As mentioned in the show, here is the Link to my Insight Timer (Free Meditation App) - https://insig.ht/UvRkzv59uVb?utm_source=copy_link&utm_medium=live_stream_share

In this episode I take you on a deep dive into the practice and principle of Shadow Work. Guiding through a fearless and transformative introspection necessary for true and permanent inner peace, health and happiness. This episode includes a practical exercise towards the end.

The 'Shadow' as described by many spiritual teachers, therapists and psychologists (including Carl Jung) is the unconscious material of repressed, avoided and buried emotional residue, left over from a painful past in which the emotion was not given the correct attention at the time, most often this is due to encountering these emotions as a child when the adults around you had no emotional maturity, no emotional security, were neglectful and mistreated you and therefore did not teach you the correct way to handle intensely negative emotional states. Being a child you found your own way to handle these emotions as you learned the emotion was not 'safe' to express around adults, but sadly the mechanisms that worked as a child essentially 'Buried' the emotion and here is where the dysfunctional patterns we carry into adulthood are formed.

It is the repression of emotion that causes the vast majority of dysfunction and disorder in the individual as so many of our negative behaviors are in place in order to avoid facing this pain, by choosing to face it squarely and head-on one removes the need for dysfunctional behavior, bad habits and unnecessarily painful emotional patterns. You essentially 're-parent' that poor child who was never taught the right way to experience emotions.

For example if we have repressed shame we are unable to feel shame in daily life and therefore have lost access to an emotion necessary in ensuring we don't act in strange, embarrassing and unhealthy ways. If we have repressed anger we struggle with conflict and so resort to passive aggression and manipulation. If we have repressed fear we might find ourselves in patterns of avoidance and therefore unable to access healthy and productive jobs and fulfilling relationships.

This can be so painful as we have buried emotion for a reason, they can be incredibly painful, and if you have been on the receiving end of very unjust behavior towards you naturally you will be unwilling to return to those periods of time and refeel those horrible emotions. But this reluctance ultimately only damages you further, it's time to pull the band-aid off and really do this so that you can move on into a happy and healthy life moving forwards.

If you have found yourself stuck or stagnant on your healing journey or path to awakening it is very likely that there is an element of the shadow that needs to be addressed. The trade-off with this work is that the deeper you can go into this painful material, the more rapid and profound your transformation will be.

By practicing shadow work one develops the necessary courage and maturity to finally feel these repressed emotions and feel comfortable in their presence, in time this results in a much more settled and peaceful emotional inner world. This is perhaps the hardest and most uncomfortable of all spiritual practices, but in my experience is the most beneficial and transformative.

Once uncovered and integrated, the shadow is no longer operating from the darkness and instead is allowed up and into the light. The individual is now Whole with nothing left undiscovered. Herein lies true peace.

Good luck.