Bringing Your Shadows Into the Light Part. 1
There are a million articles, books, podcasts, etc on shadow work. I encourage you to find them and see what resonates with you. This article is only one way to approach this. We are going to look at our shadows from the viewpoint of chakras.
Chakras are energy centers within the body that govern different aspects of life. The word chakra is Sanskrit in origin and dates back to 1500 bc.
A quick overview of each chakra and its corresponding governance looks like this:
- Root Chakra (which lives at the base of the spine) rules the energy of personal foundations, abundance, material wealth, digestion and feeling safe.
- Sacral Chakra (which lives below the navel) governs, intimacy, creativity and pleasure.
- Solar Plexis Chakra (which lives in the stomach area) governs personal power, inner will, and self-confidence.
- Heart Chakra (which lives in the area of the heart) governs love of self, love of others, ability to receive love, joy.
- Throat Chakra (which lives in the throat) governs the communication of personal truth with the self, communication of truth with others, ability to express oneself authentically.
- Third Eye Chakra (which lives in the center of the forehead) governs intuition, inner wisdom, the ability to see from many perspectives at once.
- Crown Chakra (which lives about six inches above our head) governs our ability to communicate with the divine, the higher self, and other realms.
When our chakras are open (the desired state) there is a balance of harmony within the body, the mind and the spirit. In essence, it all flows well. Life works! When these energy centers become blocked we feel “stuck” and unable to generate, or even perceive, an ideal living experience.
Blockages can occur from a variety of life experiences like interactions with toxic people, over-focusing in one area, negative messages from childhood, etc. The list is endless.
When we relate this to our shadows it means that we are unable to perceive our ideal future because we are stuck in the energy we are living in now. This energy becomes the lens through which we view the world. It becomes familiar and entrenched over time which means we allow it to become our default experience (spoiler alert, we don’t want default lives, we want desired and intentional ones).
Shadow self thrives here because there is no new light coming in. It gets to build its empire in the mud. There is no growth and it remains a constant state of darkness. Keyword: constant. It may not be an ideal home for our energy but it is predictable and for that reason alone, many people resist advancing from this stage of their life.
What about you? Do you find you have areas within yourself that feel safe in the shadow? In what ways have you resisted showering them with light? Why do you think you do this?
My next post covers how we can remove the blocks within our chakras, give our shadows some light, and start opening up to our harmonious life flow.
