S5e5: Ian Salvage – Aligned in the Goodness That I Am

Sep 22, 2022

Ian Salvage, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in trauma-informed Somatic Therapy, shares his transformative healing journey. He discusses his childhood struggles with shame and disassociation, emphasizing the need to reconnect with his body. Ian reflects on the power of the Hoffman Process, which helped align his intellect, emotions, and spiritual self. He highlights the importance of vulnerability and authenticity in healing, and how guiding others through their journeys has deepened his own understanding of self-acceptance and connection.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Childhood Disassociation

Ian Salvage, a Hoffman teacher, recounts his childhood experiences with disassociation as a coping mechanism for overwhelming emotions.
This strategy, developed after a panic attack at age five, affected his ability to stay present and connected.

ANECDOTE

Injury and Introspection

Growing up in a dojo, Ian Salvage found physical activity as an emotional escape.
A severe hip injury at 20 forced him to confront his internalized emotions and begin healing.

ANECDOTE

The Path to Hoffman

After his injury, a healer warned Ian Salvage about potential health consequences if he didn't address his childhood wounds.
This prompted therapy and eventually led him to the Hoffman Process at 24, starting his healing journey.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Ian Salvage, beloved Hoffman teacher and coach, is our 100th guest on the Hoffman Podcast. What better way could we celebrate reaching our 100-episode milestone than with this vulnerable, wise, and insightful conversation with Ian and Drew?

Ian completed the Process three different times, the first time when he was twenty-four years old. Listen in to discover why he did the Process two more times.

Ian shares about his journey to healing the ‘shame message that he was bad.” As a child, he felt bad. As he explains, children internalize their experiences. Since he felt bad, he came to believe he must be bad.

One of Ian’s main survival strategies as a young child was to disassociate from his body because the emotions he was feeling were just too big for him to feel. As an adult, he found it hard to be present and connected to others. Ian shares that childhood strategies are very helpful, but as adults, they really get in our way. He discovered had to come back into his body and to know he is safe there. In other words, Ian says he needed to come back into “an adult nervous system.”

In doing the physical work of expression at the Process, Ian heard his body come to understand that he is, “to his bones,” innately good. Through this, he allowed his body to “align and connect to what his intellect thought and knew, to what his emotional self felt, and to what his Spiritual Self is.” Through his work at the Process, Ian’s Quadrinity became aligned in the goodness that he now knows he is. We can all learn a great deal about our own journey from Ian’s very human experience of healing.

More about Ian Salvage:

Ian Salvage holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from the Wright Institute and is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in trauma-informed Somatic Therapy.

Before being certified as a Hoffman Teacher in 2019, Ian began working in the Hoffman Institute’s Enrollment Department in 2011. Ian holds a small private practice where he works with clients remotely from Maui.

You can learn more about Ian here.

As mentioned in this episode:

Two of Ian’s sisters have been guests on the podcast:
Katie Salvage: Episode 4: Katie Salvage
Oliveyah Fisch: S3e14: Oliveyah Fisch – Lean Into Your Courage

Dōjō:
“A dōjō is a hall or place for immersive learning or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts… The term literally means “place of the Way” in Japanese.” Wikipedia

William Lewis:
Spiritual Teacher, Lightworker and Energy Channel

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk

Quote shared by Ian:
“We are hurt in relationship and we heal in relationship.” – Unknown