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Shadow Work & Inner Work
what is shadow-work?
shadow-work: (noun) a concept developed originally by Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung, that is meant to refer to the parts of the mind deemed undesirable, shameful, embarrassing and therefore ignored (whether on purpose or not).
inner-work: (noun; adj.) a term used to reference psychotherapy or psychoanalysis focused on the unconscious or hidden parts of the mind. other common terms used are informed by therapy methods, and can include "inner-child."
what is inner-work?
"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate."
- Carl Jung
the inner-child explained
Alongside the shameful, embarrassing, painful or icky stuff, the unconscious mind (or psyche) holds our desires, motivations, sense of morality and safety, creativity, and connection to ourselves and others. This is also the home of the Inner-Child.
The inner-child is present in all of us - even those of us who "grew up too fast." This truly whimsical, sensitive part of us is responsible for holding all our emotional and somatic content: childhood memories, including traumas, hobbies and vacations, schools, friends... And that's a lot to hold. They are also very much a child when it comes to emotional regulation, patience, understanding our needs, logical or "adult" reasoning, and authority.
Our inner children are active without our conscious awareness, as they are meant to be, functioning behind the scenes much like the Wizard of Oz. As you might imagine, this can go really well, or really poorly, depending on how our inner child is feeling, and what they know about their "adult" self (a.k.a. us).
what happens when our inner-child is hurting?
When our inner-child is not in alignment with our adult self, or worse, when we've ignored, neglected, dismissed, judged, or even shamed our inner-child, they react in a big way: they throw a tantrum! What does this mean for us, the "adults"?"
For most of us, that means we are acting in ways that are out of character, or feeling emotions that don't make sense given the context or reality. We might have health issues, like poor sleep, digestive upset, headaches or migraines, or even full-blown illness. These symptoms can cause very real long-term health damage if left unaddressed:
addiction, substance use, unwanted habits
depression, numbness
social isolation, not trusting others
dissociation, feeling separate from your body
emotional reactivity, quickly or easily angry or panicked
feeling stuck, unable to move toward your goals
lack of motivation, creativity
constantly seeking joy or dopamine hits
constant underlying fear or anxiety
inability to rest, insomnia, nightmares
what's the therapy like? are there benefits?
The primary focus of this approach is to carefully access the depths of the unconscious mind, under the guidance of a trained therapist. While shadow and inner-child work can be effective and safe to do on your own, keep in mind that our individual reactions to entering this part of the psyche can be unpredictable. We are exploring a part of our psyche we rarely visit, or is usually visited during times when big emotions are happening, like trauma or important milestone memories; this means we can leave this work feeling emotional, dysregulated, triggered, or ill.
Meeting with a therapist also allows us to offload the burden of doing this alone. These kinds of sessions are meant to intentionally prompt the inner-child or shadow self to emerge, after building trust and establishing safe methods of communication between your adult and inner-child selves. We invite them to take up space, express their needs, encourage them to be seen and heard, with the understanding that we are repairing our relationship with them.
We begin to parent (or re-parent) ourselves the way our inner-child always desired. We focus on prioritizing finding joy and contentment, just as much as safety. We unpack internally-held narratives - the stories your inner-child has told you about yourself, their attempt at understanding unpleasant emotions and events. Over time, our inner-child and shadow don't feel so distrustful of us, scary or embarrassing. Now that we better understand where these patterns started, our inner-child trusts us to hold their hand, comfort them, and protect them. They know we're there to stay, and this relationship is more robust, nourishing and healing. We remember our selves again.
Shadow and Inner-Child work is an integral component to understanding ourselves, bridging the gap between brain and body, and ultimately discovering healing.
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