The Awaken Arts Institute
Where your radical awareness befriends all parts of you
The home of dharma arts & parts-work (DIFS)
Hi, I’m Adrienne. I’m a trained Buddhist Meditation Teacher, Psychotherapist, Somatic Dance Movement Therapist, certified IFS parts-work and a certified Feeding Your Demons practitioner. From my 20 years as a somatic psychotherapist, buddhist student and IFS practitioner for 12 years, I have developed Dharma IFS. Dharma IFS is a Self- healing modality of parts-work combined with somatic Buddhist meditation and the creative arts. We teach Dharma IFS at Awaken Arts Institute.
AWAKEN to your radical Self
More about Adrienne & Dharma IFS
I am also a queer woman, mother, dancer, 20 year Buddhist Dharma student & recovery/ALANONer, collage-maker, beach goer & dog lover that DJs a monthly somatic dance party called Dharma Disco. I blend east and west parts-work and dharma healing arts together to offer a truly unique way to heal and grow.
My DHARMA parts-work (DIFS) is a unique blend of Creative and Dharma (Buddhist) Arts with Internal Family Systems (IFS). is about bringing radical Self-awareness to meet all parts of you and your embodied spirit. I teach not just IFS, but Dharma IFS so that clients may have the embodied, somatic experience of Self deeply caring for their system of parts with the help of Buddhist practices such as awareness, mindfulness & compassion. In Dharma IFS there is also a special emphasis on Archetypes, Ancestors, guides and embodied connections to Source for resourcing. I have been devoted to the experiential education of IFS and believe that learning IFS through meditation and creative arts is always done best through experiencing the model first-hand and then allowing intellectual parts to to help with integration.
If you’re looking to get unstuck as a creative professional, performing artist or person in long-term recovery, you have found the right place. We can have you get to know your own ways to easily access resourcing to your heart-Self to help your system of parts to deepen your own inner-connection to your body, your creative intuition and the original joy that the arts and being of service has been for you. My clients are ready to live from their internal Self-leadership- not external expectations. If you are ready to deepen your emotional intimacy, connect to your spiritual purpose, and experience your body mind & spirit healing as an expressive, spiritual and liberating process, welcome.
The Awaken Arts Institute
is an educational institution specializing in Dharma IFS. We are also a network of providers that have trained directly with Adrienne Glasser in DHARMA IFS in active consultation.
More about Awaken Arts & How to become a provider:
In addition to receiving training in DHARMA IFS, some providers are also trained/and or certified in programs provided by the IFS Institute. All AWAKEN providers have all received specific training in DHARMA IFS education principals such as basic meditation and compassion practice, somatic practices based in authentic movement, dance therapy principals somatic parts-work, in addition to the teachings of Internal Family Systems equivalent to Level 1 training or above.
All AWAKEN Institute providers have all received specific training in DHARMA IFS education principals such as basic meditation and compassion practice, somatic practices based in authentic movement, dance therapy principals somatic parts-work, in addition to the teachings of Internal Family Systems equivalent to Level 1 training or above. All providers are both LGBTQIA+ affirming and culturally affirming, understanding the importance of intersectionality as it pertains to parts that have experienced both oppression and privilege. Once Dharma IFS pre requisite coursework is completed, coaches and therapists are able to offer Dharma IFS, or parts-informed therapy or psychoeducation depending on their individual credentialing.
Dharma IFS trainings, courses & intensives
are for creative psychotherapists, performing artists and creatives to embody peace, confidence, freedom, & flow
Adrienne Glasser teaching beside Dick Schwartz, Costa Rica
With Lama Tsultrim
Dharma IFS Fundamentals Course in LA (in person) & Online
This 2 Day Workshop (Nov/Dec 2026) will cover the preliminary practices of Dharma IFS which includes the fundamentals of IFS, through Buddhist experiential meditation and creative art practices.
Through learning about Self-Awareness states, Self energy or Heart-Self is accessed more easily. In this course we will cover Shamata (peaceful abiding) Self-awareness meditation practices, authentic movement/subtle body meditations, 5 Levels of mind, and core concepts from IFS through buddhist dharma arts lens. This course including conscious blending & unblending practices from Lama Tsultrim’s Feeding Your Demons, parts mapping (art) and mirroring/role-play constellation work. We will cover how to work with protective parts & exiles with embodied 6F’s. Compassion Training using Loving-kindness and healing somatic Tonglen practices for parts. We will also cover how to connect with and embody guides that shape-shift post the unburdening of parts for expanded Self-states in addition to non-dual experiences.
If you have interest in this course in Los Angeles or Online
In-Person Dharma IFS Trainings & Courses with Adrienne Glasser
Dharma IFS, a combination of experiential buddhist meditation practices, parts-work. (IFS) and somatic art therapies. These trainings are available On-site at treatment facilities, acting classes, and at meditation & retreat centers such as Pure Land Farms in Topanga CA. Adrienne also brings Awaken Arts to schools & parents.
To set up a training at your site click here
The Creative IFS Intensive
A Trauma-Informed Therapeutic Immersion for Creative Therapists & Performing Artists
The Creative Intensive is a transformational therapeutic program designed specifically for creative and performing artists who feel disconnected from their spiritual purpose, creatively blocked, emotionally overwhelmed, or spiritually adrift.
More about The Creative IFS Intensive
This immersive experience invites to return to the source of their calling — not simply as performers or creators, but as vessels of meaning, healing, and inspiration.
Who This Is For
This program serves:
Psychotherapists, healers, and coaches that are also creative
Actors, musicians, dancers, writers, directors, and multidisciplinary artists
Artists navigating burnout, creative blocks, or industry trauma
Creators healing from rejection, performance anxiety, identity fragmentation, or public scrutiny
Artists seeking deeper spiritual alignment in their craft
Visionaries who want their art to serve collective healing
Our Therapeutic Framework
This intensive integrates depth psychotherapy, embodied healing, contemplative practice, and expressive arts into one cohesive journey.
Trauma-Informed Somatic Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Participants explore the inner “cast of characters” that shape their artistic life — the Performer, the Critic, the Perfectionist, the Abandoned Child, the Visionary, the Protector.
Through trauma-informed somatic IFS:
Artists learn to identify and unblend from protective parts
Creative blocks are understood as intelligent survival strategies
The nervous system is gently regulated through embodied awareness
The Self — grounded, compassionate, and wise — becomes the creative director
Somatic practices help integrate insight into the body, where performance memory, rejection wounds, and artistic shame often reside.
Dharma Disco
A somatic journey of liberation for all parts
Dharma Disco
Pieter Performance Space,
November 14th 6:00-9:00pm
Outside of LA? Join us via Zoom
October Theme: Ratna Winds Of Change
The Arc of Dharma Disco
Join us as we drop into the truth & wisdom (dharma) of your mind-body & spirit. We will embark on a movement journey that combines dance therapy techniques such as authentic movement combined with DHARMA parts-work (IFS), with experiential, expressive, buddhist teachings and dharma arts.
We will move through three thresholds: First authentic movement will allow us to drop into our bodies-either deeply on a somatic level or in relation bringing awareness to our body in space. Second we will grow our Self-awareness to meet different parts of ourselves as we move. Third we will have choices to move and interact with others or practice in our own space as needed.The room becomes a shared ceremonial field where each person's parts and personal expression, connection and transformation both big and subtle, are honored. Healing happens organically and is relational, embodied, and ongoing. The "disco" is not to make light of the depth of movement; it is the depth of movement, expressed as both subtle and big dancing that is out-of-the-box, authentic, spiritual and joyful, as parts finally get to be seen and celebrated in an aligned community.This offering is for those that identify as LGBTQ+ and allies to co-create safe spaces.
Come learn moving meditation, parts & dharma arts through play with us.