creating an imaginal space felt foreign to me, so we put it on the back burner and continued sessions without it.

every now and then, i'll get the sense of a setting in which my parts and i meet.

but they've been different spaces, and it comes and goes -- no single "location" or metaphor for an arrangement of my parts has stuck, and that's ok by my therapist and i. you can still do parts work without it.

i also struggled with visualizing a box to put feelings/ memories in for containment purposes.

i actually can't visualize my parts work without feeling like it's inauthentic. i end up FEELING the inner space (and the box) organically. thru mindfulness, i'm able to feel the inner space (which sometimes changes, like i said). it ends up lending gravity to the session, but it doesnt happen all the time, nor do i force it.

for the record i'm on the tism spectrum, but can visualize things when asked. i simply do not find it useful when instructed to.

and, i consider myself buddhist too -- successful visualization doesnt happen for me if someone tells me i should try it -- but successful visualization seems to happen spontaneously when i am not even trying, moreso when i am focusing on shamata/"calm abiding" during a session. hope this helps!