Do you need Shadow Work?

Indicators that it is time to start Shadow Work

Are you wondering if it is time to start your journey into self reflective healing? 

• Are you easily triggered?
• Emotions always bubbling away beneath the surface?
• Do you have flash backs?
• Do you feel like you are held back by your past?
• Do you have over inflated emotional reactions to certain situations?
• Do you struggle to see yourself the way others describe you?
• Do you mask?
• Do you hide your true self?
• Is your life how you want it to be?
• Do you struggle with relationships?
• Are you living in alignment with you true desires?
• Are you scared of who you can be?
• Are there dynamics and patterns in your family that you would prefer gone?

This list is not exhaustive, it couldn’t be, we are unique after all, but there are common themes and indicators. These indicators demonstrate that your shadow is asking for your attention. Often someone else brings these behaviours to our attention, or you may have ‘awakened’ and are able to be self reflective. Often initially after an awakening we are euphoric and very inquisitive, some months after the elation fades we can find ourselves feeling low and trapped. This is when the healing journey typically begins. Read on to learn about the Shadow Work journey.

The self reflective healing journey

If you are on a path toward higher consciousness after an awakening, then you are on a journey of healing, they are one and the same.

If you were hoping to find yourself in a blissful zen state, immediately knowing unity and love, but instead are feeling lost in a sea of surfacing wounds and desperate longing to feel connection. Perhaps you (like I did) feel a deep loneliness that seems inescapable, or, maybe you are numb, disassociated from the world around you, in denial about your pain and sedate in an attempt at survival. If this resonates with you, then you, without a doubt, have shadow work to do.

The journey toward healing is like that of traversing a mountain, the path spirals around and around the mountain whilst you climb incrementally higher. Healing traumas that surface, overcoming obstacles and challenges whilst you ascend, getting closer to your true self, your higher self, and most importantly an integrated self.

Initially healing the self is of the most importance, a journey of self healing will raise your vibration, which in turn contributes to the raising of the collective vibration, moving us toward unity and collective consciousness and a 5d life.

Shadow integration is one of the fundamental steps toward alignment with your higher self, soul purpose and ultimately ascending toward a higher vibration.

To integrate ones shadow or hidden self, the journey into healing must commence. The inner child, unresolved wounds and even ancestral trauma need to be acknowledged, deeply felt and healed, what was once rejected and feared is accepted and all parts of the self come into alignment.

This can feel like a daunting process, it is after all a journey into facing our pain. Especially those wounds that are buried deep, under methods of quashing and hiding the pain and sadness (by trying to conform to societal pressure to pretend we are ‘fine’). Even the thought of working on the self, healing hidden wounds and the term shadow work can be triggering for some people.

Triggers – the Shadow Work ally

Triggers are a fantastically helpful tool on the journey of healing, a trigger showing up is like a great big flashing neon sign to where the unhealed wound lies. Through a variety of processes we follow the trigger to find the original source of the wounding, allowing for the healing process to begin. The more wounds that surface for healing the more that hurt aspect of self heals and moves toward the surface, the light. Once that aspect of self is fully healed, it can be integrated into the whole. Triggers are not your enemy, in a self reflective healing journey they are an ally. 

The goal is to heal and then integrate all shattered aspects of self, allowing for full self integration which moves you into a higher vibration, a deep self love, and thus an easy feeling of connection to source. We are always in connection with source, but living in a fractured state of self depreciation means being in a low vibration, in which we cannot perceive our connection with source and oneness.

Why do this work?

Trauma healing and shadow integration is a key aspect of becoming a healthy vibrant happy being, providing a stronger foundation of resilient inner strength and confidence. Healing the self has a compounding effect into every other aspect of your life. When you present in your life as an authentic, healed person who is in harmony and flow state, your vibration is higher. You can positively affect everyone you come in to contact with. You also will not be passing on the trauma to any children you have, or impacting the lives of people you are in contact with. We often don’t intend to cause harm or discomfort to others, but when we are traumatised, we can take our emotions out on others.

In truth, we do not know how long the healing journey takes, depending upon what trauma the soul has experienced during this and other lifetimes, and also if you have incarnated in this lifetime as an ancestral healer (please see ‘Ancestral trauma and gifts‘ or contact me for further support). A wound will only arise when you have the capacity to work with it, and you can only go to the depth in which you have the ability to perceive. Therefore a wound may come up several times over the space of several years, each time it arises you are able to go a little deeper, until healing is complete and integration occurs. Unfortunately there is an attitude toward self reflective healing that it is a done once and complete exercise, people will say ‘oh well I worked on that years ago, I don’t have any issues around that trauma to resolve’, but this is just not how healing works. If it still presents, if you still get triggered, if you are still defensive or dismissive, if you still have unresolved emotions, then you have not integrated that aspect. You are being deceived by the self protective mechanism known as our buddy ‘the ego’. You are probably on the path to integration, and have undergone self reflective work in that area, but aren’t healed and integrated yet. Some of my very deep traumas were revisited 5 or 6 times before integration occurred.

Illuminating Shadow Work Exercise

One of the simplest shadow work exercises is to record your triggers. As discussed, triggers will show us where to find the path to the original wounding that caused the fracture. I recommend keeping a Shadow Work Journal. Every time you become triggered, Yes every time if you can, make a brief note (in your phone, or a notebook you keep to hand),

• what triggered you,
• how you reacted,
• and how you felt.

Then at the end of the day, or whenever you have undisturbed time (probably at least 15 minutes) record these details into your Shadow Journal. Then go deeper. Consider the following points:

• Why do you think that situation triggered you?
• Were there other contributing factors (were you hungry, already stressed, too hot etc…).
• Was your reaction appropriate?
• Did how you felt internally correlate with how you reacted outwardly?
• Would others have reacted this way?
• How did you feel after the trigger abated?
• Is this a frequent trigger?
• Do you have any idea where this trigger comes from?

Once you’ve been keeping this record for a while, patterns will emerge, and you may find that out of your regular triggers, several of them are obviously interlinked. You will also find a pattern emerges around ‘how you felt at the time’ and ‘how you feel after’. These patterns are all helping you uncover what has been hidden from you. Your Shadow Self is becoming illuminated to you, and that is the good stuff. 

Guidance and support during this journey of healing and shadow integration can ease many of the fears that arise, easing the process and allowing confidence in achieving the goal of a healed and fully integrated self. There are many ways for you to find appropriate support, and working with a trusted therapist would be beneficial to most everyone. I myself have engaged in formal therapies along my path, and the experience on a couple of occasions was life changing. There are other modes of seeking appropriate support on the shadow work journey, and working with me may be an appropriate option for you, please use the contact page if you would like to discuss your individual requirements.

Working with me is a unique approach in supporting your journey, I offer a confidential held space, spiritually guided support, psychic and channeled guidance, Reiki to aid integration and healing (healing work can leave people feeling exposed and vulnerable as anyone who has ever undergone formal therapy is aware, which is why Ascension Roots packages entail a crystal aided reiki energy treatment after shadow exposure to soothe and calm the process). I have a deep knowledge of shadow work, and will guide you toward reclaiming your power, allowing you to step out of victim consciousness and step into radically emancipating self responsibility. I am claresentient which means that I am able to feel what other people are feeling, which can be beneficial when it comes to helping integrate shadow aspects. When undertaking very deep work like concurrent life closure and ancestral trauma healing your spirit team and ancestors will start working with me before our session, and your personal work will continue well after.