5 Tips to help you with your Shadow Work
If you haven’t already checked out my previous post ‘What is Shadow Work?’ I would recommend reading that one before getting into the tips below.
It can be really helpful if you know you have a lot of Shadow Work to do to work with a specialist in this field to help guide you through the process safely, especially if you have experienced a lot of trauma. These tips do not constitute medical advice but rather are techniques I have found helpful along my own journey.
Be patient with the process
The first thing to remember when we approach Shadow Work, is that it takes time. We live in a society that is obsessed with quick fixes and there is no quick fix when it comes to Shadow Work; it takes time to reintegrate the parts of yourself that you have rejected. Show yourself patience and kindness on the journey.
2. Get into the body
When working with the Shadow aspect, it is impossible to avoid the body in the process. Much of the wounding connected to the rejected parts will energetically be connected to the lower three primary chakras. To access the information and energetic stagnation held within these lower three primary chakras, you have to get into the body. Somatic practices, such as yin yoga, dance and pranayama can assist you in this.
3. Work with your unconscious mind
As Shadow Work is about bringing what is unconscious into conscious awareness, it can be helpful to work with practices and modalities that can help you connect to this aspect. Working with your dreams and modalities such as hypnosis or working with your Akashic Records can be very helpful.
Akashic Records questions that can help you with your Shadow Work can include:
What aspect of myself have I rejected?
Why did I reject that part of myself?
What does that part of me need to reintegrate back into my conscious awareness?
How can I better connect to my unconscious?
4. Journalling
If you are someone who has a tendency to overthink, journaling can be a very helpful practice. The brain loves to answer questions so by posing it with certain prompts, it is going to work really hard to search inside for the answer. It can also be helpful to write your answers with your non-dominant hand to help access the unconscious.
Please ensure that if you are going to utilise journaling in this process, you also incorporate body-based practices. This will absolutely help you deepen the answers you receive in journaling. If you do not yet have a personal Akashic Records practice, you can use the questions above as journaling prompts to help you get started.
5. Pay attention to your daily life
Life itself is going to present you with many opportunities to see where you are still holding onto energetic stagnation. The hard part is to sit with the uncomfortable emotions (such as anger, guilt and shame) as they arise and firstly, allow yourself to feel them.
You can then take it a step further and reflect upon, when was the first time I felt this? This is a great way to connect to those parts you have repressed and/or rejected, and you may want to include some somatic practices to help you feel into these emotions fully.
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