Shadow Work®

In brief, Shadow Work® is an opportunity for you to explore (and reclaim!) parts of yourself that have been repressed, disowned, or denied.  

Why would anyone want to do that?!  

Good question!  We (intentionally or unintentionally) repress, disown, or deny aspects of ourselves for good reason … For example:

• Maybe you learned that anger was dangerous (so you repressed your anger so that you didn’t cause harm);

• Maybe you learned sadness was a burden (so you denied ever being sad because some other expression was more acceptable);

• Maybe you had a caregiver that tended to be depressed, and you learned that your joy* was too painful for that caregiver to be with (so you disowned your joy so that you could get love from your caregiver).

Here’s the catch of disowning parts of yourself… they never actually go away**.  What?!  That’s right! They never actually leave. That’s great news! They’re still part of you and, because of that, you can learn how to re-access them on your own terms so you can live more fully into ALL of who you are. P.S. It takes a lot of energy to hold them back… so reintegrating those energies will actually give you more energy for living!  Yay! 

*Sometimes “good” stuff, like joy, goes into shadow, too!

**A common example: If you’ve repressed anger, sometimes it might surprise you and sneak out in a kind of explosion when you least expect it.  Or it might show-up as passive-aggressive… and the harm you’ve been trying to avoid ends up happening anyway.  

For more information about the “shadow” in Shadow Work®:  https://shadowwork.com/about-the-shadow/