What Is Shadow Work?
A Jungian Perspective on the Path to Wholeness
Shadow Work is the process of meeting, understanding, and integrating the hidden or disowned aspects of our personality that live outside conscious awareness. These are the parts of us, emotions, memories, instincts, impulses, and even gifts, that we learned to repress in order to adapt, be accepted, or avoid pain. By turning towards these neglected dimensions, Shadow Work aims to restore wholeness and foster a deeper, more authentic way of living.
Jung’s Vision: Individuation and the Integration of the Shadow
Carl Jung did not use the term “shadow work” in his original writings. He spoke instead of “assimilation” or “integration” of the shadow, and understood this as an essential stage in what he called individuation. For Jung, individuation is the lifelong journey of becoming a whole self; one that can recognise, relate to, and reconcile the many different aspects within.
Jung saw the goal of psychological work not as the pursuit of perfection or the elimination of flaws, but as the ongoing process of fulfilling our innate potential and living a liberated, loving life. The journey of individuation is unique to each person and does not have a final endpoint; we integrate shadow material as it arises, sometimes through major life transitions, sometimes through small but significant moments of insight, letting go and reclamation.
Shadow Work can unfold at any stage of adulthood, but Jung observed that it often becomes especially urgent in midlife or at times of significant change. This is not because it is reserved for those in crisis, but because a strong and healthy ego, developed during the first half of life, provides the foundation needed to safely explore and integrate what has previously been exiled. Midlife often brings new thresholds, losses, or shifts in identity, inviting us to let go of old patterns and embrace the next phase of becoming.
The Multiplicity of the Psyche: Understanding Our Inner World
A core insight in Jungian psychology is that the psyche is not a singular, unified entity. Rather, our minds are composed of many distinct aspects, each with its own perspectives, feelings and desires. Jung called these archetypes: universal behavioural patterns that play out in individual lives. Other models, such as Internal Family Systems, refer to these as “parts.” Psychosynthesis speaks of “subpersonalities.”
Recognising the multiplicity within is essential for understanding why we sometimes feel divided, conflicted, or unable to enact our conscious intentions. As humans we don’t like to admit this, but our wisest self is not always at the wheel. Instead, different parts of us, which we might say seem to have a mind of their own, take turns in the driving seat of our behaviour. A common example is the struggle with willpower and self-sabotage. Someone may set a clear goal for themselves, such as following a nutrition plan or committing to regular exercise, and genuinely want to keep that promise. Yet, in moments of stress, depletion or temptation, other parts may step forward, a comfort-seeking part after a difficult day, a rebellious part resisting restriction, or a rationalising part justifying an exception. All of these voices are real and active, each with its own logic, memories, and needs.
Shadow Work offers a way to engage these parts directly, bring compassion and understanding, and create profound inner shifts that release past pain, trauma or suffering. Over time, learning how to carefully balance archetypal energies within also allows you to consciously choose who is driving the car in any given moment. Rather than letting old fears or habitual reactions take over unconsciously, sincere Shadow Work helps you build the capacity to access more choice, presence, and self-leadership. This can increase your sense of agency, satisfaction, and effectiveness in all areas of life: work, relationships, creativity, and beyond.
Why Positive Thinking and Mindset Work Is Not Always Enough
Most traditional forms of self-improvement focus on conscious strategies: willpower, positive psychology, or behavioural conditioning. While these can sometimes help, they often fail to create lasting change because they do not address the deeper forces operating in the unconscious. Jung and later depth psychologists observed that what we avoid or deny in ourselves tends to gain strength, shaping our behaviour in unhelpful ways from the shadows. As they say, whatever we resist, persists. It also takes a lot of life force energy to keep pushing down into the dark what is longing to be witnessed and gently brought into the light of loving awareness.
Much of what remains in the shadow is held there by powerful, uncomfortable emotions, especially shame, fear, and deep grief. Most of us will do almost anything to avoid feeling these states, in part because when we were little, our nervous systems were not equipped to process the enormity of them. So the shadow persists until we are able to face and experience them directly as adults, ideally with the support of a trauma-informed, somatically trained practitioner.
Shadow Work seeks not to eliminate these hidden aspects, but to meet them with curiosity and compassion, and to find ways of relating that are more conscious, mature, and integrative. The aim is to restore dialogue between the conscious mind and the unconscious, allowing energy and creativity to flow more freely through the whole Self.
Because meeting these emotions too forcefully can strengthen existing defences rather than help them soften, my approach to Shadow Work is a process of gently building the nervous system capacity to feel and relate to what was once overwhelming. Real integration and long-term healing can occur only through compassion, sensitivity, and patience with these vulnerable parts.
Shadow Work In Practice: What to Expect
Shadow Work can take many forms, but my priority is always to create a safe, supportive environment to explore what has been hidden or exiled. This work can be done through guided dialogue with inner parts, facilitated processes, working with dreams, active imagination, body-based awareness, or creative expression. Sometimes, shadow material surfaces in the form of strong emotional triggers, repeating patterns, or projections onto others. Other times, it is revealed through bodily sensations, images in dreams, or persistent inner conflicts. I recommend working with someone who is qualified to support you over time and prioritises exquisite relational attunement.
Almost any repeating pattern or stubborn issue can be worked with through Shadow Work, because it addresses the deeper roots beneath the surface of behaviour, emotion, or belief. By turning toward the underlying dynamics and inviting the deeper wisdom of the psyche to speak, clients often discover new freedom and possibility in areas that previously felt hopeless.
The process is far from formulaic; it unfolds uniquely for each person, depending on their history, needs, and readiness. In Shadow Work and Jungian Psychodynamic Coaching, the role of the practitioner is to offer skilled presence, deep listening, and ethical support, drawing on a range of tools and approaches. In my opinion, one which is not shared by everyone practicing this kind of work, attention to the relational field is essential, as true transformation is often only possible in the context of a safe, emotionally attuned and genuinely compassionate relationship.
To find out how to get started, learn about one-to-one coaching here or join a small group retreat here.
Shadow Work and Action: Integration into Daily Life
A key principle in Jungian Shadow Work is that insight without sustained action is not enough. As Jung’s followers and many contemporary practitioners emphasise, individuation is the result of integrating shadow material into conscious life through regular practice. This means taking practical steps to express, embody, or act from the new awareness gained, whether by setting boundaries, expressing emotions, reclaiming a lost creative pursuit, or making choices that reflect an expanded sense of self.
Jung was clear that true psychological work combines both etiology (exploring the origins of our patterns, as Freud advocated) and teleology (understanding the purpose and direction these patterns serve, as Adler suggested). Investigating the past can be important, but lasting change comes only when we allow new insights to guide our present and future choices. Shadow Work is not about endless self-analysis or hours spent journalling every weekend. It is about integrated change and living out new possibilities.
Barbara Hannah, a close colleague of Jung, put it simply: “Insight into the myth of the unconscious must be converted into ethical obligation.” In other words, the value of Shadow Work is measured not only by what we discover about ourselves, but by the degree to which we become more whole, resilient, and capable of loving ourselves and others.
As shadow material is integrated, many people experience increased freedom, vitality, and clarity, as well as a greater sense of meaning and connection to the world.
On a personal note, I spent years holding onto the story that I was not really creative, (despite having been a hugely imaginative child whose first loves were dance, music and the mystical realms) because I was encouraged to focus on developing academically, and so began my career as a City lawyer. Even though friends, clients and strangers alike told me I should write, and despite the fact that I teach creative writing courses for children, I secretly believed that I could not come up with original enough ideas myself. Through working with my own very encouraging Integral coach, and with the intention of alchemising some painful personal betrayals, I began to write, and in challenging that limiting narrative, soon found I couldn’t stop. It turns out there is so much inside me to share, from journal entries on topics related to Shadow Work which you can find here, through to gentle books for children who are being bullied, and those who are processing grief, which I hope to publish one day.
Unlike dance, words might never quite capture what I feel inside, as Flaubert famously summed up, “Human language is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms, while we long to make music that will melt the stars”, but the act of writing has become both liberating and transformative. The real shift came not from endlessly analysing my resistance, discovering the origin of the pattern, or from any big emotional catharsis, but by taking small, daily steps that allowed a different story to emerge through committed action.
If you are looking for inspiration to be creative regardless of self-doubt, you might like these words from Martha Graham, the legendary American choreographer and dancer often regarded as the mother of modern dance, which I believe Jung would approve of:
“You do not need to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.”
and later in the same famous letter to her younger contemporary and admirer, Agnes de Mille:
“There’s a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action… and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.”
Jung, when asked why it took him until his retirement years to write his autobiography, despite many earlier offers, explained that it takes a significant amount of libido (psychic energy) to undertake the task of organising one’s life story, and that one needs a surplus, a kind of stored potential, which for him was not available whilst he was invested outwardly in living, working and exploring. In a similar way to Martha, he suggested that it is important to pay attention to the gradient of one’s energy and where it wants to be directed, and to follow that flow. Both Jung and Martha Graham are describing the way the Lover archetype, where our creativity lives, meets the world, through being one with the flow of life, which I deeply resonate with. You can read more about your inner artist, by clicking on the Lover archetype, here.
Ultimately, Shadow Work is not about striving for perfection or fixing what is broken, but about building the capacity to act from a fuller, truer self, step by step, with humility, humour, curiosity and courage.
“It is the privilege of a lifetime to become who you truly are.”
The Collective Need for Shadow Work
While Shadow Work is deeply personal, it is also a contribution to the collective. In a time of rapid change and complexity, the capacity to hold difference, recognise projections, and act with integrity and kindness is needed more than ever. Doing our own inner work helps us relate more wisely to others, reduce unconscious reactivity, and participate in the creation of healthier families, communities, and cultures.
It has never been more apparent that our world is struggling to hold the tension of opposites. We are living through an era marked by polarisation, where nuance is often lost and subtlety can feel endangered. In public discourse, in communities, and sometimes even in close relationships, the inability to tolerate difference or uncertainty leads to defensiveness, blame, and even cruelty. Some of the most painful experiences I have witnessed, and at times endured myself, have arisen not from overt malice, but from a lack of capacity to listen, take responsibility, recognise the impact of power differentials, respect each other's complexity, or be humble enough to slow down and reflect before acting.
Jung believed that shadow projection, when left unchecked, is one of the greatest dangers to individuals and societies. Many contemporary Jungian analysts have noted that, were Jung alive today, he would be deeply troubled by the level of collective shadow projection and the absence of meaningful, nuanced dialogue in our culture. When we fail to see our own blind spots, we unconsciously demonise or idealise others, creating cycles of conflict and misunderstanding.
This is why the work of integrating our own shadow is not only a path to personal wholeness, but also a vital act of social responsibility. The more able we are to notice our own projections, to hold the discomfort of disagreement, and to act from self-awareness rather than reactivity, the more we contribute to a culture capable of genuine connection, respect, and repair.
Next Steps: Getting Started
If you feel ready to begin your own shadow work journey, you are welcome to book a no-obligation connection call, to ask questions, share your hopes, and explore whether this approach is the right fit for you.
Or, if you’re curious about Jungian archetypes and how they shape our inner world, you can keep exploring here: