Jungian practice of bringing the repressed, denied, or avoided parts of the psyche into the open and meeting them with compassion rather than trying to eradicate them; the core of Ian's facilitation.
Where it appears 3
how fear disguises as logicJungian-rooted work on disowned parts of the self. Ian lists it among the modalities he has done.
portal to the unknownThe practice of uncovering and integrating repressed, denied or shamed parts of the self. It is Nev's main practice, which she has done on herself for about 16-17 years and now does with clients. Tamir likens it to finding an old family letter that reveals a hidden affair, only inside your own mind.
Connections
References
Mentioned alongside
- Ian's Gollum shadow at a retreat
A year and a half earlier Ian noticed a grasping, needy energy with clients (over-following-up, feeling owed). At a retreat he traced it to an unmet childhood need, shaped it into a…
Explored through
The sooner that you can accept that, you can start to integrate it, and you can start to be like a friend to it, start to become friends with the devil.
- Embodying your shadow
In a group, describe a shadow trait, give it a character's shape, then deliberately become it for about 60 seconds, improv-style; returning to a normal stance afterward leaves you feeling…
Anxiety softens when you face it. You don't need to cold plunge your way through trauma.
Looking at your darkness is the source of your greatest power. Looking into those voids, into the unknown, into those patterns, whatever it is, it will give you so much power. It will push you to evolve as a human being.
- No one can integrate your shadow for you
Repression runs unconsciously and protects itself, so shadow work can't be forced. The person has to be fully willing and, above all, feel safe, or the mind won't open.
Nothing in this life should be taken at face value.
- Stated reasons differ from real motives
Every behavior has a conscious explanation and a hidden aim. In people who haven't done the inner work, these almost always differ, and the hidden aim usually comes down to avoiding…
- Suppressing the shadow costs more than facing it
It takes more energy to keep the darker parts of ourselves buried than to bring them into the light, and those unexamined parts drive the very behaviors we're trying to stop.