The psychoanalyst Carl Jung is known for expressing the idea: “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate."

Many of us live in fear of our shadow selves, believing them to be “wrong”, “evil” or unworthy of recognition. But just what exactly is a shadow self, anyways? Jung postulated the shadow is not an “evil” part of who we are, but rather represents the parts of ourselves society has led us to believe we should not express - thoughts, feelings or ideas that elicit powerful emotions such as fear, shame or disgust.

Shadow work, then, is the process of exploring the unexplored: the subconscious aspects of ourselves we have kept hidden away for far too long that yearn for care and integration into the self.

This is a journey that encompasses very painful but greatly rewarding emotional work. We’ll begin by identifying elements in your subconscious that may be depleting you by learning how to sit with the shadow self before moving on to identify healthy ways in which these thoughts, emotions or feelings can be expressed in a way that promotes self-growth.