Reconnecting with Our Roots: Exploring the Intersections of IFS & Ancestral Lineage Healing

An Experiential Course for IFS-informed Therapists, Practitioners, Healers & Coaches

Internal Family Systems (IFS) offers a roadmap to discovering part’s burdens and their natural gifts. As we befriend our own parts or as we work with clients, we may discover that our burdens and gifts are not only individual. Our parts carry legacy burdens from our ancestors and from the collective webs of trauma and oppression, as well as ancestral heirlooms or gifts. 

Uncovering these collective wounds, we can learn to heal with the support and blessing of our trusted ancestors. All people have wise and loving ancestors who can heal, guide and protect us. As we come into relationship with these ancestral guides, the wounds of our ancestors can be released, just as parts can release their burdens and return to their true nature. This allows us to embrace ourselves and all of our parts more fully and transform even the heaviest burdens. No matter your heritage, family history or identity, this healing is available to you.

Sessions will include guided practices for IFS-informed ancestral healing, explorations of how to integrate ancestral healing with IFS, and a heartfelt space for group connection and witnessing. This course requires no previous experience with ritual or ancestral healing and no knowledge of blood ancestry. We welcome people of all cultural and spiritual backgrounds and identities. Rather than relying solely on a therapist or external authority, this course will empower you to regain trust in your own Self and your wise ancestors, with their inherent wisdom, love and collective Self energy.

Together, we will co-create a culturally aware, inclusive and trauma-informed container to hold us in this process. You will leave this course with a deeper understanding of your emotional landscape and a safe, effective method for transforming generational patterns and reconnecting with the gifts of your people. 

In this 8-week experiential course, you will explore and learn: 

  • Core principles of ancestral lineage healing

  • Practices to connect with ancestral and protective guides 

  • Relational attachment patterns and connections between our parts, our Self and our wise guides

  • Practices to heal intergenerational burdens and to embrace ancestral blessings

  • Self-led ritual practices to support energetic hygiene, well-being and boundaries as healers and therapists

Upcoming Course Dates (2024)

All sessions will be held over Zoom on Wednesdays from 1-2:30pm Eastern Time (North America).

May 22, 29

June 5, 12, 19, 26

July 10, 17

Note: we will not have a session on July 3.

This is not a drop-in class - please plan to attend all 8 sessions if you sign up for the course. Once you register, you will receive the Zoom link and other information. Sessions will be recorded and available for a limited time after the course completes. Recordings will not be shared with anyone outside of the course. 

Payment 

Standard Rate: $85 per session = $680 total

Equity Rate: $50-85 per session = $400-680 total

*To account for the historical and ongoing realities of racism, colonization and other oppressions, the equity rate is offered for Black and Indigenous people and other People of Color (BIPOC) as well as those currently living outside of the US and anyone else who would not be able to access the standard rate.*

Payment options: Total payment made before the course starts or two payments each of half the total fee. If you need a different payment plan, please contact us directly.

*If you are interested in this course, but are not available at these dates, please sign up at the interest list below. We will notify you as soon as our next course is scheduled.*

Course Facilitators

Daphne Fatter, Ph.D. (she/her)

Daphne Fatter is a licensed psychologist, certified Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapist, and clinical IFS consultant. She is author of the chapter: “Ancestral lineage healing: Restoring Belonging and Reconnection with Ancestral Wisdom and Collective Self-Energy” in the IFS book “Altogether Us.” She draws on her background in transpersonal psychology, Taoist and Buddhist meditative practices, and clinical work with traumatic memory, grief, and attachment wounds to facilitate consultation groups and trauma training for other psychotherapists. Her ancestors are from Ireland, the UK, Switzerland, Germany, and Scandinavia. She integrates ancestral healing with IFS and practices from an anti-racist, queer-inclusive, and culturally mindful framework in her private practice in Dallas, Texas, on the unceded lands of the Comanche, Wichita, and Caddo peoples.

Elah Zakarin (they/he)

Elah Zakarin is animated by a passion and commitment to remember our connection with the living Earth, heal the wounds in our bodies and souls, and create a more just and beautiful world. Elah is an Internal Family Systems (IFS) practitioner, ancestral lineage healing practitioner, and writing coach and editor. They lead online courses and circles for Jews to reconnect with a renewed spirit of Jewish tradition and practice. Elah’s grounded, dynamic and heart-centered approach rests on a fundamental trust in our innate wholeness and draws from somatic healing, earth-based Jewish spirituality, Buddhist training, and energy healing. Their beloved ancestors are Ashkenazi Jews most recently from Poland, Russia and France and their heart most sings while walking in the forest alongside running water.

Feel free to contact us with any questions here.

This course is intended as an integration of Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Ancestral Lineage Healing (ALH), and is also informed by our experiences with Buddhist practice, energy healing, attachment theory, somatics, ecopsychology and other modalities. This is not the complete ancestral lineage healing method, developed by Daniel Foor & Ancestral Medicine. 

This course is not an official training in how to offer individual or group ancestral healing sessions. It is intended only for educational and self-growth purposes.

This course is intended for anyone who is IFS-informed. IFS Level 1 Training through the IFS Institute is not required. We will not be reviewing the method and practice of IFS during the course. If you are not sure if this includes you, you are welcome to contact us. 

Here are some additional resources on the intersection between IFS and Ancestral Lineage Healing:

  1. How Ancestral Medicine informs IFS Legacy Burdens work - with Daphne Fatter (podcast interview, 2021).

  2. “Held in a field of love: Connecting with the ancestors & living world” by Elah Zakarin, Parts & Self Magazine, 2023.

  3. Fatter, Daphne (2023). "Ancestral lineage healing: Restoring Belonging and Reconnection with Ancestral Wisdom and Collective Self-Energy." In Riemersma, J. (Ed.), Altogether Us: Integrating the IFS Model with Key Modalities, Communities, and Trends.