Shadow Work 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Facing Your Shadow Side

There are parts of you that you have hidden away—pieces of your story that feel heavy, too complicated, a bit much.

But the weight you carry is not meant to be buried. It is meant to be understood, integrated and loved.

Shadow work is not about fixing yourself… because YOU WERE NECER BROKEN. It is about bringing light to the places you have ignored, denied, or feared. It is about reclaiming every part of who you are.

What Is the Shadow?

Your shadow is made up of the aspects of yourself that you have pushed aside. The emotions you were told were “too much.” The desires you silenced to be accepted. The wounds that still ache beneath the surface.

As a Spiritual Coach and Ayurvedic Practitioner, I believe your shadow is not your enemy. It is a teacher. A mirror. A map back to yourself. By integrating these parts of yourself with deep compassion and aligned action, you open the door to the life you have always desired.

Recognizing Your Shadow

It reveals itself in the moments you react strongly but don’t understand why. In the parts of others that trigger something deep within you. In the patterns you keep repeating, even when they no longer serve you.

Your shadow does not want to hurt you. It wants to be seen. It wants to be acknowledged.

How to Begin Shadow Work

1. Create Space for Reflection
   Shadow work requires gentleness. You do not have to rush. Sit with your thoughts. Journal without judgment. Notice what emotions arise when you give yourself permission to feel.
2. Identify Triggers
   Pay attention to the things that stir something in you—the moments when anger, shame, or fear come up unexpectedly. These reactions are not random; they are doorways.
3. Practice Radical Self-Compassion
   You are not wrong for having a shadow. You are not bad for feeling what you feel. Speak to yourself with love. Hold space for your pain like you would for a dear friend.
4. Allow Yourself to Integrate
   This work is not about eliminating your shadow; it is about making peace with it. There is wisdom in every experience. Even the difficult ones. Especially the difficult ones.

You Are Not Too Much

There is no part of you that is unworthy of love. No emotion that makes you unredeemable. No past version of yourself that is beyond forgiveness.

This is not about becoming someone new. This is about remembering who you have always been.

Soften. Open. Allow.

You are not behind. You are not broken.

You are healing. You are whole.

And you are already enough.