Self Unbroken with Robert Falconer

On today's episode we welcome Bob Falconer back to the podcast. Bob is an IFS teacher, consultant, and author who has devoted decades to trauma healing and the study of mind and spirit. He co-authored Many Minds, One Self with Dick Schwartz and wrote The Others Within Us. His memoir, Self Unbroken, is out now.

It's hard to pick a favorite "Bob" episode, but this one might be my favorite so far. We talk about his daily practice of dialoguing with Spirit, the sewer path to wisdom, what skeptical parts need, and the monk who changed everything for him

Takeaways

• Self may be less like a particle and more like a field.
• The high road to wisdom is lined with people waving shiny objects. Bob suggests trudging through the sewer instead.
• Skeptical parts don't need to be shut down, they need to be invited in.
• Not knowing is the beginning of knowledge
• When a spirit dialogue starts making you feel superior to others, it's your clue the signal has been hijacked
• Understanding a past life isn't what heals it. Witnessing and unburdening the emotional charge is what changes things
• Use your client's language instead of imposing yours

Here's a link to The One Inside Audio Guides I mentioned in the intro.

About Robert Falconer:

For the early decades of his career, Bob focused on work with men who had histories of major sexual and physical abuse as Bob had. He used various forms of parts work (Ego State Therapy, Gestalt, and Pia Mellody's work among others) but some 16 years ago he discovered Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) and is now focused exclusively on IFS, which he finds to be the most respectful and powerful modality. His own recovery is the deep basis for all his work.

Bob has taught IFS extensively and internationally online and has led classes and trainings in Pakistan, China, South Korea, Mexico, Poland , Spain, Canada, the UK, and for the Fort Belknap reservation. He has also been on the staff of over 20 of the official IFS institute trainings. Bob has been actively involved with psychedelics since 1967 and continues to view them as a powerful pathway.

He is the author of six books related to IFS, spirituality and inner healing: Many Minds, One Self (2017), co-authored with Richard C. Schwartz, founder of IFS; The Others Within Us (2023); When Going Through Hell… Keep Going (2024); Opening the Inner World (2025), co-authored with two experts on Emanuel Swedenborg; Spirit (2025), a compilation drawn from journals of his daily dialogues with Spirit, and Self Unbroken a memoir of the beginnings of his recovery from childhood sexual abuse (2026).

Now at in his late seventies, Bob mostly teaches and leads supervision classes, only occasionally seeing individuals, often with their therapist.

Episode Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Souliology.

Souliology offers retreats and immersive learning experiences for IFS professionals, many led by IFS Senior Lead Trainers and eligible for continuing education credits.

Their programs support deep professional and personal growth, offering space to step away from the demands of daily life so you can return to your practice more present and resourced for the clients you serve.

Souliology: Where growth meets depth. Learn more at souliology.com

The Others Within Us: A four-day online experiential workshop with Bob Falconer, March 2027. Learn more and register at Souliology.com

About The One Inside

I started this podcast to help spread IFS out into the world and make the model more accessible to everyone. Seven years later, that's still at the heart of all we do.

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