Presley Pizzo

I joined Presley’s Solstice Meditation livestream and really enjoyed the focus and peace that the session brought me. I was able to speak to parts of myself that I had not been listening to or trying to understand. This helped me process some difficult feelings and emotions, so I signed up to work with Presley more regularly with four IFS-informed coaching sessions. Presley’s guidance through these sessions has been centering and helped me to reach some eye opening realizations. These sessions quickly became spaces where I could relax, attempt to quiet my “thinking” part (sometimes an overthinker), and connect with my body and how I was feeling. This helped me hear other parts that were being shouted down or ignored. Engaging with a part that sets low expectations out of a fear of disappointment and another part that wants and deserves more helped me to understand some feelings of frustration, conflict, and tension and how they affect my behaviors and emotions.

When I signed up for Finding Mindfulness, I was struggling with feeling bombarded with constant thoughts and self-critique. I knew that mindfulness practice had the potential to help reduce these thoughts, but was having a hard time accessing a mindfulness practice that worked for me (e.g. many failed attempts at meditation). At least some of the time now I am able to take a pause when I feel bombarded with thoughts, and go through the exercise of unblending the various parts that are contributing to the cacophony. I have been able to notice a thought, e.g. "someone's driving in a way that pisses me off" - and say to myself "well that's just a thought, and it will pass." This has helped me identify and show compassion to the parts in need of that, and has helped me see glimmers of my “self” among the parts. It was really awesome to work with Presley! She has clearly done extensive work in understanding how to make mindfulness practice accessible using IFS and other tools, and she has a gentle and thoughtful approach that helped me learn and even internalize the practice. I would encourage anyone with an interest in tools for self reflection, mindfulness, or parts work to work with Presley. She’s a fantastic and highly capable coach!

This was amazing. Before working with Presley, I had trouble being able to focus on one worry at a time and figure out which had higher priority, both in reality and in my head. Just because one worry was the biggest in my head didn’t mean it was the biggest in reality! Through Finding Mindfulness, I learned how to sit still with my thoughts and not be overwhelmed by the Greek chorus of worries. Presley gave me something important, which was being able to tell different parts that they’ll get their turn so I could listen to one at a time. That means it’s okay to give voice to thoughts of less successful experiences and painful times, because they need to be examined too. I realized you need to celebrate your wins but also understand where the feeling of failure and loss comes from. That was big. I would recommend Finding Mindfulness to people who are serious about getting to know themselves better and are ready to take a good hard look in the mirror and see what’s behind their eyeballs. Working with Presley felt safe, supportive, and non-judgmental. I knew I could trust that everything I told Presley would stay in confidence under the umbrella of the work we do together.

This work helped me think about myself differently. Aspects of my work that were leading towards burnout feel less overwhelming and more manageable. Areas of my personal life where I knew “something” was missing now feel like areas where I know what I want to change. Most of my best progress came from exploring unpleasant parts, but I felt supported throughout. I appreciate that this is something I can keep working on independently now that I’ve got a good start, but I can also schedule extra sessions if I feel like I’m stuck.

[Note from Presley: Through coaching, Anne and I discovered that her focus and ability to achieve her goals were compromised by her people pleasing tendencies. As we worked with her people pleasing parts, she let me know the impact it was having on her life and gave me permission to share.] "This week something happened which in the past would’ve triggered an internal conflict and which would’ve been really stressful for my pleaser part. But I felt quite calm deciding that not only was I not going to do what was being asked of me but I was going to take my time to reply when convenient. Someone emailed me wanting to get information that it's not appropriate for me to give them. Asking me in an indirect and kind of manipulative way (which I have previously found particularly triggering) – but – I just thought to myself, no, I’m not going to do that and I’m in no hurry to reply. In the past I would not have passed on the private contact details – but I would’ve been anxious, angry and conflicted about the situation. Not wanting to lose the good will of the person making the request for help, not wanting to say no “in the wrong way” and upset them and would likely have discussed the situation with various other people to get validation for my position – and to seek their support etc. Maybe even going as far as to ask others to make a joint statement with me on the inappropriateness of such requests etc. I would also have analysed all the reasons why I considered this request inappropriate – checking from every angle that I was justified in not complying with the request (exhausting!) and would’ve felt resentful that I put so much effort into getting great industry guest speakers for our events and instead of being thanked and feeling appreciated, I just get to deal with this kind of inappropriate request… that’s pretty much how I’ve responded to similar situations. But this time, I just felt mildly annoyed. I felt clear and calm about how I was going to respond. Shrug. That's how some people are. I haven't replied yet – but I don't feel the dreadful internal feeling of "obligation" to satisfy another person's wishes, needs, requests etc. I just felt a kind of quiet calm, that I have my boundaries and I'm going to honour them. And it's okay if that person doesn't like it or has negative feelings towards me about it."

I greatly enjoyed doing Finding Mindfulness with Presley. Presley struck a good balance between leading sessions and providing clear steps and structure while adapting to my needs. She is warm and supportive and creates a safe environment for being a little vulnerable. And if parts of you are nervous about being vulnerable and are hesitant anyway, she understands and can work with that, too. In addition to the individual sessions, Presley worked to help me expand upon and practice the work in between sessions. This involved identifying something to work on in between sessions as well as sending the occasional text message with exercises, several of which were very helpful to me. This helped me get more out of the sessions and incorporate the insights into my daily life. Presley is very open to feedback and often acts on it, in big and small ways. She had a visual aid that I mentioned made more sense to me as a flowchart, and by the next session she had made a flow chart version of it. I’m sure that this course will only get better, more helpful, and more enjoyable to take over time.

It has been such a pleasure to work with Presley. She has a big heart and a genuine desire to help others. She is very professional and has been very patient and accommodating to my needs in sessions. I have struggled to relax and find peace and joy in my day to day. Working with Presley has helped me gain a greater understanding of myself, more inner peace, and self-confidence. I think anyone who is looking to access more mindfulness and work through stress, self-sabotage, or other challenges would truly benefit from working with Presley as a coach. I am glad to have had the opportunity to work with and continue to work with Presley!

I felt alone in caring for my mom and I always felt on “high” alert that she would get hurt or become ill and I would be responsible. The parts work has helped me understand that there were certain beliefs about myself and my role causing these feelings. I now understand these parts wanted to protect me from panic and guilt. I was able to communicate with these parts during an activity on vacation when I started thinking about the dangers. I told the parts that it could be dangerous but there were others who could handle the issues and that we should enjoy the experience. When mom fell, I was able to let the parts know that other family members could handle the situation and I trusted these people to call me if they couldn’t. I am truly amazed at how quickly this method can be used in day to day tasks and situations. It becomes a natural way to relate to the self. Presley seemed to understand some of my analogies and symbolisms even when I thought they were silly or not important.