Bear in mind that my inner children are sometimes wolves with a few exceptions....

So there is the pup, which is an infant puppy. The puppy just needs warmth, food, eye contact etc. In one of the more amazingly transformative meditations ihave done, though it sounds very weird ( and totally my idea,my T wasn't involved at all, this was my own meditation time), I have taken the form of an adult wolf and nursed the puppy. It's incredibly healing. The puppy doesn't have much to do with my therapy. This is just my own meditation etc

"Luna" she is around 7, and when she is relaxed she us human, when she is scared she is a small wolf pup. She also features in my meditation as she remembers a lot more about my past then I do, and will "show" me various things that happened re abuse. She needs two things mostly. To be believed and loved. I occasionally let her experience the wonderful parts of my life now so she knows we are safe, but mostly she comes out in my meditation and sometimes in therapy when we are working on abuse stuff. She used to adore my T. I guess she still does but now she prefers me if she needs something bc I am always there and understand her better.

Then there is a 12 yr old. That is that year of my life vefore I made certain decisions that permanently changed my world, the year I was sexually assaulted and a number of bad things happened. She does the opposite of Luna in that she is more likely to be a wolf when we feels strong . She loves my T, but hates me, as she blames me for a lot of what went wrong in my life. I used to hate her back, and blame her back . Now im just trying to love her til she trusts me enough to tell me stuff . She rarely talks in therapy but soaks in any attention.

Then there is the one my T has named Anais, after a character in a book. She is me at 13. At that age, I made some very difficult decisions. Those decisions saved me from. My mom's abuse, and probably are what allowed me to have the life i now have. They also, since they used 13 yr old logic, scarred me in ways that I am stil trying to cope with 30 years later. She comes out in therapy a lot because she utterly rejects my T's basic preises--i am lovable and valuable exactly as i am, etc. She is the hardest work because she doesn't want my love or my T's love . She wants us both to accept that she is right. Which i can't do and heal. Also until I started tberapy I agreed with her ,so she sees my therapist as an interloper that wrecked our ( self destructive) harmony. I am working in meditation to harness her intelligence and drive and help her see the world in a different way.

I'd say I never feel controlled by any of them. But in reality, the 13 yr old probably controlled about half my actions for much of my life, less so now.

My T does not do IFS. These alters or whatever you want to call them emerged in meditation and my T did welcome the ideas into therapy.

I've been working at it for 3 years. I finally am at the point where except for Anais all my "alters" prefer my love and attention to my T's and accept my comfort and guidance.