A journaling hack that has healed my inner child

And my anxiety, fear, sadness etc.

I began learning about IFS Therapy (Internal Family Systems) about a year ago, where I picked up Richard Schwartz’s book ‘No Bad Parts’ in hopes to self-regulate and self-help myself. His whole premise is that the mind is made up of different parts, each with its own perspective, emotions and roles.

Schwartz emphasizes that no part is inherently "bad"; instead, even the most challenging parts are trying to protect us in some way. Some parts may be protective, like the "inner critic" or a "caretaker," while others might hold pain, fear or vulnerability.

The key idea in IFS is that all of these parts have a positive intent, even if their behavior seems disruptive or unhealthy, and healing comes from understanding and integrating them into a balanced, harmonious whole.

After a month or so of learning about IFS Therapy, I was also introduced to Nicole Sachs, who is a psychotherapist and mind-body healing expert who developed the Journal Speak method to help people release repressed emotions tied to chronic pain and trauma (which is also related to TMS, Tension Myositis Syndrome). The technique uses free-form journaling to uncover and process deep emotions, aiming to promote both emotional and physical healing.

In simple terms—you spend 20 minutes every day raging on a page, letting it all out (especially the ugly thoughts and emotions that you wouldn’t want ANYONE to know you are thinking or feeling), and then deleting it or ripping it apart as if it never even happened. But…the magic is that those emotions and thoughts from the day are now out of your body, therefore they don’t have the opportunity to be stored as physical pain.

I began the Journal Speak method in May 2023 and by a month in…most of my chronic symptoms (pelvic pain, bloating, acne) started to subside and/or disappeared. After feeling pretty great three months later, my ego decided, “Eh, I don’t need to be doing this anymore. I’m good.”

By September, my symptoms started again, and that’s when I knew I had to get serious about Journal Speak again. Resistance was just another TMS symptom, and I knew I had started to suppress emotions again, which is why my pain revisited. But I also knew that the practice worked and how great I felt after doing so every night.

I recently was a guest on Jordan Younger’s podcast, The Balanced Blonde, where I dive deep into this practice and how it transformed my life. Listen here!