Shadow work, a concept pioneered by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, involves exploring the hidden aspects of our personality—the parts we’ve repressed or denied because they feel unacceptable or uncomfortable.
Have you noticed the people who are the most homophobic usually turn out to be gay themselves?
That’s the kind of stuff we are talking about here.
Emotions like anger, jealousy, fear, or shame, often buried deep in the unconscious due to childhood experiences, societal expectations, or personal wounds.
We all carry a shadow; it’s shaped by what we’ve learned to hide to fit in or maintain a positive image.
For instance, if expressing anger was discouraged in your upbringing, you might suppress it, only for it to surface indirectly as resentment or passive behavior.
The shadow isn’t inherently negative—it’s simply unintegrated. Ignoring it can lead to projecting those traits onto others or self-sabotaging patterns, while confronting it fosters greater wholeness, the journey toward becoming your authentic self.
In practice today, shadow work has evolved into a tool for personal growth, appearing in therapy, self-help resources, and spiritual contexts. It’s an ongoing process, not a quick resolution.
Methods
Journaling to uncover triggers-asking yourself what irritates you in others, as it often mirrors your own shadow
Meditating to sit with uncomfortable feelings without judgment.
Creative expression, like writing or art, to bring these aspects to light. (I did this myself via my writing at http://unlucid.us)
Therapy-guidance from a trained therapist that can help you find your triggers.
From my own experiences helping clients, I’ve seen how repressing emotions creates blockages that manifest physically and mentally.
Allowing yourself to feel them fully, without suppression, can be liberating! It dissipates the intensity and builds resilience.
The benefits are profound: enhanced self-awareness, stronger relationships free from projection, and a deeper sense of empowerment.
Traditional therapy usually consists of bringing up past and sometimes painful memories over and over. Let me state this again: I am not a trained therapist!
I would rather have pins stuck in my eyeballs than listen to people drone on and on about their problems.
On my patients I will use some techniques similar to EFT and some that I have developed on my own. Sometimes a chronic body issue is nothing more than stuck emotions.
I’ve done the shadow work on myself and I feel like I have advanced a great deal in a short while.
We all have issues. I want to help you “fix” yourself and be better.
🖖🏼Live Long and Prosper,
-Dan
Dr. Danny DeReuter has courses and seminars on the way. If you would like to learn some of his work, make sure you subscribe here and at http://theintuitivechiropractor.com