Lição 1
Defining Shadow Work + BEcoming One Self
Shadow Work is about the integration of Self and becoming one Self – not being fragmented within your mind, body, heart, and spirit. Perhaps you feel there are some parts of you that are acceptable and some part of you that aren’t acceptable. This is fragmentation and it’s the cause of all suffering, pain, depression, fear, and rejection. Shadow Work is not about changing who you are. It’s about feeling all your feelings deeply, healing your inner wounds, and accepting all part of yourself as you are right now, with compassion and love.
Lição 2
Start Here
BEing present with yourself and the truth of your safety in this moment is the foundation for this course. Establishing energetic boundaries, creating self-care rituals, engaging in little pleasures, giving yourself grace when you are triggered or feeling BIG feelings, allowing for everything in you to be looked at with curiosity - these are essential for creating a safe container for yourself to engage in deep inner healing and shadow work. You are not here by accident. Welcome!
Lição 3
Going Inward + Feeling Your Feelings
Suppressed emotions lead to recurring triggers, traumas, co-dependency, depression, illness, and suffering of all kinds. You need to “feel it to heal it” - and that’s exactly what we are here to do. Learning to listen to your feelings with love and compassion, instead of rejecting them, invites your feelings to be fully felt and released. Going inward and feeling your feelings puts an end to your chronic pain cycle and frees you up to create a life of peace, clarity, and joy.
Lição 4
Primal Release
An important part of Shadow Work and feeling your feelings fully, is giving yourself permission to throw a fit and experience the full release of the emotions you are carrying in your body. Scream, cry, dance, yell, thrash in whatever way feels good (and safe) for you. This practice isn’t about anyone else (or for anyone else). This is yours to do, which means it’s also important for you to find safe places, spaces, and environments that are appropriate for this type of expression and release. This is a deeply clearing, cleansing, and cathartic practice for anyone who is feeling anger, aggression, frustration, or resentment.
Lição 5
Body Work
Part of releasing emotions from your body and healing from within, is helping your body move old, stuck, and stagnant energies out through body work modalities such as massage, acupuncture, yoga, lifting weights, dancing up a sweat, stretching, and more. Body work not only releases tension from your body and relieves built up stress, it also creates endorphins that help you feel more alive, hopeful, and engaged in life with more clarity and joy, which then gives you stamina for going even deeper into your Shadow Work process.
Lição 6
Nervous System Reset
Unprocessed emotions, past traumas, and toxic energies get stuck and cause chronic stress to your nervous system, which is the cause of anxiety, depression, triggers, and reactivity. When you have a really strong emotional reaction to something that causes you to feel out of control, it’s because this constant, fearful feeling is embedded in our nervous system from past experiences, causing chronic dis-ease. Resetting your nervous system through the various modalities shared in this lesson is an essential part of doing Shadow Work for deep inner healing.
Lição 7
Nature Therapy
Nature is one of your greatest allies and healers when it comes to doing deep inner healing work. Going inward, feeling your feelings, and tapping into the patience and courage it takes to engage in Shadow Work can be tiring, vulnerable, and raw. There’s nothing quite like going outside, breathing fresh air, putting your feet in the grass, and turning your face toward the sun when you are in need of respite and recharge. Even sitting with your houseplants or looking out the window for five minutes does wonders for the heart and soul. Let nature be your guide, your healer, and your dearest friend as you heal from within today.
Lição 8
Become The Observer
To observe your emotions, your shadows, your mind, your body – all aspects of yourself – is to bear witness to your own life, heart, and desires, with curiosity, compassion, and love. You are your greatest friend and ally. Who better to witness you, see you, and do this healing work with You, than You? No one knows the details of everything you’ve been through better than you. When you become the observer, there’s nothing you need to do, there’s nowhere you need to go, there’s nothing you need to know. You get to just BE with yourself as witness, friend, and ally. Today’s lesson encourages You to be there for You, fully and completely, allowing all aspects of yourself to be seen without shame or judgment.
Lição 9
Soul Food
Part of healing your inner world is learning to have an intimate relationship with your Soul – that ephemeral part of you that can’t quite be described but you know is there because of how it responds to beauty, art, poetry, music. You Soul is the part of you that feels love, connection, belonging, joy, and total freedom. It’s always right there within you, ready to delight in life itself. Part of healing from depression, trauma, anxiety, and chronic illness is engaging in the beauty that surrounds you and feeding your Soul with it regularly. Find what delights you and keep moving toward it.
Lição 10
Building Trust
Until you begin to feel safe within yourself and learn to trust yourself, you will continue to feel scared, depressed, and re-traumatized in your struggle to trust others and feel safe in the world at large. Learning to trust and feel safe can feel like one of the trickiest and most confusing aspects of your healing process because past traumas, hurts, and experiences get embedded into your perceptions and create a smokescreen of mistrust and lack of safety. This lesson is a continuation of all the lessons that have come before as we explore how you can keep taking steps and creating small changes in your life that will help you feel safe, at ease, and more trusting of yourself and others as you heal and learn to live with an open, unguarded heart.
Lição 11
Facing Your Pain
At the core of Shadow Work and deep inner healing is a willingness to look at and face your pain. BEing with your pain and honoring all that is coming up for you, and all you’ve experienced in your life, without numbing out, trying to escape, or putting it off for another day, is the most courageous path you can choose for yourself. It requires faith, hope, belief, and a willingness to envision yourself living your life with more peace, clarity, joy, and freedom. It also requires you to get comfortable with discomfort and learn to sit with the pain that’s gone unacknowledged for way too long. When you do this, you find there was nothing to fear to begin with, and all you ever needed was the gift of your own attention.
Lição 12
Final Encouragement
Everything is connected – heart, mind, body, soul. When you heal one thing, you heal everything. Keep going to the places that scare you and shining light on what has gone untended in the darkness of your being. Go into the shadows and find a scared version of yourself waiting there for you to reach out your hand, stand as witness, and say, “I see you. I’m here for you. You’re not alone.” By this you gather yourself back up and you are no longer fragmented. You are whole once again. Continue showing up with courage and faith as you trust that all is forgiven, all can be healed, and there’s nothing to fear when you are on your own side. May you stay with yourself today, and always.
