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Learning to Be Silent Zen Story
Learning to Be Silent is a Zen story that points to stillness beyond effort, speech, or mental commentary. Through an Internal Family Systems lens, this story reveals how silence allows parts to soften, step back, and be witnessed by Self without interruption, explanation, or control.
2 min read
The Gates of Paradise Zen Story
The Gates of Paradise is a Zen story that exposes how the mind creates heaven and hell through reactivity, judgment, and identity. Through an Internal Family Systems lens, this story reveals how Self-led awareness recognizes emotional states as movements within the system, allowing parts driven by anger, pride, or fear to soften rather than rule.
2 min read
The Taste of Banzo’s Sword - Zen Story
The Taste of Banzo’s Sword (Zen Story) Today we enter… The Taste of Banzo’s Sword. This one is sharp. Not with cruelty but with presence. It’s about the kind of teaching that cuts through pretense… and wakes you up. Let’s step into the dojo together. Let the Story Unfold A young man came to the sword master Banzo and said, “I want to be your student. How long will it take me to master the sword?” “Ten years,” Banzo replied. “What if I train twice as hard?” “Then twenty years,
2 min read
No Water, No Moon Zen Story
A nun seeks enlightenment but finds only failure — until one moonlit night, her pail breaks, the water spills, and the reflection of the moon disappears. In that moment… she awakens. This Zen story invites you into the quiet freedom of release.
2 min read
The Last Poem of Hoshin
On the night of his death, Zen master Hoshin wrote one final poem… then left the last line blank. What he didn’t say became the deepest teaching of all.
2 min read
Motivational Interviewing (MI) Course
A free IFS Academy course on Motivational Interviewing (MI) for beginners, taught in plain language as the real method of Miller and Rollnick. Covers what MI is, the spirit of MI (PACE), the core skills (OARS), the four processes, change talk and sustain talk, evoking, and planning, across twelve short lessons. Ends with Internal Family Systems (IFS) and parts work practice.
Module 12 — MI as a Way of Being | Motivational Interviewing Course
A free IFS Academy course on the closing idea of Motivational Interviewing: MI as a way of being rather than a toolkit. Covers how every MI skill expresses one underlying stance, why the spirit is what people actually feel, how to recognize good MI from the receiving end, turning MI inward toward your own ambivalence, and using MI in everyday conversations with family, friends, and colleagues. Ends with Internal Family Systems (IFS) and parts work practice.
Module 10 — Sharing Information and Advice the MI Way | Motivational Interviewing Course
A free IFS Academy course on sharing information and advice the MI way, using Elicit-Provide-Elicit. Answers whether you can give advice in Motivational Interviewing, and covers asking permission first, the elicit-provide-elicit method, offering options instead of directives, and the chunk-check-chunk rhythm for longer information. Ends with Internal Family Systems (IFS) and parts work practice.
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