Category: Shadow Work

Shadow Work: White Fragility

6/19/2020

Honestly I had never heard the term before until I was watching a video by Kelly-Ann Maddox on YouTube, a content creator I adore and have spoken to frequently. I didn't truly understand what it was and figured it just didn't affect me. Boy, oh boy, am I so wrong!

Today I watched a video, which I will link below, that features author and University of Washington professor, Dr. Robin DiAngelo in which she speaks about white fragility, a term she is credited for creating. I found myself identifying with a lot of what she speaks about and took some time to contemplate this shadow within myself. I spoke at length about it with my husband, who then watched the video as well.

White fragility refers to feelings of discomfort a white person experiences when they witness discussions around racial inequality and injustice. Racial stressors may cause a range of defensive behaviors and emotions. White people may act in a number of ways when black people or people of color discuss racism. These reactions may

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Shadow Work: Unworthiness

10/17/2017

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“We have a whole definition of what a woman is, what a man is, how a woman should behave sexually, how a man should behave sexually. Men are always too macho or too wimpy depending on who is judging. Women are always too thin or too fat. We have all these beliefs about how a woman should be in order to be beautiful. You have to buy the right clothes, create the right image, so you can be seductive and fit that image. If you don’t fit that image of beauty, you grow up believing that you’re not worthy, that no one will like you.”

- The Mastery of Love, by Don Miguel Ruiz

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Shadow Work: Dealing With Shadows

9/26/2017

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I recently watched a recording of a LIVE stream on YouTube where the individual asked:

"Are we dealing with the Shadows of others when we deal with judgement from others? Are their Shadows being forced upon us?"

I wished I could have been watching when the stream was live because I would have shared my thoughts then, but I wasn't so I will share them here in a blog post.

The simple answer to these questions is “No.”

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Shadow Work: Rooting Out a Shadow

4/11/2017

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I experienced a situation last night that made me upset so I began contemplating it this morning as I made breakfast for my family. This was definitely some Shadow Work I was engaging in and I wanted to share with you how I personally do Shadow Work. The situation was as follows:

Last night I had gone to see a movie; Kong, Skull Island at a 9:05 showing. My son is employed at this theater, which is the whole reason I went to see the movie there as he had a 5:00 – 11:30 pm shift. Many times if I have to go pick him up from work at night, I will see a movie either with my daughter or alone so that I will stay awake, otherwise I easily fall asleep around 10:00 pm. My husband commutes to East Providence, RI on Tuesdays and Fridays for work, which is a 45 minute drive either way from our home in New Bedford, MA, so when my son has a Monday night shift I go get him so that my husband can go to bed at a reasonable time. My son doesn’t have his Driver’s License yet, but plans on taking Driver’s Ed classes and getting his license so that this isn’t an issue in the future.

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Shadow Working: Befriending The Potential

12/5/2016

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I have come to realize that I attract people into my life that resonate with my own vibrational frequency of growth and expansion and even though I have a strong energy of a mentor / teacher and hold the energy of a nurturing mother, I also am a student or Seeker, which is why I attract these types of individuals. I want to learn. I thirst for knowledge and understanding, not only of the Universe and the Nature of God Herself, but of many different things: concepts, ideas, cultures, philosophies, and anything that is different from my own life experience. My quest is knowledge and I enjoy learning about the things that captivate me especially when they are focused on humanity. This is why I attract other students or Seekers and this makes perfect sense to me. I seek the company of those who are also seeking

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Shadow Working: Walking Through The Dark

8/18/2016

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In order to start feeling better about where I am, I decided to delve into the shadows of the issue that was brought to my attention after returning from vacation. What was it about the cabin in Grafton, New Hampshire that makes my heart yearn to return?

It was quiet.
It was peaceful.
There was so much green around me.
There were no neighbors parking in our spot.
There were no unexpected visits from the crazy landlady.
There were no arguments, no conflict.
People in general were kinder and nice!
I enjoyed having those I cared about interacting with me on a daily basis.
I didn’t have to go grocery shopping.
I didn’t have appointments to keep.
I didn’t have to bring anyone anywhere.

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Shadow Working: Returning To The Woods

8/15/2016

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Last week I was on vacation with my husband, two children (my eighteen year old son and daughter who is fourteen) and our small dog, a cairnoodle, who is five. We rented a cabin in Grafton, New Hampshire for the entire week. The cabin was fairly isolated with our nearest neighbor about a quarter mile away. The road to get to the cabin was six minutes from Route 4, a main road in New Hampshire. We had no cell phone service and no internet, yes, we were pretty much off the grid, though we did have electricity and a landline in case of an emergency. The cabin had running water for showering and washing though not consumption so we had to bring our own drinking water. Oh, and the toilet was a compost toilet, but the cabin was small yet comfortable. I really liked being

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Shadow Working: Opportunity For Spiritual Growth

7/31/2016

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The concept of Shadow Work has been a part of my life for the last year or so and for the last few months has been a focus of my own spiritual practice, but the phrase has many different interpretations so for you and I to be on the same page about this concept as I discuss it in this blog post, I believe it is important for you to understand what I mean when I use the phrase “Shadow Work”. When I refer to Shadow Work I am referring to the process of discovering, acknowledging, healing and / or integrating those parts of ourselves that we may have been rejecting, denying or hiding in shadow and bringing them into the light of who we are. It is about knowing ourselves completely. It’s about self-love and complete self-acceptance and not about accepting those traits or characteristics that we believe others will easily accept. It’s about completeness of self. It is also about transformation because sometimes we may discover that we hold beliefs, ideas, and behaviors that are not beneficial for our over-all well-being and we may want

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Shadow Working: Time Heals All Wounds

7/1/2014

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I was on facebook as I am every morning and I saw that one of my friends had shared a quote by Rose Kennedy. The quote was:

“It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.”

The quote made me contemplate the cliché ‘time heals all wounds’ and then what Rose Kennedy believed in regards to it. I would agree with her; time isn’t what actually heals our wounds. We heal our wounds; we in our totality both physical self and non-physical self are the Will behind our healing. If we believe that time has the ability to heal us, then I believe we are being naïve. Time is just an illusion. It is a construct that we have created in order to structure our life experience. Time doesn’t hold any power over us at all other than what we allow it.

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Shadow Work: Connecting With The Body

6/17/2014

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I've adjusted my Yoga class schedule. I was going on Monday and Wednesday mornings but found the gap of days between Wednesdays class and Mondays class to be too great. My body physically was becoming stiff and by Monday's class I was so uncomfortable. So now I attend the Monday and Friday morning classes and this seems to be working much better.

Yesterday's class was a challenging class for me. Usually I have found that Monday's class is a slower paced class with a lot of stretches and long holds in each pose however this particular class was a much faster paced class moving from one pose to the next synchronized with our breath, which I discovered is basic Vinyasa Yoga, and we did quite a few sun salutations. I

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Shadow Work: Confronting A Shadow

4/30/2014

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I go to Yoga classes on Monday and Wednesday mornings and have decided to create a practice on my own to follow on Friday mornings. There is a morning class at the studio (Yoga on Union) on Friday mornings but I just cannot afford going three times a week . My instructor, Michael, encouraged me to come up with eight poses on my own to practice at home, so I figure this will give me an opportunity to create my own personal practice and develop it on my own. This would be beneficial for me.

Well, this morning's class was a challenge. I believe it is because I have discovered this Shadow and revealed its existence within me to other people, which makes it difficult - if not impossible to deny its presence. I believe that sharing my personal journey with the integration of this Shadow is beneficial for me because I tend to be someone who is uncomfortable with allowing myself to be vulnerable (another Shadow?) around others so I want to

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Shadow Working: Uncovering Shadows

4/29/2014

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For as long as I can remember I’ve been trying to escape my physical body.

When I was a child I would spend hours playing with my “imaginary” friends, as I grew older I would spend time in my “imaginary world” complete with specific places: like coffee shops, night clubs, stores, parks, and my friends’ homes, and as an adult I would spend time sleeping and “dreaming” or finding way to reached altered states of consciousness through prayer, meditation, and trace. And then I had the more obvious ways of escaping this reality: media. Reading, movies, TV, music, video games, and the internet brought me to those non-physical places that I enjoyed living in.

One might think that because dancing is a physical activity it would have be a good way to stay anchored in the physical dimension however for me it was an easy way out and into the “other” realms. The dancing I would do wasn’t structured like ballet. I never took a dance class that required me to learn routines or specific movements … I would just turn on the music and allow my spirit to move … which as you can

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Shadow Work: Integrating The Physical and Spiritual

3/29/2014

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I have been attending Yoga class since the beginning of the year. I was guided to do so by God Herself. You see, I had been feeling disconnected to the physical world and spiritually stagnant but I wasn’t sure how to shift my energy to make my life experience ‘better’ so I opened myself up to The Universe and asked to be guided in the direction that would be most beneficial for me. I was opened to what was presented and I was ready for a change. I knew it was time for a personal transformation and knew it was necessary for my spiritual growth and individual expansion.

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Shadow Work: This Is My Answer

2/2/2014

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These recent feelings of disconnectedness have been a concern for me lately but I believe’ve finally found the solution to my current situation. My epiphany came (as many do) while I was taking my morning shower. The following is my stream of consciousness as I contemplated the situation:

“I feel like a stranger in a foreign land. I feel as if I just don’t belong; that others don’t understand me and I’m seeking company with those who can and do. It’s like when I was a stay-at-home Mom to my children when they were little. Yes, it is exactly like that! And I was excited when my husband came home and we could have some ‘adult’ conversation and I would get help. Yes. It’s like that!

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