Shadow

Whether personal training, massage therapy, or yoga, many services and classes make the mind, body, spirit connection a focus. What most, if not all, of these services leave out of the equation is the Shadow.

In Integral theory, written about extensively by Ken Wilber, when we wish to transform ourselves, we must engage in personal growth work in 4 modes: mind, body, spirit, and shadow. So what is this Shadow? It's the part of us that we store away hurts, memories, painful events, and anything else we wish not to address or make a part of our awareness. However, by engaging in certain practices like therapy, dreamwork, or poem writing, for example, we can begin to bring the Shadow into our awareness, thereby making its contents objects of our awareness. By doing this, we become more and more aware of the things that may be keeping us stuck in certain areas like relationships and work performance.

I say often that people can meditate for 20 years, but they still may have great difficulty in relationships. They may engage in psychotherapy for 20 years, and still have difficulty meditating or exercising. But by engaging in meditation, psychotherapy, exercise, and reading, for example, transformation will take place much more efficiently and expediently. Since this life is short, it makes sense to attempt to transform in an efficient way. A little bit of work in all four modes (mind, body, spirit, shadow) can be so much more effective than just working with one mode. We reach our potentials and we feel good.

In my work as a Psychologist, I offer a safe place to address the Shadow material, while still paying attention to mind, body, and spirit as well. Therapy is a means of helping yourself reach your potentials. Most people who come to therapy are stuck or concerned about some issue and need some help or guidance. Addressing the issues in an integral manner, looking at mind, body, spirit, and shadow, can make all the difference in getting unstuck and moving forward in life.

Riding Wave #1

Just setting up this blog is a bit stressful. I thought it would be easy and done, but it's not. In the meantime, I can write some things to get it going.

It's a new year. What are your intentions for the coming year? It's important to spend a few minutes thinking about specifics of how you want your life to be. Write it down if you can and put the list somewhere you see often, and re-read the list often.