Parts, Sensations, and the Nervous System: Integrating IFS and Somatic Experiencing in Therapy
A closer look into somatic modalities with Samantha Lockhart and Avi Klein
As part of our ongoing clinical dialogue series, Downtown Somatic Therapy’s Samantha Lockhart and Clinical Director Avi Klein explore how combining Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Somatic Experiencing (SE) creates a powerful, dual-entry framework for healing trauma, working with inner critics, and navigating freeze states.
Written by Avi Klein
19 min read
Key Takeaways:
Top-down and bottom-up work complement each other: While IFS provides cognitive and emotional language for our internal dialogue ("parts"), Somatic Experiencing offers a direct entry point through nervous system regulation and bodily sensations.
The Inner Critic is a protective response: Instead of pushing harsh self-talk away, approaching the inner critic with curiosity and compassion reveals younger protective parts that developed to keep us safe during difficult experiences.
Recognizing the "Freeze" state requires nuanced somatic observation: Freeze is not just immobility. It contains high physiological activation trapped under a still exterior, often visible in bated breath, clenched fists, or wide, alert eyes.
Gentle regulation precedes deep psychological exploration: When a client reaches emotional capacity or freeze, pushing for insight can backfire. Slow physical grounding and micro-movements restore safety so therapeutic work can continue.
Self-compassion over pressure enables lasting change: Pushing too fast to escape uncomfortable states often increases internal resistance. Real transformation happens when we meet our current nervous system capacity with permission and safety.
Bridging Parts Work and Nervous System Healing
For many clients who have spent years in traditional talk therapy, a common frustration arises: they understand their patterns intellectually, yet physical symptoms like chest tightness, dread, and chronic anxiety persist. True healing often requires bridging logical insight with the living wisdom of the body and internal psyche.
In this clinical dialogue, Downtown Somatic Therapy Clinical Director Avi Klein sits down with therapist Samantha Lockhart, who holds specialized training in both Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Somatic Experiencing (SE). Together, they explore how these two distinct yet deeply complementary modalities help clients transition from logical understanding into deep felt safety and self-compassion.
Watch the full interview here:
How Do IFS and Somatic Experiencing Work Together?
IFS and Somatic Experiencing are two entry points into the same healing work. IFS approaches from the top down, through the language of parts, the protective voices and emotions inside us. Somatic Experiencing approaches from the bottom up, through the nervous system and the body's sensations. In practice they hand off to each other: when parts work becomes overwhelming, the body offers a route to regulation, and when a bodily sensation raises a question of meaning, parts work supplies the understanding. In this clinical dialogue, therapist Samantha Lockhart, trained in both, walks through how that integration works with inner critics, freeze states, and clients who have hit the limits of insight alone.
An Interview with Samantha Lockhart: Full Transcript
Avi: Okay, hello. Welcome to the Downtown Somatic Therapy Podcast. I'm Avi Klein. I'm the clinical director here and I'm here with Samantha Lockhart, who is one of our therapists. Samantha, welcome.
Samantha: Thank you, happy to be here.
Avi: So Samantha, I wanted to speak with you today because we've lots of different therapists here trained in different modalities, but you have a unique background. In part, you have training in both Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Somatic Experiencing. They're both very different, although they also have things in common. I wanted to talk to you about them and I wanted to start by just asking you how you came to be trained in both of them.
Samantha: Yeah, that's a great question. And it actually takes me back to my own therapy experiences as a client. When I was in grad school, I was doing some really good, insight-oriented work, really understanding my past and getting a good logical insight into my current patterns. So I was seeing it all very clearly. However, I was noticing that some of my symptoms were still very present. And one of those symptoms was definitely anxiety, just noticing the physiological responses of anxiety: that tightness in the chest, also just my emotional experience of dread before certain events and not knowing why it was still bothering me so much. But I got really into yoga during grad school and I found that I would find some relief from those responses just with being in presence with my body. Not trying to figure anything out, kind of just be with my sensations and also just with myself, like my thoughts in a room full of other people. So it just piqued my curiosity of what this is, and it brought me to some research where I found Somatic Experiencing, which is really creating a presence and almost a mindfulness with the body and its sensations in the therapeutic space. And then further down the line, I stumbled across IFS and watched some videos, did some meditations around it and really found IFS helps us be in presence with ourselves and our thoughts and different emotions. Just sitting with that, I found a similar connection with myself that helped me feel more rather than use my logical brain. So both approaches seem to satisfy something within me, just in different ways.
Avi: So talk about that a little bit more because here we're organized, right? The name of our practice is Downtown Somatic Therapy. We welcome in lots of different modalities that at their heart I think do involve mindfulness, like you mentioned, but they're really different models. So can you, just for people who are not familiar with IFS and SE, we'll call Somatic Experiencing, what are they doing? What are their approaches about?
Samantha: Yeah, so I'll start with IFS, and just what it's doing, what the approach is, in simple terms to start. So it was founded by Richard Schwartz, and he uses this language of parts, and it is based off the fact that we are multifaceted. In any given moment we have different emotions, different ways of thinking, sometimes different modes of being. Kind of an example: before a big speech in front of a large crowd, we'll maybe notice an anxious part that's nervous about being perceived. You might also notice a critical part that's saying, "Why didn't we prepare more?" You might also just notice a frustrated part that just wants to feel better. What IFS does is we really slow down with these different parts that show up in response to something. What that does is it can take us out of a place of overwhelm when we're feeling all of that at once without knowing it. It helps us in the therapeutic space slow down and get to know these parts. What we learn through IFS is that all these parts are trying to protect us in some way. A lot of them are just stuck in their roles. So we have that meditative, compassionate, curious stance when we're working with them in IFS. A core tenet of IFS is that when we understand these parts, it creates more space for something we refer to as Self, which is a very aligned version of us that's compassionate, curious, courageous, and very connected with others. So when we work with these parts and we understand them, we don't banish them. We get to know them and they settle, and it creates more space for us to connect to our authentic selves.
And so with that, I'll go on to Somatic Experiencing. Somatic Experiencing was developed by Peter Levine, and it works with the body, the physiological responses to trauma, and the nervous system response to trauma. It's based off when we go through a traumatic event, we have a response to that trauma. A lot of times that response can be fight, freeze, flee, or fawn, which is to please. There are more responses we're uncovering, but those are some of the main ones. Having that response can get us through a very difficult moment, and that's natural. In Somatic Experiencing, we see when we're activated by threat, we will have that activation and feeling go up. A normal nervous system response is after that, once we realize we're safe and the threat is over, we calm down and regulate.
However, if someone is exposed to trauma and oftentimes a recurring trauma (like, for example, a client grew up with an emotionally abusive parent who was very critical and relentless), they may have learned that fighting wasn't useful with that parent. They couldn't flee because as a child, you don't have that option. So they might have learned that when I freeze in those moments, when I feel that abuse, I'll get through it, I'll be okay. If that becomes chronic, sometimes we become stuck in that response. So what Somatic Experiencing does is we notice the physiological sensations around that response to trauma, especially if it's still coming up in recurring life when you're triggered by things that feel similar. We manage those physiological responses in small increments to be with it in a compassionate way as well, and slowly shift into regulating experiences when we notice the activating response. What this does is it teaches the body that it's okay and it can come down from a response, release some pent-up energy around trauma, and teach the body and the client how to regulate the body so that they're truly out of that experience and can connect to themselves again.
Avi: Yeah. So, on one level they seem really different, right? To me, IFS, in terms of organizing a person around parts feels very top-down, like we're thinking through these different aspects of ourselves, and Somatic Experiencing seems very focused on what we might call bottom-up, really focusing on your nervous system and what you're feeling. But in other ways they seem very similar. As someone who practices both, are they different? Are they similar? How would you describe what's different about them?
Samantha: Yeah, that's a great question. I will say they are different in that they're different entry points into really being with our protective responses. One is through the body (that bottom-up approach) and one is through our parts, which is our internal dialogues with ourselves. But the similarity is we're really making space for how we reacted to trauma or adverse experiences through our protective mechanisms. One is really with the body and seeing what's there in the nervous system's physiological response, and one is a bit more with what parts we're noticing: what emotions, thoughts, etc.
Avi: Where do you see, you know, we're pretty humble here in terms of our approaches, like we don't assume there's one silver bullet for every person. What do you think are the shortcomings of IFS or the shortcomings of Somatic Experiencing? Where would you think one might not be enough for a particular issue or with a particular client? How do you think about that?
Samantha: Yeah, so I will say that they really can come in handy for each other when one certain modality isn't touching something that the client needs in the moment. I can elaborate on that. Let me say we're doing an IFS session and we're getting really curious about a part (let's say it's a critical part). We could be having a really good dialogue with this part and getting to know it. However, something might shift where the client is experiencing something overwhelming in the moment. It's just a bit emotionally overwhelming, and we might notice a bit of a freeze, like there's less verbal communication around it, like the body is stepping in and saying, "This is too much, and I maybe don't want to access this right now." In IFS, we don't want to push that too hard and try to understand with a bit more cognitive awareness. We want to maybe go to the body and use Somatic Experiencing to just notice what sensations are there, what the body is doing, tap into the regulation that we become familiar with for each person, regulate, and then maybe come back to IFS when we have that regulation.
I'll also use an example of Somatic Experiencing: we might be really focusing on the body and noticing sensations, and sometimes I'll notice in the room someone might have a curiosity when they notice a certain sensation, kind of like, "What is that?" I'll follow that, and maybe that curiosity will lead us to understanding a part that's showing up first sensation-wise. So if someone's feeling like they're with the body and feeling regulated and in tune with their stuff, but then say, "I want to understand that, I want to get some meaning behind this," then we'll shift to IFS.
Avi: Yeah, I hear you. So in both directions, it sounds like they can offer either more understanding or more regulation in order to move the process forward.
Samantha: Yes, exactly.
Avi: You've already mentioned the inner critic a little bit. I know that comes up in terms of as a protective part in IFS a lot. Is that fair to say that's often how they think about it? People would be curious: how do you go from something that we all can sort of say, "I have an inner critic," where we can have an intellectual understanding of it, to helping someone shift to a more felt sense of that? What would that be like in therapy?
Samantha: Yeah, that's a very relevant question because it comes up so much. When we notice the inner critic, we first notice there's a harshness to it. Sometimes it can be mean to us and we notice that and we're like, "Ugh, that's a lot." A lot of times we have a natural want to just push that critic away. With the work that I do in IFS (building a relationship with a critic and really feeling for it), first we identify that it does have a very strong protective element to it. We get really curious about that. We invite a curious nature and a compassionate nature into the room, and then we might ask the critic some questions. Some valuable questions can be like: "At what age did you show up in my life?" "When did you feel particularly useful in my life?" And the big one is: "What are you afraid will happen if you didn't do your job of criticizing?" When we really get curious and get to know it, these parts are like younger versions of us. It depends on how young, but we see that there's a younger version here that's really trying to protect us. When we have that perspective that this is younger and this part went through something very difficult that felt like this was useful, we have a lot of empathy for it. That empathy creates a softness within us and also within the part, like, "I'm being seen in my role and why it was so important." Then we can feel more of the emotions beneath it and really feel with it, maybe like we would with a child in real life or with another person. Understanding can create a more compassionate relationship.
Avi: That's great. I want to shift to talk a little bit to go back to Somatic Experiencing for a moment. One of the very cool contributions of that model is thinking about different nervous system states. Fight or flight are two trauma responses that are kind of easy to recognize because they're big in terms of involving action: someone gets aggressive, leaves the room, or whatever is going on. But I think people don't always appreciate freeze as a state and as a trauma response. For therapists who are not trained in working with the body, they can ignore many moments in which someone is really in a state of overwhelm just because they're being quiet or not engaging. Talk a little bit about freeze. How do you recognize it? What does that look like in the session?
Samantha: I'll start with what I notice visually and in the room with freeze. What I notice is a combination of a lot of activation, but also a stop: a freeze, a stillness with that activation. We think of freeze as still, not moving. It might not always point to activation because there's not a lot of movement. But what it can look like is we notice that stillness, maybe a bated breath, maybe a clasping of fists very still in the lap. But something that also really points to the activation is sometimes the eyes will be very wide and alert in a state of freeze, or maybe very fixed on a certain spot because we have that activation within us, but then also a freeze and stillness in the body. So I'll look for a combination of activation being contained somewhere and then also that freeze in our exterior.
Avi: How do you go about helping someone when they're in a state like that? What's to be done?
Samantha: That is when Somatic Experiencing is really helpful. When we're in freeze, our compassionate, curious, exploratory Self isn't really accessible. We are so focused on staying safe in that moment and staying frozen because that feels like we're containing some threat. So I start with a simple noticing of just what's happening in the present moment. I might just pause and say, "I noticed something shifted here," and see if there's any awareness. If not, that's okay, because this is something we don't bring attention to that often. But I might just do some gentle noticing, like: "I'm noticing a tightness in the arms. I'm noticing maybe your eyes widening. Are you noticing that as well?" The client might come on board with noticing where they're at in that moment. We don't want to shift them too quickly out of freeze, because that can be jolting and stressful in the moment since freeze feels protective. But it's a good chance to start slowly regulating when we're in freeze. Freeze tells me we're at capacity, we're overwhelmed, and we need regulation.
What regulation can look like: everyone's different in what feels regulating, soothing, or calming for them. A very simple one is just noticing your feet on the ground here in this room. Let me bring our attention there, feeling you rooted here. It can be scanning the room and just noticing something in the room that feels nice to look at, like a plant that feels soothing, present in this moment, and nice. Sometimes we can get to a place where gentle movement, very gentle movement, can feel okay in shifting us out. I like to do some rolling of the wrists slowly. That can go to a rolling of the shoulders, and it can very gently, at a pace that feels safe, shift us out of freeze and back into a regulated state.
Avi: To your point earlier, I find that so much of the theme of this conversation is around acceptance and being able to accept what's happening. I've noticed that if we push too quickly for clients to move out of a state, or if they feel pressure because they don't want to feel this way, a kind of resistance builds that actually makes it harder to change, paradoxically. You'd think the more you're telling yourself, "I don't want to do this, I should stop," you would stop, but actually it just becomes more overwhelming.
Samantha: Yeah, definitely. If you feel pulled out of something that feels safe, you might double down and try to go more into that state. Being pulled out of freeze too quickly can make us want to freeze more.
Avi: Right. To your point about parts in IFS, there is a need underlying this. If we don't recognize that need (and if that need in this case is safety), if we don't bring safety into the room, then it is hard to change.
Samantha: Yeah, absolutely.
Avi: In a way, this is like speaking to your past self, but there are many people like the person you described when you talked about starting on this journey. There are people who have done a lot of talk therapy and feel like they've hit a wall: they have some insight into themselves, but they can't change. What would you want them to understand about what this kind of work offers that's different from just doing more talk therapy?
Samantha: First, I would say I get it, because I have been there. What I would want them to know about these approaches (both Somatic Experiencing and IFS) is that both help us slow down and be with ourselves in new ways. That creates a lot of space for our emotional experiences. A lot of us are yearning to not feel so alone with some of these deeper emotions. These approaches give permission to just be with so many different aspects of yourself, whether it's parts or sensations within the body. We're creating a lot of safety around accessing a deeper you. That is so meaningful, enlightening, and relieving after doing deeper work and really connecting to yourself and therefore to others. It creates a lot of space to fill your life with more things you want, whether it's more connection, more joy, or more passion, which I find really beautiful.
Avi: For someone for whom this is very intuitive, they're like, "This is definitely what I want to do." And then we get a lot of people who reach out because they don't know what they're feeling and they want to feel more, but they don't really have a relationship to their body or to sensations in that way. What's your advice to them? How can they get started? Where does that process begin when they don't even speak this language?
Samantha: With where to begin, it really depends on the client. But I would see where they are at in the present moment and see if we have an opening to start exploring some of these approaches. For example, a person who doesn't feel so in touch with their emotions still has an inner dialogue with themselves: there's a curiosity there. I would start by working off of that and maybe getting to know parts. There might be a part that is scared of going deeper into emotions, and that curiosity with that inner dialogue can help us get to know that part and start to unravel from there.
There also could be someone who's not feeling that inner dialogue, who is just noticing, "I have sensations in the body, but I don't know what they are, and I don't know what they're connected to," having trouble putting words and meaning to it. It might be a lot to start there. So to get started, I would start with the body and regulation, learning that skill and seeing what opens up from there. It's really about working with capacity in the moment and seeing what emerges.
Avi: Yeah. Noticing contrasting feelings and contrasting experiences. Well, Samantha, thank you for joining me. If people are interested in working with you or want to learn more about IFS and Somatic Experiencing, how can they find you?
Samantha: Feel free to find me on the Downtown Somatic Therapy website. Go ahead and click on my profile where you can learn more about me and my approach, and click the contact button. I would love to be in touch and learn more about you!
Avi: That's great. All right, thank you, and hopefully we'll talk again soon.
Samantha: All right. Thank you, Avi.
Signs of Real Change
Ultimately, progress in somatic and parts-based therapy is not about immediately eliminating protective mechanisms or forcing yourself to feel regulated at all times. As Samantha highlights throughout their dialogue, true transformation comes from building capacity: learning to slow down, notice what is arising within your body and parts, and offering those internal experiences permission and safety.
When clients learn to meet their inner critic with empathy rather than frustration, or move out of freeze through gentle micro-movements and grounding, they build a resilient relationship with themselves. By honoring both bottom-up bodily sensations and top-down internal dialogues, clients move beyond logical insight to cultivate genuine ease, authentic connection, and deep emotional freedom.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between IFS and Somatic Experiencing?
They are different entry points into the same work. IFS, founded by Richard Schwartz, works top-down through the language of parts, the different emotions, thoughts, and modes of being that show up in response to experience. Somatic Experiencing, developed by Peter Levine, works bottom-up through the body's physiological responses to trauma and the nervous system. Both make space for how we responded to trauma through our protective mechanisms.
What is the inner critic in IFS?
A protective part, not an enemy. When you build a relationship with the critic rather than pushing it away, and ask it questions like what age it showed up and what it fears would happen if it stopped criticizing, it reveals itself as a younger version of you that developed to keep you safe through something difficult. That understanding creates empathy, and the empathy softens both you and the part.
What does the freeze response look like?
Not just stillness. Freeze combines high activation with a stopped exterior: bated breath, fists clasped very still in the lap, eyes wide and alert or fixed on one spot. The activation is contained rather than absent, which is why therapists not trained to work with the body can miss it and read overwhelm as mere quietness.
How do you come out of a freeze state?
Slowly, because freeze feels protective, and being pulled out too quickly can deepen it. It starts with gentle noticing of what is happening in the present moment, then simple regulation: feeling your feet on the ground, letting your eyes rest on something in the room that feels nice to look at, then very gentle movement such as slowly rolling the wrists, then the shoulders, at a pace that feels safe.
Can IFS and Somatic Experiencing be used in the same session?
Yes, and they hand off in both directions. If overwhelm or freeze arises mid-conversation during parts work, the session shifts to the body and regulation before returning. If a bodily sensation raises curiosity about its meaning during somatic work, the session shifts to parts to explore it. Each modality supplies what the other needs in the moment: more regulation or more understanding.
About the Practice
Downtown Somatic Therapy is a Lower Manhattan practice specializing in body-centered psychotherapy, attachment healing, and integrated trauma recovery. If you are interested in exploring individual or couples therapy, you can learn more about our clinicians and request a consultation directly through our website.
Two Doors Into the Same Work
Samantha and our other clinicians work across IFS, Somatic Experiencing, AEDP, EMDR, and more. Reach out to find the right fit.
