The One Inside: An Internal Family Systems (IFS) podcast

IFS for Everyday Life with Joanna Curry-Sartori

Mar 24, 2026

Joanna Curry-Sartori, LMFT and founder of the Self-Leadership Collaborative, shares bite-sized ways to bring IFS into daily life. She introduces the PAUSE five-step practice and models it in live exercises. Short conversations cover using PAUSE in classrooms, relationships, experiments for change, and how simple parts language creates space, curiosity, and connection.

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ADVICE

Use PAUSE To Slow Down Before Reacting

Use the PAUSE steps to slow down before responding in heated moments so you can access Self energy instead of reacting.
Joanna guides people to Pause, Aware, Understand, Search solutions, and Experiment even in short interactions like conversations or classrooms.

ADVICE

Respond To Activated Parts By Asking What They Need

When someone shares an activated part, welcome it by asking what that part needs and offering presence (hand on heart, attunement).
Tammy models this in the conversation: she places a hand on her heart, stays with the rocking part, and calms it without blending.

INSIGHT

PAUSE Works Like A Daily Tool Belt

PAUSE is iterative and functions like a tool belt you use throughout the day to handle different activations.
Joanna compares pulling up different PAUSE steps when specific parts pop up, enabling moment-to-moment self-leadership.

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On today's episode, I talk with Joanna Curry-Sartori, founder of the Self-Leadership Collaborative and author of The Self-Led Educator. We explore this idea of how to bring IFS into everyday life, to invite more Self Energy into our conversations and interactions.

Joanna teaches us her PAUSE model, a five-step process to help you slow things down and notice what's happening inside before you respond. Sometimes it's in moments where you can feel yourself starting to react, or a conversation begins to shift. Instead of pushing through, you pause, get curious about your parts, and then return to the interaction.

In This Episode We Talk About:

• How to bring IFS into everyday moments • PAUSE as a way to slow down and notice what's happening inside • Using IFS in relationships, parenting, and classrooms • How to stay with your parts instead of reacting • What do you notice in yourself right before you react? • What can change when you turn inward first

About Joanna Curry-Sartori

Joanna Curry-Sartori, LMFT, is the Founder and President of the Self-Leadership Collaborative. She leads work focused on bringing Internal Family Systems into everyday life—at home, at work, in schools, and in communities. With over twenty years of experience working with young people, educators, parents, and community leaders, her work centers on helping people access and live from Self leadership together.

Joanna is the author of The Self-Led Educator: An IFS Guide to Create Calm, Compassionate, and Confident Learning Communities. Learn more at www.selfleadershipcollaborative.com

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

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.

Join The One Inside Substack community for bonus conversations, extended interviews, meditations, and more.
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I co-create The One Inside with Jeff Schrum, a Level 2 IFS practitioner and coach.

Resources

New to IFS? My book, The One Inside: Thirty Days to Your Authentic Self, is a great place to start.
Want a free meditation? Sign up for my email list and get "Get to Know a Should Part" right away.

Sponsorship

Want to sponsor an episode of The One Inside? Email Tammy.