Shadow Work: It's Not What You Think It Is

In this video of the Live Mindfully Series with Sarah Sati, Sarah dives into the popular topic of shadow work, shedding light on a rarely heard perspective. Sarah takes the value element out of the concept of shadow work and gives the listeners a new take on how to use this important work to enhance the capacity to expand perspectives and eliminate ignorance. At the close of the video, Sarah offers a simple and emotionally neutral practice to bring shadow work into your life for the benefit.

Transcript

How much of your life do you actually pay attention to?

If you're like most people,

You probably don't even know the answer to this question.

You probably never really contemplated it before and as a result,

If you're like most people,

The parts of life that you pay the most attention to are likely the most obvious,

The most lit up within experience.

For instance,

When you're sitting at your window writing,

You hear the loud sound of cars on the road rather than the subtle chirping of the birds.

It's not as though one exists and one doesn't.

You just tune in to the most salient,

The most obvious one over the other.

Likely you don't even realize you're doing this,

But it's how you're living life.

Only in what is light and you're missing what lies within the shadows because of that.

This is where misperception leads us all astray and this is why shadow work is so crucial on the path to ultimate well-being,

But it may not be what you think it is.

Shadow work is not to imply work in a realm of values such as working on what is good about you or what is bad about you.

This is a common myth that not only can create fear and aversion to the practice of shadow work instead of interest and excitement,

But it also incorrectly assumes that what you are missing is what is wrong with life.

When in fact,

If you're like most people,

What you're actually missing is what is right.

The truth about shadow work is that it's neutral.

It's void of good or bad.

Rather,

It's a mind training technique.

One in which you're creating a heightened capacity to widen the lens of what you see in each moment so that you're more likely to achieve a correct perception.

This increases your odds of correct thinking and this increases your odds of engaging in correct action.

While sometimes doing shadow work may mean that you have to look at what you value as bad,

Something that's bad in your life,

Whether or not this is the case actually depends more on your current habits of perception than anything else.

If this is true,

Why do so many people confuse shadow work with looking at what we perceive to be the bad sides of ourselves or our lives?

What is it about shadows that makes us immediately think of the dark sides of life?

The answer is quite simple.

Shadows are where danger lurks.

When contrast between light and dark is low,

When sight and no sight intersect,

Confusion is a natural byproduct.

A snake in a shadow looks to be a rope.

A rope in a shadow looks to be a snake.

The snake or the rope is not the problem.

The problem is the inability to see what is truly there with accuracy.

This is what leads us to challenges in our lives,

Unnecessary challenges.

If we saw it was a snake,

We could respond wisely.

If we knew it was a rope,

We could respond wisely.

But whether we think it is a snake or a rope,

If we are wrong,

We have placed ourselves in great danger.

Shadow work reduces these errors,

Errors that cause unnecessary suffering and make life more challenging than it needs to be.

Through the effort of shadow work,

Which is ongoing and can be applied in all domains of life,

We're introduced to the reality that nothing is inherently good or bad,

But ignorance leads us to problems.

Lacking a shadow perspective on life,

We tend to have a narrow focus and we neglect to look at things in their completeness.

Doing this leaves us feeling authentically unsatisfied because whether we're aware of it or not,

We have a deeper body of knowledge that realizes we're working against reality rather than with it.

When we engage with shadow work,

We enhance our capacity to not only tolerate but to accept and even revel in the magic of perception as the alchemist of experience.

For most of us,

This is the reason we feel low-level dissatisfaction that permeates much of our lives.

We are incorrectly understanding the nature of reality,

Viewing it in a one-dimensional way.

We hear the cars driving by and we're angered,

We're annoyed,

We're wishing to live somewhere with less cars and more nature and all the while we're missing the birds,

Who we would hear if we just expanded our awareness a little bit beyond what is most occupying our internal and external perceptions.

So drop the notion that to do shadow work means to unearth all that is bad about you and your life and instead understand shadow work to mean expanding and deepening your awareness to see as much of life as possible in each moment.

When you do this,

Naturally you will notice that even though the cars are loud,

The birds are still singing and in this way perhaps you will be more likely to choose which of those things you would like to pay attention to,

Honoring that they both exist simultaneously.

This is how we train our minds to see the flower in the compost.

Horseshit is as beautiful as gold if you understand reality correctly.

If you're ready to undertake this important work on your path,

The work of seeing into the shadows,

There are a lot of simple exercises you can begin to use.

My favorite is called see what you don't see.

Before I explain the practice,

It's important for me to remind you that shadow work is a mind training technique and so while it can be used to uncover hidden issues and help resolve personal traumas,

It's best to begin slowly and work your way up to deeper experiences and when you're ready to go deeper and especially if you're undertaking the work to deal with traumas or big challenges in your life,

I advise you to seek out someone to do the work with who can support you with wisdom and compassion.

To get started on your own,

See what you don't see is a perfect introductory practice and that it's relatively neutral in regards to emotionality.

To practice is easy.

You can choose any setting,

So a long line like at a grocery store or if you're hanging out at a park,

No one has to know you're practicing.

Once you've selected the setting,

You just take a few moments to ground yourself in it.

Be fully there.

See what you see.

What is obvious?

When I say see,

I need to clear up that I don't mean merely seeing.

I'm using the word seeing as a catch-all for all sensory experiences.

So hear what you hear,

Smell what you smell,

Feel what you feel,

Etc.

Notice what's obvious and then spend a little time there.

Spend a little time with what's obvious and gradually as you feel comfortable with your presence,

Begin to widen your awareness to start including the less obvious things.

Tune your ears to begin to differentiate sounds.

What subtle sounds can you hear?

And do the same for your sight,

Your smell,

Your feeling.

If you're practicing in a space with other people,

Which is a great place to practice,

You can start to notice what's first most obvious about them,

Like what are they wearing,

What do they look like,

And then begin to go deeper.

Begin to see what's not obvious.

How are they walking,

Moving,

What's the tone of their voice?

Don't make up stories.

That's not shadow work.

Push yourself to see what's actually there but not so overt.

Then turn the lens around on yourself.

First notice what's most obvious about your experience,

About how you're practicing,

And expand your awareness to look beyond that.

Look at your hidden intentions,

Your less obvious motivations.

What are subtle thoughts that you may be having but they aren't quite loud enough to take front stage?

Practice like this daily,

Weekly,

And over time you'll realize you have naturally expanded your perceptive abilities to include a wider picture of reality.

And this will undoubtedly and profoundly impact your capacity to engage with others,

To understand and work with yourself,

And to be present inside of your environment.

I hope this practice is helpful for you in your life.

Until next time,

Live mindfully,

Be well.

And now instead of clicking on to watch the next video,

Check in with how you feel in this moment and respond to your needs with wisdom rather than through the actions of habit energy.

Reviews

Thank you for clearing the air around important concepts 🙏 very useful ♥️
I concur with others, I found the pace too fast and had to pause and rewind several times throughout 🪷

🙏🤍

I love this reminder to be aware of things that are not obvious. It is especially helpful for those of us who tend to over focus on the negative and what isn’t working. Now I will remind myself to notice and focus on what is good, beautiful and joyful around me. 🥰

Thank you so much for your perspective on Shadow work, this was amazing.