Shadow Work
What is Shadow Work?
Shadow work is the process of delving into the unconscious mind in order to uncover the hidden and repressed parts of yourself. It can include trauma and traumatic events in your life or parts of your personality that you try to hide. These aspects may be unacceptable to others or undesirable to yourself. Most of it lies within our subconscious minds.Using different methods you will shine a light on these shadow parts of yourself. You choose to dig beneath the surface to heal, eliminate, change and accept all the different aspects or archetypes that lie beneath.It is something that can be done by yourself. However, it is highly recommended you seek support if you need to clear deep trauma. Support can come from coaches, psychologists, psychiatrists or therapists, depending on your preferences.
How do you do Shadow Work?
There are a number of different methods you can use. These are just some of the ones I have used personally to heal and accept my shadow self. They include:
Journaling
Noticing your triggers and emotional responses
Participating in inner dialogue
Hypnotherapy, EFT and other Spiritual Healing
Shadow Work Meditations
Shadow Work Affirmations
3, 2, 1 Shadow Work
You will need to work out which method works best for you. For me, Journaling is one of the most powerful tools and has had a huge impact on my life.A quick rundown on each of these methods.
1. Journaling
Question and answer sessions with yourself. Ask yourself deep probing questions and write down your answers. I have a downloadable of some starting questions if you want here. Don't overthink it, just free-write. Allow your pen to take you on a journey with your subconscious mind. Let your mind run free. Be honest, be open and share all the perspectives you have on each question.
Don't judge yourself, no filter, just write. You don't have to share this with anyone unless you want to. Be as open and honest as you can. See what comes out as it will often surprise you.
Keep your journal in a safe place and in a few days, weeks or months, whatever feels comfortable for you, revisit it and do it again. See if there are any changes or any further insights you may have missed the first time.
2. Noticing your Triggers and Emotional Responses.
Pay close attention to your triggers. Did you realise that you can only be triggered by something that is no longer your truth or that you are ready to change? We get triggered when we are ready and willing to change these thought patterns and beliefs. Ready to upgrade them with our new thoughts and beliefs. So when you are triggered ask yourself, What does this mean for me? What is it teaching me? How do you feel about what was said or done? Is this still your truth?
Gabby Bernstein talks a lot about a process she calls "The Holy Instant" in her book Super Attractor. Bring your triggers into the open, and thank them for showing up as you are now ready to deal with them. Work out if you still believe them or are ready to change them, forgive them and replace them with your new beliefs and thought patterns. Affirm and reiterate these new thought patterns and beliefs.
Also, pay attention to your happy or high vibrational emotional responses. These show you the areas you have already grown in. When someone says something that makes you feel happy or you take pride in you can see how the world is perceiving you. Be sure that is how you want them to.
3. Participate in Inner Dialogue
Have conversations with yourself, your negative ID or ego. Call this inner voice out. Show it to yourself so you can decide if it is your truth or not. This dialogue may be your own thoughts but it also may be the programming instilled in you by others.
When your inner voice tells you something bad, ask it, am I really? or so what? Are you happy to think or feel that or is it something you want to change? Do you believe what the voice is telling you? If not, use your power and choose your thought patterns instead. Use whatever tools are necessary to switch these thoughts over and shut them down for good. You have the power within you. Use it.
4. Hypnotherapy, EFT and Spiritual Healing
Hypnosis can be used two-fold. One to uncover hidden thoughts and aspects of yourself and two to implant practical suggestions in order to change your thoughts. Working with a hypnotherapist you can discover things in your subconscious and unconscious mind you may not be able to reach. Subsequently listening to recordings to subliminally alter your thinking can also shift your perspective of self. A good hypnotherapist can create a recording for you or your own specific thoughts and words to listen to whilst meditating or sleeping.EFT - Emotional Freedom Technique or Tapping can be used for healing purposes to help you find self-love or instil better thought patterns. Using the simple script of "Even though I (insert your own negative thought), I deeply love and accept myself. "Brad Yates" has some amazing EFT videos on YouTube to help you with this technique for many different areas in your life.
By doing this method repeating eg. Even though I overreacted I deeply love and accept myself, allow your thoughts to run free. You will surprise yourself with what odd statements your mind comes up with and hidden beliefs you have without realising it.
Spiritual Healing can be sought from different practitioners. Some of the different practitioners I have used have included Reiki Masters, Energy Healers, Kinesiologists, Psych K practitioners, Theta Healers, Sound Therapists and more. You choose which method of healing works best for you.
5. Shadow Work Meditation
Meditation for me is the process of emptying your mind to allow it the space to lead you on a journey of discovery. It can lead you to insights into your inner-self, highlight scenarios and situations that burden you and allow you the freedom to listen and communicate with your higher self and soul.
You can use quiet meditation if you are happy to follow your free thoughts. Follow a scripted meditation to guide you on a journey of discovery. Or even do a visualisation meditation to tap into your past and future aspects of self.
Meditation can be profoundly healing by itself or help you uncover the next steps for you to take. Choose whichever version works best for you.
6. Shadow Work Affirmations
Most people think affirmations are just positive statements. They don't always have to be especially when doing shadow work. You can use negative statements during this process in order to feel into the statements. By talking about your feelings freely and allowing yourself to work through them you will grow more within yourself. Use your affirmations to accept the traits you may be ashamed of. Then, empower yourself with acceptance of these by loving yourself through your imperfections. Accept yourself as you are so you can choose how you move forward and grow into the person you want to be.
7. 3, 2, 1 Shadow Method
This process can help you through your troubled relationships with other people. Remember other people are just a mirror to ourselves that we don't always see. Choose someone who triggers you or whom you feel a great dislike for. They are there to show us hidden aspects of ourselves so we can find out what they are and why we have them.
3. Face It
Get a picture of this person, whether in your mind's eye or a physical photo of them it doesn't matter. Tune in to all the feelings that this picture evokes within you. You can either do this verbally out loud or in your journal.
Describe the feelings this person evokes within you and makes you feel. What traits do they have that you don't like? What about them triggers you the most? How do they irritate and exasperate you?
Say how they make you feel or write it all down. Use third person wording, you, he/she, or their name. Talk about what they do to you and how you feel about it.
2. Talk to it
Talk to them like they are in front of you. Tell them how you feel. Be open, honest and brutal if you need to be. Get it all out there. The anger, the accusations, the hurt and the pain.
Ask all the questions of them that you are too afraid to ask. Find out why they do this, see if they realise what it does to you and what they get out of it. Get the answers that you need.
1. Be It
This part is bound to make you uncomfortable and be really awkward but imagine you are them. Be like them, embrace these qualities and arrogances they have. Make I Am statements about how you see them. Become one with these accusations you told them - like I am Selfish, I am Rude, I am Superior etc.
Start to understand that all of these traits and virtues lie within you. People can not nor will they see them in anyone else if they aren't. We simply don't recognise them at all. Acknowledge and accept these parts of yourself. FORGIVE. Then find compassion and forgiveness to send to this person as they are only doing the best they can with what they know how.
Doing this exercise shall bring forth feelings of peace and acceptance within yourself. By bringing your unconscious shadow aspects into conscious awareness, you recognise more within yourself. You then get to choose if these traits are to stay or go by your own actions. Letting go of resentment towards someone else sets you free to you.
Benefits of doing Shadow Work
Understanding yourself and knowing your own subconscious and unconscious beliefs, values, personalities and archetypes are truly freeing. Finding acceptance within yourself is the key to finding alignment with all that there is. This is how you heal yourself, your past, your lineage and your future. Amalgamating them within yourself in the present and being authentically you.
This is how you heal yourself. You choose who you are and begin to create magic in the world. Become the creator of your life. Make the world what you want it to be and manifest your desires.
