What is Shadow Work

Shadow work is about examining the unconscious parts of yourself, aka your “shadow” or the parts you keep hidden from the light and from yourself.

This can seem like a scary or dark process, but it is not. Instead of approaching it with harsh, critical energy, instead open yourself up to examining your shadow with curiosity, love, and unconditional acceptance.

Typically, we project our shadow onto other people without realizing it, so considering how we feel about others is a great place to start acknowledging your shadow.

For example, our subconscious self might have feelings of jealousy towards people with a lot of money so we project these feelings onto people who we perceive as having more money than we do. We may be in a lack mentality, being fearful of not having enough money or luxuries, and therefore we are negative towards people who have money. We may say that they are greedy, we may not trust them, we can say and think all kinds of negative things about these people, but really it is because our own insecurities and fears live in our shadow.

Noticing what comes up for you then turning into thoughts, emotions and/or embodied feelings can help us to bring light to our shadow. When you can look at your actions with curiosity and intention to grow personally, you empower yourself. Most people have a hard time looking at themselves from a personal growth perspective.

How do you start doing shadow work? Using this analogy about money / lack mentality, here is how you might approach beginning shadow work.

1. PROCEED WITH CURIOSITY:

Notice when you make a judgment about someone or something or when a life-long repeating pattern starts to emerge. Self-awareness is the first step to change, and healing is simply responding differently to a repeating pattern or stimuli.

2. ASK YOURSELF DEEP QUESTIONS.

1. “Why do I feel this way?”

2. “When did I start feeling this way? Where do these feelings come from?”

3. “Do I TRULY feel this way?”

4. Think of that statement at hand, in this case it would be something like, “All rich people are greedy.” When you think of the statement in your mind, tap into your body and notice where this thought lives in your body. The correlating chakra of the body part where you feel this emotion can give you insight on your fears or imbalances correlating to your experience with this emotion.

   1. For example, if you feel it in your hips, you may have never felt financially secure and therefore this is a root chakra problem.

   2. If you feel it in the pit of your stomach, there may be some fears in your solar plexus and your personal ability to cultivate money for yourself, or there may have been an issue around money that made you feel unworthy of it.

   3. The list can go on, but tuning into the wisdom of your body is critical for doing shadow work and also for your healing journey.

3. SIT WITH IT.

This can feel incredibly uncomfortable. Sometimes doing this work could lead to having a few hard weeks. Don’t overload yourself with looking at all the areas of your shadow. Pick ONE TOPIC to address at a time. The deeper the issue, the more uncomfortable it will be. While you sit in the discomfort, do not make any rash decisions - simply sit yourself, allow your emotions to come up and come out (they need to purge), and sit with your body. We bury so many of our emotions that when we bring attention to it (or shine light on the shadow), it can feel overwhelming to our system. Proceed with love and acceptance for what comes up. Allow more time for self care, including spending time in nature, stretching, resting, doing soft things that bring you peace and comfort.

4. JOURNAL THROUGH IT.

Journaling - either using pen on paper or typing in a digital journal - can help you sift through the emotions flooding your mind, body, and spirit. Through journaling, you are able to release the energy from your body and energetic field, which often results in some major breakthroughs and "a-ha" moments. When you free write (writing from your soul without worrying about grammar, punctuation, or structure), it gives you a different perspective, and seeing it on paper or on a screen helps you to see the concrete words that your brain needs to see in order to get in alignment with your highest good.

Shadow work can also be about your habits, your self-sabotage patterns, your attachment style in personal, romantic, and professional relationships, and so much more! Regardless of the area you decide to work on first, you start with noticing your actions, thoughts, emotions, reactions, etc and then getting curious about why you feel the way you do. I suggest starting small, focusing on thoughts, biases, prejudices, etc, before starting to notice larger shadows such as life-long patterns in your finances, relationships, etc.

Keep in mind that our actions are so ingrained in us, usually stemming from childhood experiences, so using the “Thread Method” can help you to retrace the correlated experiences throughout your life. To use this method, when you have a thought that you want to use for shadow work, in your mind’s eye, wrap a string around the thought. From there, follow the thread down into your subconscious, asking yourself deeper questions about the subject at hand, noticing how many times this pattern has appeared in your life and how you’ve responded to it over the years. Continue to follow this thread from adult years, into teenage and adolescent years, and then into childhood. Also be sure to consider if this is a generational pattern - meaning your parents, grandparents, family members have also experienced or expressed these same patterns.

WORK WITH YOUR SHADOW

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