Emotions & Us

What is shadow work?

Petra Peyer · 2 min read

Shadow work is the work with the parts of ourselves that are hidden – and yet influence so much of what we think, feel and do.

Shadow work is the work with the parts of ourselves that are hidden – hidden in the subconscious – and yet influencing so much of what we think, feel, do, act upon, or don't act upon at all.

It shapes our beliefs. Our thoughts about ourselves. It has a lot to do with self-love, confidence, abandonment.
And so many stories – from our childhood. From the womb, where we already receive so many traces and so much information. And even from before us – what we receive from our ancestors.
All of that is part of shadow work.

I've done quite a bit of shadow work already – as part of my training, my education, my own personal path.
And yet, yesterday, I was at a workshop fully dedicated to it. For the whole day, we each worked with one part of ourselves.
Around 40 of us. Thirteen of them men. Amazing men, I must say. Dedicated and ready to do the dirty work.
What I witnessed – as an observer of others' processes, especially the men's – moved me deeply.

The integration will take a while.
I went in thinking: yeah, I probably have bits and pieces to work on, but I've done so much work on myself already, there's no surprise waiting for me.
Well. As soon as you think that… that's exactly what happens.
That's the fun part of shadow work.

And this is the kind of work I bring into my breathwork.
Working with topics. With themes.
It's not only “come, breathe, and go.” Yes – you can. That's welcome too.
But if you're ready to go deep – let's go deep.

It's simple. Simpler than we think.
We spend so much time in our heads – finding answers, finding questions, getting confused, stuck in our own opinions and the opinions of others.
The head is a great tool. But it's also our biggest obstacle to real progress.

So – breathe.
Let go of the head.
That's my advice for today.

~ Petra