Menzam-Sills, Cherionna, Ph.D.; Sills, Franklyn: Accessible introduction to the meditative healing practice of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST). This book offers a personal journey of embodied inquiry into each element of biodynamic session work, using meditative explorations, personal descriptions, and illustrations to convey the essence of Biodynamics.
- Essential Pranayama – by Jerry Givens: one of the best classic pranayama books out there. If you follow these practices, utterly life-changing.
- The Little Book of Yoga Breathing – by Scott Shaw: Pranayama made easy. Classic and easy to follow book of pranayama breath meditation practices.
- Breath Practice Cards – by Rebecca Moore: We LOVE this deck of cards. Easy to practice techniques and self-guided meditations, including diaphragmatic breathing / belly breathing.
Videos 🎦
- SheBreath Somatics Channel on YouTube: simple to follow videos and effective somatic exercises for self-regulation
- What is BioDynamic Cranial Sacral Therapy?: 1 hour podcast episode on this topic
- When to Use Somatic Therapy vs Talk Therapy
- 10-Minute Body Scan Meditation on Youtube: 10-minute calming body scan meditation.
- 30-Minute Body Scan Meditation on YouTube: another, longer calming body scan meditation.
- Chakra Balance Guided Meditation on YouTube: 15-minute quality guided meditation.
- 10-Minute Chakra Meditation (Daily Recharge): instructive and ideal for quickly opening, cleansing and recharging your chakras daily. Really good daily meditation.
Podcasts 🎧
- Somatic Healing Meditations Podcast: Every episode contains a guided meditation specifically designed to help you be more present in your body (and your life) by connecting to your physical sensations and awakening your inner knowing in a gentle and healing way.
- The Somatic Uprising Podcast: This podcast weaves together the spiritual and the scientific to help you understand your body, soften your survival patterns, and reconnect with the innate wisdom of your nervous system.
- The Yoga Nidra Podcast: Yoga Nidra means “yogic sleep” and is a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping. A powerfully restorative practice to restore your mind, body, and soul.
- Yoga Nidra and Beyond Podcast: Here, you will discover the REST you deserve and need to RESTORE your nervous system on the road to a better sleep and life.
3: Spend time in nature and create rituals to help you let go. Bring in elements of earth, air, water, fire, stone, feather and bone.
Books 📚
- Coming Back to Life – by Joanna Macy & Molly Brown: The Updated Guide to the Work that Reconnects. Inspiration, practices, and meditations to empower us in the face of planetary suffering.
- Sacred Rituals – by Belinda Recio: Creating Labyrinths, Sand Paintings, and Other Traditional Arts.
- Ritual as Remedy – Embodied Practices for Soul Care – by Mara Branscombe: Connecting with the pagan wheel of the year, the five elements, and the lunar cycle, soulstirring rituals and step-by-step healing protocols show a path towards a deeper, heart-centered living.
Websites & Courses 📝
- 5 Rituals for Letting Go from the MoonSchool: earth-based rituals for letting go. Simple, powerful, great explanations.
- Rituals for Letting Go – Emotional Release in Nature’s Cycles: LOVE this article and ritual suggestions + tips from livinglore.com.
- Embracing New Beginnings: Incorporating Nature into your End-of-Transition rituals. More great suggestions and tips for nature-based rituals for release, completion, letting go.
- Finding calm in chaos-the power of nature-based rituals: from the Open-Air Life Substack. Great article on nature-based rituals with suggestions.
Videos 🎦
- Healing Contact with Mother Earth – Navajo Teachings on YouTube: Amazing video of Navajo earth healing rituals. Not to be missed!
- Navajo Traditional Teachings Channel on YouTube: so much beautiful wisdom in this channel and they often discuss various earth-based rituals and ceremonies.
4: Listen to guided meditations on the process of letting go.
Videos 🎦
- Guided Meditation – Unburden Yourself on YouTube: This is a deep and calming guided mindfulness meditation to heal your soul and release difficult thoughts about the past.
- Unblending from Exiles – Healing Trauma in IFS Therapy on YouTube: a very helpful video. Understanding “parts”, understanding “exiles”, and well as “unblending” and unburdening.
- IFS + Unburdening on YouTube: Dr. Anderson outlines three core elements necessary for healing trauma: sharing (witnessing), a corrective experience, and release. He explores why trauma work must include separation (“being with” rather than “being in”), how unburdening occurs energetically and neurologically, and why safety and boundaries are foundational before accessing wounded parts.
Audio or Podcasts
- Tara Brach Guided Meditation – Letting Go, Letting Be: invites us to imagine a clenched fist relaxing open, and explores this in releasing contractions in the body as well as the grip of thoughts. When we deeply let go and let be, our energy flows freely. We reconnect with our natural aliveness, love and awareness.
- Detachment – Let Them, Let it Guided Meditation
- A Zen Mind Guided Meditations Podcast
- A Zen Mind Global: specifically go to “Healing and Release” on the Practices page for guided meditations on this topic.
Apps 📲
- Insight Timer APP: well-maintained long-running meditation app. Search for “Letting go” or “Unburdening” or “release“.
5: Transform your story by setting burdens free. See yourself as strong, capable, and deserving of the freedom you seek. See our resources on narrative therapy.
Books 📚
- Narrative Healing – Awaken the Power of Your Story – by Lisa Weinert: based on the premise that we hold our stories in our bodies. The extent that we learn how to release them affects how we perceive and approach our lives – but what if we don’t have the tools to understand our narrative outside of what’s been told to us?
- The Narrative Therapy Workbook – by Janet Hill: Deconstruct Your Story, Challenge Unhealthy Beliefs, and Reclaim Your Life. The stories you tell yourself and the ones others tell you influence the way you see yourself and the world. Using this workbook, you’ll learn to examine those stories and rewrite them to reflect the life you want to live.
Websites & Courses 📝
- Writing Reflections & Guided Practices: resources, prompts, tips and techniques for reflective writing for healing.
- Narrative Therapy Worksheets: download 5 worksheets for FREE. Also tips, techniques, explanation and more on narrative therapy practice.
Podcasts 🎧
- BANTR – Narrative Therapy Podcast: from Bay Area Narrative Therapy Resource. Yup, all things narrative therapy!