an internal family systems & women's spirituality home study course
Befriending Your Inner Critic
What if that voice inside your head that’s always saying…
You’re not good enough
Do more
Do it better
… became your biggest cheerleader?
This course will show you how to make it happen.
TRANSFORM THE MOST CHALLENGING
PART OF YOURSELF INTO YOUR STRONGEST ALLY
GET THE COURSELife’s too short to let the negative voices in your head hold you back from being the woman you’re born to be.
INSIDE THIS COURSE, YOU’LL LEARN TO PUT AN END TO ALL THAT.
YOU’LL DISCOVER HOW TO:
01
Be kind and compassionate with yourself even when you make a mistake– so you can keep moving rather than staying stuck.
02
Wake every day, move through life, and make decisions from a feeling of inner peace– no more inner wars!
03
Hear voices of encouragement (rather than criticism) when you move towards your dreams– so you can actually accomplish them.
YOU MIGHT BE ASKING:
Why would I want to befriend my Inner Critic?
You wouldn’t likely be friends with someone who spoke to you as harshly as your Inner Critic does.
So I know it may seem counter-intuitive.
Why turn toward a part of yourself that has caused you so much pain?
Well… you likely know that what you resist persists.
This means that the more you try to ignore, fight, fix, silence, or get rid of your Inner Critic, the more it controls you.
When you do the opposite (safely and gently), the battle ends– and everything changes.
HERE’S THE TRUTH
Your Inner Critic has an important job to do
- Your Inner Critic, first and foremost, is protecting a young, vulnerable part of you that was wounded through a trauma (“Big T” or “little t”) or an attachment injury. When you befriend your Inner Critic, you’ll be able to heal that younger part of you, which also holds valuable gifts and qualities that help you feel more like you.
- Your Inner Critic’s job is to keep you safe. It tells you to play small and fly below the radar so you don’t embarrass yourself or get hurt (remember, it learned to protect you when you were young and didn’t know how to navigate hurt or embarrassment).
- When you take the time to get to know your Inner Critic, over time, without battling or resisting it– it will actually begin to help you take bigger risks and open yourself up to others, and the world.
Even though, right now, your Inner Critic is constantly telling you to do more (your taskmaster), that you’re not good enough (your underminer), or you should do it better (your perfectionist)...
It doesn’t have to be that way.
What if, instead of all of those negative messages, it told you how awesome you were and helped you achieve your goals?
That, my friend, is life-changing. And that’s what you’ll learn inside Befriending Your Inner Critic.
GET THE COURSE
"Sara is a true gift. The work with IFS has been a deep, releasing, transformative experience. It makes room for my best self to step forward into the light of day and breathe."
Heidi Rose Robbins, astrologer & poet
Introducing
Befriending Your Inner Critic
Befriending Your Inner Critic is an in-depth, on-demand course that fuses women’s yoga, meditation & spirituality, and Internal Family Systems (IFS)– a cutting-edge, evidence-based psychotherapeutic model. Learn everything you need to start transforming your relationship to the most challenging parts of yourself.
Here's what's included in the program:
IFS inquiry
Gain a solid foundation in this psychotherapeutic framework, as well as receiving powerful guided IFS inquiries to connect with your four main Inner Critic parts (yes, we have more than one!).
Meditation
Discover simple ways to feel more confident, connected, and comfortable in your own skin.
Women's Yoga
Tune into the wisdom of your body. Practice four, guided women’s yin and slow flow yoga sequences, suitable for all levels.
Handouts
Learn how to more clearly identify when your four main Inner Critic parts are active, dialogue with them, and forge a new path forward with them as allies rather than saboteurs.
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HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
Everything you need to transform your Critics into Allies
MODULE 1
Overview
Learn the foundations of Internal Family Systems, and explore the four types of Inner Critics in depth. This module will have you feeling sure, clear, and steady before we go deeper together.
MODULE 2
The Perfectionist
Experience a guided meditation, as well as a slow flow sequence. Following that, you’ll be led through an inquiry to connect more with your Perfectionist Part. Learn how to befriend and heal this part of you that holds you to such high standards– so you’ll be free to move forward, complete important projects, and create whatever you want in life.
MODULE 3
The Inner Tormentor
Learn ways to soften your defensive structure, as well as the Five Hindrances from Buddhism, and how they relate to the four main types of Inner Critics. Practice with a guided meditation, a yin yoga sequence, and an IFS inquiry to learn more about your Inner Tormentor Part. As a result, you’ll have more awareness of and compassion for the most challenging aspects of yourself– and be free of the battle you’ve likely been waging with them (maybe for decades).
MODULE 4
The Task Master
Begin by exploring how IFS enhances the core, five areas within ourselves and our lives: physical, energetic, emotional, mental, and interpersonal. Next, explore the core qualities of your essential Self, the inner healer within you. Last, experience a slow flow yoga practice and a Parts Mapping exercise to better know and understand your Task Master. You’ll leave this module feeling more rooted in the relaxed, open essence of who you truly are.
MODULE 5
The Inner Controller
Identify and learn how to soften your “Internal Correction Committee.” Then, experience a guided meditation, yin yoga sequence, and IF inquiry to befriend your Inner Controller. Discover how to feel safe being more relaxed, trusting, and flowing with life. If you’ve ever felt like you’re being followed around by a part of yourself that’s always correcting you (in the moment, after a conversation, in a future event…) you’ll love the feeling of freedom that comes from releasing the grip your Inner Controller has had on you and your life.
HOW DOES THIS SOUND?
Here’s what you’ll learn in this course…
- What Internal Family Systems (IFS) is and how it can help you experience more peace and wholeness
- Powerful ways to gain deeper self-awareness, by understanding the different kinds of parts within you, and how they interact with one another
- How to demystify the most challenging parts of yourself– the 4 main types of Inner Critic Parts that have been driving the bus of your life
- Women’s Mindfulness Meditation to cultivate more mental and emotional clarity and stability
- Women’s Yin & Flow Flow Sequences to soften, open, and feel your body
- How to relax with yourself and your life, even when things feel topsy-turvy
- How to live your life from the deep, wise center within you– rather than the negative voices that are not you
- Specific strategies to heal even the most challenging parts of yourself
- How to soften your defense structures & life more authentically and vulnerably
bly
Sara Heisler
“The work I’ve done with Sara in IFS is the most transformational healing I’ve experienced thus far. I’ve tried many forms of therapy before those and had minimal or no results. Truly life-changing!”
Carrie Haynes, LPC
“Doing this work has helped me feel more centered, clear, and connected to myself. As a result, I have been moving forward with increased confidence and ease.”
READY TO TRANSFORM YOUR INNER ENEMIES INTO ALLIES?
It’s true: the most challenging parts of us are guarding the most precious treasures.
THIS COURSE HELPS YOU DISCOVER THOSE TREASURES– WITHOUT THE BATTLE.
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About your guide
Meet Sara Avant Stover
Sara Avant Stover (she/her) is a Certified Internal Family Systems (IFS) Practitioner and business strategist to spiritual, entrepreneurial women. She's also the author of The Way of the Happy Woman, The Book of SHE, and Handbook for the Heartbroken.
After graduating Phi Beta Kappa and Summa cum Laude from Columbia University’s all-women’s Barnard College, Sara had a cancer scare, moved to Chiang Mai, Thailand, and, there, embarked on a decade-long healing and spiritual odyssey throughout Asia. Since then, she’s gone on to uplift tens of thousands of women worldwide.
Sara specializes in supporting women to discover and fulfill their true potential at the intersection where entrepreneurship meets personal and spiritual growth. She has been featured in Yoga Journal, the Huffington Post, Newsweek, Natural Health, and on ABC, NBC, and CBS. She lives in Boulder, CO.
This is for you if you:
- Sometimes (or often) feel hijacked by certain thoughts, feelings, beliefs, or behaviors that prevent you from doing the things you want or need to do– personally or professionally
- Know that taking some time each day to connect with your inner landscape would help you to live more skillfully
- Want to know and befriend yourself– all parts of yourself– more deeply
- Are a woman on a healing or spiritual journey
- Are a coach, therapist, or healing professional who would like to add powerful tools to your own skill set (and enhance your own life in the process)
- Are drawn to the idea of bringing together women’s yoga, meditation & psychotherapeutic healing and inquiry to resolve inner conflict
- Want to feel more at home and confident in your own skin
- Already know about IFS, and/or are interested in learning more
This is not for you if you:
- Need a lot of personalized hand-holding
- Want a long, protracted course with hours and hours of lessons and exercises
- Prefer to do a live course
- Say you’re too busy to spend the time needed to go through this course and apply what you learn
- Don’t believe change is possible for yourself
- Would rather stay at war with your Inner Critic
Emily O'Neal
“I’ve noticed a decrease in anxiety, depression, and even physical pain.”
Bethany O'Connor
“IFS with Sara was a truly life-changing experience. She helped me recognize the parts of myself that were hurting, and I finally feel like I got to the root of my anxiety and people-pleasing habits. Thanks to Sara, I feel much lighter, more confident, and more self-compassioante."
Ready to become the woman you were born to be?
What would be possible for you if your harshest inner enemies became your greatest allies? It’s time to rescue your energy and power from all the inner conflict and redirect it towards your dreams.
GET THE COURSEFrequently Asked Questions
What if I'm busy and short on time?
What if I don’t have much yoga or meditation experience?
How is this course delivered?
What is IFS and will this work for me?
WHAT’S UNIQUE ABOUT THIS PROGRAM?
Are there refunds?
I’ve got another question.
How do I know this will work for me?
READY TO HEAL YOUR INNER CRITICS?
