“If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror ever be polished?”
― Rumi
Ask yourself:
What qualities in others trigger me the most?
What emotions do I avoid or suppress?
How do I sabotage my success or relationships?
Do you ask yourself:
How can I be more Authentic?
Why is my spiritual growth stuck?
How can I be less irritated by my family?
Why do I get triggered so easily?
Why do negative patterns keep repeating?
If the above questions plague you and you wish to overcome triggers, we have a perfect healing tool for you to go beyond: Shadow Work.
Shadow Work is a profound journey of self-discovery and transformation. It involves confronting the hidden or repressed parts of your psyche—the “Shadow”—to unlock your full potential and live a more authentic life. At its core, Shadow Work bridges psychology, spirituality, and personal growth, making it an essential tool for anyone seeking to heal and integrate their innermost self.
Welcome to Inner Journeys, where we guide you on a transformative path of healing and self-awareness through Shadow Work. This profound process, enriched with modalities like Hypnotherapy, Parts Therapy, and Inner Child Healing, helps you uncover and integrate the hidden aspects of your personality.
What is a Shadow?
The Shadow, a concept introduced by psychologist Carl Jung, represents the unconscious parts of your psyche that you suppress or deny. These can include unacknowledged emotions, fears, desires, or traits that were deemed “unacceptable” during childhood or societal conditioning. These could be repressed anger, jealousy, fear, guilt, or even creativity and ambition that societal norms have labelled unacceptable.
It is nothing but the unknown, unexplored or unaccepted part of our personality – our dark side. The part we repress, deny or hide. Thus, what we resist persists in the unconscious. Be it the Personal Unconscious or the Collective Unconscious. It is our unhealed wound or relationship, the addiction we cannot overcome and our undiscovered powerhouse – Inner Gold.
It can be a trait that irritates or triggers you or a quality that you idolise in others. For instance, if you were criticised for being assertive as a child, you might repress this trait, only for it to resurface later as passive-aggressiveness or people-pleasing. The Shadow isn’t inherently “bad”; rather, it holds immense power and potential when acknowledged and integrated.
Shadow is instinctive and irrational and shows up repeatedly in our repetitive relationship patterns, dreams, shadow projections and irritations. And it continues to control our choices and behaviour. We may wear masks or build fortresses around us or even try to overcompensate, but the shadow never goes away till we acknowledge it and deal with it. And yes, heal it!
The Shadow is not inherently negative. It holds both darker impulses and unacknowledged strengths. Ignoring it, however, can lead to inner conflict, emotional distress, and behaviours that sabotage your happiness and relationships.
“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are“, said Anaïs Nin, though the thought is often attributed to the Babylonian Talmud. Engaging with our shadows is an ongoing journey. Everything and everyone has a shadow; the stronger the light, the more pronounced the shadow. Every archetype has its shadow side. The stronger the light, the darker the shadow. Dream Therapy can be an excellent tool to work through your dreams and access the Wisdom of your powerful Subconscious. Carl Jung called his method of going deep, ‘active imagination’.
Shadow Work helps resolve lifelong inner conflicts by understanding and healing dysfunctional and destructive sub-personalities, understanding the interplay of archetypes and their Shadow side, be it Child, Victim, Saboteur, or Anima & Animus. It is unravelling the masks we wear, often unknowingly or unconsciously. Life is but a journey of making the unconscious conscious; this makes the presence of unresolved or unhealed shadows within not just chaotic but also deceptive.
In righteous wars, we become what we hate! Because we are what we hate, we just don’t know it yet. Hermann Hesse once said, “If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us.” Does that make sense?
That’s why Shadow Work has always been integral to our Healing work at Inner Journeys.
“बुरा जो देखन मैं चला, बुरा न मिलिया कोय, जो दिल खोजा आपना, मुझसे बुरा न कोय।” -कबीर (If you have a problem with everybody in life, maybe the problem lies in you.)
When we take full responsibility for a present problem and look for solutions instead of feeling victimised by it or blame-shifting, we become psychological adults. Know that what we are encountering repeatedly and feeling frustrated is nothing but our unresolved Shadow side. Accepting this simple fact is freedom, freedom to finally change in our lives. When we are done with blaming and playing the victim. Once we accept our own dysfunctions, failure and craziness, then we find it easier to be with another flawed individual. We are not looking for perfection but humanity, common grounds, goals and aspirations. Also, when we forget to see our own darkness and heal it, we end up invoking the same all around. If I feel everybody around me has a problem, then maybe the problem is with me. What I am failing to see within is what I am encountering all around.
Our entire life script is designed to wake us up, but we resist it as long as we can. Don’t we? Begrudgingly, we acknowledge the presence of an anomaly in our lives. Once we are done with blaming our past and everybody else, we are ready to take responsibility for the mess within.
Have you noticed that before every major festivity like Diwali, there is a tradition to clean our homes? That is because, before we invite the light and festivities in, we need to clear out the junk! Our inner junk would be debris of past, useless habits, and traits – in short, our shadows. Only then do we get to celebrate life. Celebrate who we are!
Are you ready, my friend?
“Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.” – Carl Jung.
Photo by Thiago Matos
Life is a mirror. It always reflects back our inner truths. Fighting with the mirror is futile. In short, our inner microcosm gets reflected in the outside microcosm we find ourselves surrounded by. Shadow Work is the only way to heal our inner conflicts and find peace within by getting a grip on our triggers and, thus, our lives.
Above all, through the Law of Attraction, we end up attracting what we fear experiencing – our shadows. This makes Shadow work an important tool not just for spiritual growth but also to attract better health, well-being and abundance. Without this Vibrational realignment, we keep attracting the same patterns of conflicts and disharmony in our relationships and lives. Heal your shadows, heal your life.
Shadow and Spiritual Growth
SPIRITUAL GROWTH is not about ‘spiritual’ practices or spiritual experiences, let alone intuitive skills. It is, as we discover after a few decades on the path, who we are in our private lives and within. Facing our day-to-day challenges. Health, relationships, work, or the mundane, nothing is beyond the purview of shadow. Wherever there is light, there is dark as well, and this is the proverbial Shadow dance.
You can’t be mindful enough or at all times to handle your dark traits. Can you? You need a better solution.
You have realised that simply being nice (or pretending to be so) or toxic positivity (silver lining or spiritualising every tragedy or challenge) via self-suppression is not the pathway to spiritual growth. Nor is it escaping into esoteric concepts, dimensions, astral travels, or what have you. In short, faking it till you make it or Spiritual bypassing doesn’t work when it comes to spiritual growth or inner peace. It is about being authentic, embracing your light and darkness with equanimity.
Why Shadow Work is the final frontier of Inner Work? Shadow Work opens pathways to true spiritual growth that we always wish we had. Shadow Work is the tool that finally freed us as facilitators from years of our own little dramas and shadow dance. That’s the reason we decided to share this tool, which we have used for ourselves, with fellow travellers. It is a tool we rely upon whenever life gets messy, chaotic or bizarre, which itself is a sign that some new or undiscovered Shadow needs attention and needs to be addressed. And Boy! Life can pull a fast one on us when we become complacent or smug. Keep us on our toes and humble. If we are still here on earth, there is work to do. We are all a work in progress, aren’t we? For Shadows, when ignored, doesn’t go away. They keep growing and eventually consume all the good things in our lives. History is filled with people and civilisations that couldn’t grapple with their shadows and fell to ruins.
“No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven
unless its roots reach down to hell.”
– Carl Jung
Shadow and Relationships
Photo by Mikhail Nilov
ONE PLACE where our shadows show up more readily is our intimate relationships, close family and parenting. Here, we get triggered the most and thus have maximum growth potential. Otherwise, shadow creates havoc in relationships via estrangement or conflicts. These are inescapable parts of our life script, as we are karmically bound to them. Otherwise, we are all capable of building a life tip-toeing around our triggers. But then, no one grows in their comfort zone. Life will do everything to destabilise us via shadow conflicts. We encounter our shadows even if we skip from one relationship to another, one office to another. Because we carry our unlearnt shadow lessons with us and recreate the same dynamics. Even across lifetimes.
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” – Rumi
Often, when we are finally ready to face our shadow, that is when our dark lifetimes surface in dreams, Past Life Regression and Akashic Records Healing. Otherwise, we stay comfortable in our victimhood and avoid taking responsibility for the mess we find ourselves in and the one we continue to create for others, knowingly or unknowingly. The shadowside can control every choice we make, and in places, we lose control. Thus, it shows up sadly in addictions, self-sabotage, and self-harm. A common example would be Busyness or Workaholism or Productivity and performance-based Self-worth, especially in men, which is a modern addiction and self-harm pattern that begins with disengaging with our emotions and intuition (Yin-Yang/Anima-Animus). The result? Relationship disasters, as we see all around, are clubbed with Toxic masculinity or femininity. This, in turn, fuelsthe Dark side of ambition – greed and passion without compassion! (Masculine-Feminine in Relationship Dysfunction, Read more)
How are Shadows Formed?
MOST SHADOWS are formed in our childhood, in the formative years, when a single event can leave a lasting impact on the Subconscious Mind. Events where we felt judged, shamed, small, suppressed, unloved, unworthy or rejected. Simply put, – Not Good Enough or Not Worthy Enough. This way, we lose our light and thus cast our shadow from within.
Often, abusive or manipulative parenting, controlling (disciplining), passive-aggressive, puritan or narcissistic parents create highly dysfunctional shadow traits. Combined with childhood injunctions, faulty programming, like software bugs, shows up in dysfunctional behaviour patterns, anger, abuse and manipulation.
1. Early Childhood Conditioning: Messages like “Don’t cry,” “Be strong,” or “That’s inappropriate” teach us to suppress natural emotions and behaviours.
2. Societal Expectations: Cultural norms dictate acceptable traits, leading to repression of individuality.
3. Trauma: Emotional or physical trauma creates protective mechanisms that bury vulnerabilities.
4. Moral Judgments: Inner conflicts arise when personal desires clash with societal or family values.
What is Shadow Work?
Shadows dwell in our Unconscious and the Subconscious. That is why triggers are so hard to manage by the conscious mind or willpower, let alone heal them. Awareness of our triggers via mindfulness is only the first step. The key step here is to engage with our complex and hidden personality traits, which are often in conflict with each other. For this, we need to work with someone who can help us, guide us and eventually heal our own Dark side. What better tool than Hypnotherapy. It gives us direct access to the Subconscious and begins our true inner journey of Inner work – that’s the power of Shadow Work!
Shadow work is a psychological and spiritual practice that involves exploring and integrating the unconscious aspects of ourselves, known as the shadow. Developed by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, shadow work aims to bring light and awareness to the parts of ourselves that we have repressed, denied, or deemed unacceptable.
It involves identifying these suppressed traits, understanding their origins, and integrating them into your conscious self. This process is not about eradicating the shadow but about embracing it as a vital part of your wholeness.
Shadow Integration is the art of harmonising the shadow with your conscious self. Rather than battling these hidden parts, you learn to accept and channel them positively. This process involves:
1. Acknowledgement: Identifying the shadow aspects within you.
2. Understanding: Exploring the origins of these aspects.
3. Reframing: Viewing them as strengths rather than weaknesses.
4. Integration: Allowing these aspects to enhance your self-awareness, creativity, and relationships.
How do I know if I need a Shadow Work session?
You might benefit from Shadow Work if you experience any of the following:
Repeating negative patterns in relationships or behaviours.
Emotional triggers that feel disproportionate or confusing.
Persistent feelings of self-doubt, shame, or guilt.
Difficulty expressing emotions or setting boundaries.
A sense of “something missing” in your life.
You feel powerless in your relationships.
Do you get irritated by everyone, especially by close family? Or can’t seem to have cordial relationships.
You are unable to manage your emotions, such as anger, irritation, anxiety, and depression.
You have a dream to achieve something big in life, but you feel worthless.
You judge yourself too much, and what others think of you affects you.
You feel emotionally exploited in most of your relationships.
You attract the same kind of people or patterns in your life.
You are unable to excel in your career.
You think you are unable to utilise your full potential.
Key Benefits of Shadow Work
• Resolving Inner Conflicts: Shadow work helps reconcile inner contradictions and opposing forces within us, leading to greater inner harmony, clarity, and alignment with our values and life direction.
• Integration of Shadow and Inner Polarities: It supports the conscious integration of light and dark, strength and vulnerability, masculine and feminine energies—fostering wholeness rather than suppression. The purpose is not to eliminate the shadow, but to integrate it with awareness and compassion.
• Deep Emotional Healing and Transformation: Shadow work allows healing of suppressed emotions, unresolved wounds, and past trauma. By bringing what is hidden into awareness, emotional resilience, regulation, and inner transformation naturally unfold.
• Awareness of Patterns, Triggers, and Reactions: It helps uncover recurring emotional patterns, triggers, and self-sabotaging behaviours. Understanding their unconscious roots enables conscious choice and lasting change.
• Expanded Self-Awareness and Inner Insight: Shadow work reveals hidden motivations, unmet needs, and unconscious desires, leading to deeper self-understanding and more authentic, aligned decision-making.
• Empowerment through Self-Responsibility: By moving beyond victim consciousness, shadow work supports personal empowerment, self-agency, and the ability to consciously participate in one’s own healing and life creation.
• Authenticity and Healthier Relationships: Integrating one’s shadow deepens empathy, emotional maturity, and relational awareness. It reduces projection, improves communication, and helps resolve repetitive relationship patterns rooted in unresolved wounds.
• Breaking Self-Sabotage and Repetitive Cycles: Shadow work exposes unconscious beliefs and behaviours that limit growth. Addressing these at the root allows healthier habits, empowered narratives, and sustainable change to emerge.
• Releasing Limiting Beliefs and External Conditioning: It liberates individuals from societal expectations, internalised conditioning, and the need for external validation, allowing life to be lived in alignment with one’s authentic truth.
• Healing Shame, Guilt, and the Inner Critic: Shadow work transforms self-judgment into self-compassion by healing shame, guilt, and the inner critic, fostering a more supportive, nurturing inner relationship.
• Reclaiming Disowned or Neglected Parts of the Self: By reconnecting with lost, rejected, or suppressed aspects of the self, shadow work restores inner wholeness, vitality, and self-acceptance.
• Spiritual Growth and Conscious Integration: Beyond psychological healing, shadow work supports spiritual maturation, expanded awareness, and a deeper connection with one’s true essence through conscious integration of all aspects of self.
• Embracing the Sacred Masculine and Feminine: Shadow work supports the integration and honouring of the sacred masculine and feminine energies within ourselves. By embracing and balancing these energies, we cultivate harmonious relationships within and with others. Read more
“He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.” ~Confucius
Techniques used for Shadow Work
Shadow Work sessions, when done under Hypnosis, become all the more powerful. It may include one or more of the following. No session is the same, catered to the individual needs of the person.
Shadow Mapping: Exploration through Shadow projections and Archetypes: using Ericksonian Hypnosis.
Hypnotherapy for Shadow Work: Hypnotherapy accesses the subconscious mind, where the shadow resides, to uncover repressed memories and emotions. Read more
Inner Child Healing: Many shadow aspects stem from childhood wounds. Reconnecting with your inner child helps heal these origins. Read more
Parts Therapy for Shadow Integration: Parts Therapy is a therapeutic approach where you explore different “parts” of yourself, including Shadow aspects, to resolve inner conflicts. Each part represents a specific emotion, belief, or behaviour. By giving voice to different parts of yourself, you can understand their motivations and find resolutions that allow them to coexist in harmony. The process includes: a. Identifying conflicting parts (e.g., one part seeks success, another fears failure). b. Allowing these Parts to express their needs and concerns. c. Facilitating a resolution where both Parts feel acknowledged and integrated. Read more
“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” – Gospel of Thomas
Are you Ready to be woken up? Ready for the deep dive within?
How to book a session: Send us your issues/ problems in detail and a brief biography, especially childhood experiences that you feel would have been formative in shaping your current personality and behaviour or any dysfunctions thereof. Also, send a simple recent photograph, name and current age. You can either send it in writing (the best way) or as a voice note (say on WhatsApp).
Talk to us about the Shadows you already know about and grapple with daily or cyclically. About your failures to ‘walk the talk’, shame, secrets, personal or familial, – unhealed, unprocessed wounds, guilts and hidden agendas. Some we will discover together.
Writing or journaling is the best way to articulate your issues and know yourself better, so we encourage it.
Embarking on Shadow Work can feel daunting, but it’s a journey worth taking. By confronting the parts of yourself you’ve hidden away, you open the door to healing, growth, and authentic living.
If you’re ready to explore the depths of your subconscious and embrace your true self, our guided Shadow Work sessions can help. Using techniques like hypnotherapy, Inner Child Healing, and Parts Therapy, we provide a safe and supportive space for your transformation.
Shadow Work is not about erasing the past; it’s about embracing all of who you are. When you stop running from your Shadow, you find that it holds the key to your greatest strengths and potential.
Start your Healing Journey Today!
We start the healing journey with Inner Child Healing Sessions and follow it up with Shadow Work Sessions.
Location: Online over Zoom app Or at our Centres in Gurgaon, Navi Mumbai or Bhopal, India
Contact us today to begin your journey toward self-discovery and integration. Together, let’s bring your Shadow into the light.
Share your issues in detail so we can guide you better. info@innerjourneys.life (innerjourneys11@gmail.com). Also, send a brief profile and a simple photograph.
If you would rather have a Consultation Appointment,Click here.
As always, your information is kept confidential.
Your Shadow is waiting to be seen. Start your transformation now.
Note:
Shadow work is an advanced session of inner work, so you have been involved in self-examination and self-discovery this is an ideal tool for you to integrate with your journey.
It is a collaborative session and can be done only if you can be open, aware, pliable and, yes, transparent. So be as candid as you can be with your life issues, secrets, failings or shortcomings, we promise Shadow work would free you from a lot of burdens. If you keep rigidity, pretence or masks on, it would be of no use. Instead, if you choose to be vulnerable, you have a good chance to uncover the gold within, deep beneath our shadowy layer. Be assured that whatever you share with us will remain confidential and within a non-judgmental space.
A therapist can only facilitate Shadow work, but it is your journey to make. We will take up your case only if we find an earnest desire to work on yourself.
Once we know your story, especially your childhood patterns, traumas and dysfunctions, we can start to work on them. Inner Child Healing and Emotional Detox become important pre-cursors in some cases due to the presence of immense trauma and abuse in childhood, direct or indirect.
Another excellent way to get initiated into Shadow Work would be one of our 2-day Inner Child Healing & Shadow Work Workshops (Online/ Offline), which are held every few months. Stay tuned to our upcoming events page. Details below:
A. Shadow Work is the process of exploring and integrating the unconscious parts of ourselves—traits, emotions, and behaviours we’ve suppressed or denied. These “shadow” aspects often stem from early life experiences and societal conditioning. By acknowledging and embracing them, we achieve greater self-awareness, emotional healing, and personal growth. This integration leads to a more authentic and balanced life.
Q. What can I expect during a Shadow Work session?
A. In a Shadow Work session, you’ll be guided through introspective exercises to uncover hidden aspects of yourself. This may involve:
Identifying recurring emotional triggers and patterns.
Exploring suppressed emotions and beliefs.
Engaging in dialogues or visualizations to understand and integrate these aspects.
The goal is to foster self-acceptance and transform limiting behaviours.
Q. How does Hypnotherapy help with Shadow Work?
A. Hypnotherapy is a powerful tool for Shadow Work because it bypasses the critical conscious mind to access the subconscious, where the shadow resides. In a relaxed, focused state, you can explore suppressed memories, emotions, and patterns safely and effectively.
Q. Can Shadow Work provide a quick fix or permanently remove a problem?
A. Shadow Work is a powerful tool for uncovering and healing the subconscious roots of emotional and behavioural patterns—such as fear of success, self-sabotage, or low self-worth, but it is not a quick fix.
Most issues we struggle with are rooted in deeply held, unconscious beliefs, emotional wounds, or inner conflicts—often shaped by childhood experiences or even past lives. Shadow Work helps bring these hidden patterns into conscious awareness, which is the first step toward true healing and transformation.
However, lasting change doesn’t happen overnight. Real transformation takes time, consistency, and your active participation. It’s a gradual process of peeling back the layers of conditioning, limiting beliefs, and emotional residue. While one session may bring clarity or relief, deeper and sustained shifts typically require ongoing inner work.
In short, Shadow Work supports permanent healing—but only when approached with commitment, honesty, and the willingness to grow.
Q. Can I do Shadow Work on my own?
A. No, at least not initially. You need an experienced therapist to help you navigate the complex world of shadow parts. By ourselves, it is hard to be objective or non-judgmental! Plus, our approach involves doing a Shadow Work session, using Hypnosis, which makes them powerful and truly effective.
Shadows are beguiling, and you might end up feeling, no, I am a saint, it’s the people around me who need to do Shadow work. On our own, we are liable to miss our blind spots or feel victimised. Eventually, we might conveniently conclude too that we are saints, and it is people around us who are problematic.
However, working with a trained facilitator can provide deeper insights, structured guidance, and a safe space to navigate challenging emotions.
Q. Is Shadow Work the same as Inner Child Healing?
A. While both modalities aim for emotional healing, they focus on different aspects: • Inner Child Healing addresses wounds and unmet needs from childhood, nurturing the vulnerable parts within us.
Inner Child Healing addresses childhood wounds that contribute to shadow formation. Often, traits that were criticised or suppressed during childhood become part of the shadow. Reconnecting with your inner child allows you to heal these wounds, releasing suppressed emotions and transforming limiting beliefs.
If your inner child feels unheard, Inner Child Healing helps you provide the validation and nurturing they lacked. This, in turn, reduces emotional triggers and promotes self-compassion
• Shadow Work delves into the suppressed aspects of our personality, including traits we’ve disowned or rejected.
Both practices complement each other and can be integrated for comprehensive healing.
Q. How often should I take up Shadow work sessions?
A. Depends on you, really, the speed at which you do inner work. Shadow Healing is an ongoing journey, though after 2-3 sessions, you will know how to work with your Shadows. Unless something complex is thrown at you or surfaces in life. Shadow Work is an integral part of inner work, so those who keep working on themselves take monthly or bi-monthly therapy sessions to bring objectivity and depth to their efforts.
Often, our subconscious paces our session by guiding us through metaphoric and archetypal dreams. Once we learn the language of our inner universe, it is easier to navigate.
Monthly sessions are a good pace as long as you have Shadows showing up to work with. If you watch your dreams, you will easily know the pace. Also, are the triggers tapering off? Or are you able or willing to be mindful throughout the day, at the office and home?
Q. Will Shadow Work change my personality?
A. Shadow Work doesn’t change your core personality but helps you become more integrated and authentic. By embracing all parts of yourself, you can make conscious choices rather than being driven by unconscious patterns.
Q. Is Shadow Work a one-time process?
A. Shadow Work is an ongoing journey. As we evolve, new layers of the shadow may emerge, offering opportunities for deeper understanding and growth. Regular introspection and self-awareness practices can support this continuous process.
If you have further questions or wish to schedule a session, please feel free to reach out. Your journey to self-discovery and healing is important, and we’re here to support you every step of the way.
Inner Journeys 