What Is Shadow Work, Really?

You may have been hearing a lot about shadow work lately and asking, “What is it?” You may see things that say “Are you doing your shadow work?” and think, What's that? Why would I want to do that? 

There is a misconception that “shadow work” is difficult, challenging, painful, and a return to things in our past that we would rather leave behind. That shadow work requires a therapist and an intentional deep dive into all of our past traumas that we could get lost in.  

But no.

Shadow work is not work in that way. But rather, it is simply being awake to the beautiful truths that your body is asking you to give witness to. It is no longer suppressing what's chasing you in dreams and unconscious thoughts. So that you can discover, “Is there something here that is keeping me from my deeper joy. Because when left in the dark, the shadow overrides the light. It dims our joy, distorts our truth.

Shadow work, in its most honest form, is about radical honesty and accountability so that we may be illuminated and enlightened to that which keeps us from experiencing our divine right to joy. And the work is simply being awake to your body, your feelings, your emotions, and not hiding from them, but instead getting curious. 

So, what exactly is the shadow, you ask? It is simply the Ego part of ourselves that has forgotten that we are anything less than beautiful and worthy of divine love and the right to trust life. It is everything that keeps us small, contracted, fearing the world, and afraid of our true magnificence. 

By meeting the shadow, we are willing to pause and ask. 

What is my shadow here to say?

What is my shadow trying to share with me?

So I ask myself gently: What must I face in order to let go? 

What must I shift in order to feel free? What truth must I meet in order to return to joy — my real truth?

There is no single method or modality designed specifically for your shadow work. That’s a construction of what we’ve been marketed. 

Shadow work can happen in a therapist’s office, ayahuasca retreats, with healers and guides. But it can also happen in a moment on a mountaintop, in the quiet hum of a sobriety circle, church, or simply putting pen to paper. It can happen anywhere and anyhow. 

Because shadow work, though it’s called “work,” is really alchemy, it’s transformation, a movement toward joy and a reunion with our bliss.

 When we face the shadow with truth and love, we declare to ourselves: I deserve something more.

If we avoid the shadows, we keep running from… they just keep following us. And yet “the work,” the sacred simplicity of it, is to just turn around.

Turn around and ask: 

Why are you following me? 

What do you want from me? 

What am I refusing to face that could actually set me free?

True shadow work isn't work, but rather it is the key; you’ve carried all along. 

And all it takes… is a willingness to turn, face it, and illuminate it. 🌹

With love,

 Wakenda

With love,

 Wakenda