If you are made of multiple parts, who is the "I" watching them all?

Ella Shannon is an accredited counsellor and sex therapist based in Cairns, specialising in relationships, EMDR, and psychedelic integration. Since she discovered IFS, it's become more than a modality - it's become a lens for how she sees herself, her relationships, and the world. This model for personal growth and self-understanding doesn't just describe how we heal. It asks something stranger: what are you, exactly, when the parts step aside?

In this conversation, we go from how parts develop across a lifetime, to whether animals have them, to IFS sessions that feel like psychedelics - and to manager parts that can physically grip so hard they prevent altered states of consciousness from working at all.

We get into what self-energy actually is and how you'd recognise it, what happens in conflict when two people are defending different versions of reality, why reaching enlightened states isn't the end of healing, and what Ella believes about Source/God/the possibility of a cosmic host after years of this work.

00:00:00 - What's coming up

00:02:48 - IFS as Lifestyle and Lens

00:04:15 - One Self or Many?

00:09:01 - Exiles, Managers, Protectors

00:14:27 - Parts on a Spectrum

00:16:18 - What Is the Self?

00:23:43 - Your Parts vs Your Partner's

00:46:08 - IFS Goes Psychedelic

00:49:03 - When Parts Block Psychedelics

00:51:17 - Does the Healing Actually Stick?

00:55:28 - Bliss States, Unhealed Parts

00:57:04 - Ella on Source and Love

Get in touch with Ella:

https://www.ellashannon.com

Instagram: @evolution_of_intimacy

Podcast: The Parts Party

Get in touch with me:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PaigeLeacey

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4sVFkvFcj3DW1wuVZuGd4U

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/on-the-same-paige-with-paige-leacey/id1573526370

Newsletter: https://paigeleacey.substack.com

Instagram: @samepaige__

TikTok: @samepaige__

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