As you embark on a journey toward alignment, connecting your professional choices and personal curiosities to your life’s purpose, you might begin to observe synchronicities unfolding. Yet, deeper psychological blocks also emerge.

A frequent exclamation on the spiritual path is, “I thought I had already healed this!” Such moments are natural. At this stage in your journey, your main block will keep coming up until you have the courage. This block is part of the shadow self—the undesirable parts of ourselves that we repress or deny.

Carl Jung, the esteemed Swiss psychiatrist, provided invaluable insight into the realm of the psyche, highlighting the shadow self. It encompasses traits, emotions, and memories the conscious self would rather not acknowledge. He said, “Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.”

Shadows form in childhood when we observe or experience shame regarding a quality, behavior, or physical trait. When we associate a particular characteristic as socially unacceptable or a threat to love or attention, we learn to hide these parts of ourselves (e.g., sensitivity, anger, and jealousy). This may help us in the short term. But hiding aspects of our being creates subconscious blockages within our mind and body that prevent us from showing up in our full authenticity.

Here’s when you’ll know you’re up against a shadow block:

• You’re experiencing a repeated trigger and can’t get to the bottom of it.

• You’re feeling envious, insecure, defensive, judgmental, or aggressive.

• You can’t find your confidence or grounding as you begin to level up.

• You’re newly dating or are in a new opportunity and you feel yourself acting out old patterns, being needy, or experiencing negative emotions and memories from your past.

Behind every trait we proudly display, there’s an opposite one concealed within our subconscious. Our shadows can lead to self-sabotage, fractured relationships, and unfulfilled potentials, or they can be great sources of creativity and growth. By recognizing and integrating the shadow, Jung postulated, we can move toward individuation—a harmonious balance of our conscious and unconscious, a true wholeness of self.

For Jung, the shadow isn’t just a reservoir of negativity; it is an essential aspect of the unconscious, containing both our darkest fears and buried strengths. However, we have to have the courage to face them. Perhaps the greatest motivation to dive in is understanding that these repressed elements have a peculiar way of asserting their presence in our relationships. What we don’t own about ourselves or learned was unacceptable or unsafe is what we project onto others through judgment or rejection.

To do shadow work is to identify and integrate denied aspects of ourselves. It requires exploring our biases, enabling us to tap into the profound emotions they cloak and neutralize their grip on our perceptions. This exploration demands a blend of curiosity, objectivity, and brutal honesty.

To do this work, we must learn to accept these parts of ourselves. We are, after all, human, and each of us embodies the entire spectrum of human emotions—light and dark. When approached with compassion, these fragments of our psyche hold the key to unlocking our fullest potential and deepest self-awareness.

Hypnobreathwork doesn’t aim to eradicate our shadows. Instead, it provides a safe, introspective space to engage with them. It repairs the inner chaos and confusion by giving us an outlet to release shame, anxiety, frustration, anger, guilt, despair, and fear.

When people identify the elements of their shadows within their personality, mindset, and behaviors and, most importantly, shed light on them with love and acceptance rather than judgment and avoidance, they start to integrate all parts of themselves. As we embrace these shadows, we not only heal past wounds but also harness their power, turning them into catalysts for growth and transformation.

In this dance with our shadows, we discover that our darkest rooms are not prisons. Instead, they’re treasure troves of untapped potential and lessons. With every breath, with every dive into the subconscious, we emerge more whole, more authentic, and more aligned with our true self.

Shadowwork is a lifelong expedition requiring courage, vulnerability, and persistent introspection. Yet its benefits are profound: a richer life, reduced fears, and deeper connections.

You can begin to uncover your shadow by:

Journaling: Review the list of shadow words (greedy, jealous, shady, cheap, etc.) by Lacy Phillips and feel into what each word represents for you. Take your time and sit with each one, noticing which ones trigger a sensation—a twinge in your stomach, heaviness in your chest, flutter of anxiety. Write down the three that make you most uncomfortable.

Hypno-breathwork: Breath connects us to our authentic truth, and the more we can feel into the shadow words we deny and use visualization to accept them, the more integrated we become. You are becoming more attuned to your body and the emotions underneath your conditioning. You will start to feel deep internal shifts from the self-acceptance that ensues after this session. Keep breathing, especially when you feel resistance. The only way to the other side is through.

• Lie down, and place a blindfold on.

• Inhale through your nose into your belly, then into your chest, then exhale through your mouth. Go slow.

• Repeat for fifteen minutes.

• Reflect on the three words that you chose.

• Sit with each one, and imagine what it would feel like to accept that quality about yourself.

• Write a letter to yourself accepting your light and dark qualities that make you human.

We can’t escape our shadow. It lives deep within us and affects our decisions, behaviors, and the people we love. It also prevents us from living our purpose, blocking our attempts at achieving a more enlightened state with fears that we’re not good enough to do and have what’s meant for us.