Hi Ruth, I’m not offering sessions presently and unfortunately I don’t know anyone based in Sydney. There don’t seem to be many people doing this work in Australia at the moment. You could look through the resources page on Hal and Sidra’s site (https://www.voicedialogue.org/resources-index.htm) and maybe contact some of the facilitators there from the US or Europe who might be a good fit and do some sessions via Zoom or Skype. If/when I start facilitating again I’ll send an email to my mail list so you can subscribe to that if you like. Wishing you all the best, Astra

Also, it’s my understanding that in IFS is you become aware of your parts/selves but then choose to go along with one part’s preferences, and I assume the part making the choice is the ‘true self’. And that’s what they describe as a ‘conscious’ decision. But with Voice Dialogue you embody one part, or self, and then an opposite self. Then as you move from one to the other and in between, you develop awareness of opposite selves but also the experience of them. That is the aware ego process, which feels like an expansion of your usual ego identification where you can experience more than it. It’s a bit like the witness or awareness state when you meditate but it’s not detached like that. Instead you’re simultaneously connected to your selves/parts and their embodied perceptions and experiences. ‘Choice’ then becomes a different process because you can experience the conflicting perceptions of different selves. And it’s not one ‘true’ self making the choice.

It would be eye-opening for someone who believed they had one true self to do a Voice Dialogue session. You can unhook from any self, even the vulnerable inner child you were at birth who many people perceive as being the closest thing to their ‘real’ ‘authentic’ self. And clearly we do separate from that child we were or none of us would have survived for very long if we hadn’t (and gone on to develop primary selves that did help us survive). In some spiritual traditions the Self with a capital ‘s’ is a concept but it’s not a psychological entity made up of personal thoughts and feelings that can act in the world. Meditators experience a stillness where you become pure awareness and that can feel vast and expansive and can witness many selves, both personal and transpersonal. From that space/place you could say you can witness the Self, but it’s not one ‘little’ self. Back in our body and needing to relate in the world we must use many selves, many identities, and hopefully we can choose the ones that are most useful/helpful in whatever interaction we’re having. Best wishes Mitch, Astra

Hi Fabio – thanks for letting me know. It’s now fixed!
Kind regards,
Astra

the italian page link is not working.
I am looking for someone doing voice dialogue in Italy.
Thanks ! 🙂

Fabio