We Have Many Parts Inside Us. Some we know and others are Unconscious
I have five years group training and multiple workshops in Voice Dialogue led by Elaine Rosenson. Elaine is the preeminent Voice Dialogue teacher in Los ANgeles and was herself trained by and assisted Hal and Sidra Stone, the founders of Voice Dialogue.
Some parts are adaptive. These are very useful but can also get in the way of meeting new challenges in life and also keep us from knowing our true essence. Others are in the shadows, denied, repressed or undeveloped. Other parts are archetypal, ones that we all share. In other words, these sub-personalities tell us the story of our lives. How we have adapted, what we have adapted to and why, and what we have lost along the way.
Voice Dialogue is the specific method developed by Hall and Sidra Stone to explore our inner life. The job of the therapist is to help the subject become aware of, and to experience, the various parts that form our experience and to learn how to use them in a conscious way through the development of an Aware Ego Process.
Voice Dialogue gives us a map and an experiential method to learn about these parts, embrace them and integrate them—giving us a sense of wholeness and well-being. It is a unique and powerful blend of attachment theory, Depth psychology and Family Systems work.
We develop and strengthen the Aware Ego Process as the ultimate goal of Voice Dialogue. This is a Conscious Ego that is not identified with any of the inner family yet is appreciative of the unique gifts each offers. The Aware Ego Process is capable of holding the tension of the opposites within, while making decisions that are in the best interest of the whole person.
Our internal dynamics and personality determine our choices and behaviors. Sub-personalities are psychological satellites, coexisting as a multitude of lives within the overall medium of our personality. Each sub-personality has a style and a motivation of its own, often dissimilar from those of the others, creating a sense of unease especially when life challenges our usual way of functioning.
By embodying and voicing the many dimensions of our mind and body, we create a centered awareness that leads to integrating these various and often conflicting selves.
This integration allows a person to experience their core self, creating an ever-deepening sense of wholeness, self-acceptance, aliveness and choice.
View this narrative by Hal and Sidra Stone for more details about Voice Dialogue: Voice Dialogue Elements
