Shadow work and light work sound like total opposites, but they actually work together to better your life
Shadow work is the process learn learning about, healing, and accepting the darkest parts of you, and light work is the process of adding light, healing, and comfort to every part of your life. There are many ways to do both but doing both is the best way to improve every area of your life.
Shadow work is mainly a self-discovery tool
You can use it to start healing from your past trauma, but that isn’t the main purpose of it
Light work is not self-discovery
You can use it to focus on an area of your mind or body but discovering issues isn’t the main purpose of it
You see how they work together so nicely?
We can choose to do one but the best impact will be if you do both together
Discover and accept the dark parts of you that you have exiled, and then fill them with light
What is shadow work?
Shadow work is a process that many people try to avoid
This is because it can get very emotional and very painful if you have a lot of past trauma
Or if you have strong limiting beliefs
Your mind created reactions to keep you from going through the same pain again
Those reactions could be “getting used to being betrayed by friends”
One of the reactions that my mind created was expecting everyone to leave when they saw me as useless
My brain would obsess over finding ways to be useful for family and friends so I wouldn’t lose them
Then I would automatically distance myself when I ran out of ideas or energy to be useful because I believed they would leave me anyway
This was very hard on my relationship with my husband because he wasn’t going to leave
My brain created the belief and reaction to protect me, but I didn’t need that protecting anymore
Shadow work is how I realized that belief was there, learned about where it came from, and began my journey of letting that belief go
To know more about shadow work, check out one of my articles on the subject
What is light work?
Light work is the process of taking time to fill your life with peace, light, and love
Light work and energy work, like Reiki, work closely together
But you can do light work without training because it is only for you and very personal
Meditation is a powerful tool for someone interested in light work
But instead of trying to focus on nothing, we focus on a chain of events that we visualize
To start light work, lay down in a comfortable spot
Try not to fall asleep right away though!
Do some deep breathing exercises
Breath in… 1. 2. 3. 4
Breath out… 1. 2. 3. 4
Do that a few times
Then visualize a bright light above you
The light can be white or any color that feels right
Feel that light get closer
Then feel it start to enter your right foot
What do you feel?
Then it moves up your right leg to your knee
It continues to your hips where it moves down and up your left leg
Everything from the hips down it filled with that beautiful light
Then feel it as it moves up to your waist, chest, and shoulders
Down and up each arm
Into you next
And finally into your head
What did you notice?
Was there relaxation?
Tingling?
Discomfort?
Listen to what your body is trying to tell you
Feel yourself completely filled with light
Then end with the same breathing that you began with
Breath in… 1. 2. 3. 4
Breath out… 1. 2. 3. 4
You could feel calmer, lighter, and freer
But you may not feel anything at first
People experience life differently
So keep practicing and paying attention to your body
What are the similarities and differences between them?
Both Shadow work and light work are used to help you live happier and healthier lives
They just target different parts of your life
Light work targets your life now
Filling you with positive energy and light
Making you feel good and making your vibration increase
Shadow work focusing on the dark parts of you that you either need to heal or accept
Every human has a light side and a shadow side
Our life capabilities are a range of those two sides of us
If you go through life and realize that you havevery high highs and very low lows, then maybe it is time to do some shadow work
Shadow work will help make your lows higher
You can heal from things that affect your life in more ways than you realize
You can let go of beliefs that keep you from reaching your goals and potential
By making the range of capability smaller, your lows won’t be as low as you experience now
At the same time, you need light work to make your upper limits go higher
You need to vibrate higher so you attract the good things in life
And you need to learn that you are capible and deserve the things that you dream of
By doing both Shadow work and light work
You will see the range of life experiences that you have get higher and higher
That is when you can start accomplishing all your dreams and goals
That is when you keep your dreams and goals
Have you every worked hard to reach something and lose it?
That is because you tried to outwork the range your life is set in
To keep those amazing things in your life and make them less of a constant struggle, you need to create a new range of capability in your life
You will always return to your life default setting
I say a range because we are humans and we don’t have a single setting
But that range is our default
If you want to change your life permanently, you need to put in the work to change your default