Shadow work exercises are spiritual and personal growth exercises done to fully uncover and integrate your shadow self, or the unconscious dark side of your personality.
Our shadow self is the side of our personalities that everyone has, but many repress, and are blind to, because we don’t wish to see this dark side of ourselves.
When we choose to ignore and repress our shadow side, the darker and denser it becomes. This can wreak havoc on your conscious, or waking life – Making manifesting your dream life very difficult!
Emotional pain from your childhood or past can also show up as your shadow self and manifest in adulthood as physical dis-ease as well.
These exercises for shadow work are little-known techniques that were Clairaudiently given to me by my own beautiful spirit guides!
I believe these are the BEST shadow work exercises for beginners!
Some of these, you may have heard of, and others are secrets which are very effective at helping you find your shadow self.
How Does the Shadow Self Form?
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Often formed in early childhood, your shadow self forms by being guilted, shamed, or told things are unacceptable to do by adults in your life. Childhood fears also play a role in forming the shadow self.
For example, maybe you were an overly enthusiastic child and your excess energy bothered your stressed out mom. You realized to have peace in your home from the person you relied on for survival meant to “curb your enthusiasm”.
So, as an adult, people with extra large personalities may bother you. You could write these people off as annoying without getting to know them better, never understanding that you were unconsciously being controlled by your shadow side.
How Do I Find my Shadow Self?
Clinical psychologists, therapists, and counselors often help people explore their shadow selves through journaling – Which is a very useful tool in uncovering your “dark side”. Mindfulness meditation is also an extremely useful tool for finding and uncovering your shadow self.
Why is Shadow Work Bad?
Since shadow work can often be uncomfortable, painful, or frightening, it can be considered as bad by many. Not everyone is ready to face their shadow self in meditation, dreams, and their waking life.
Furthermore, facing your shadow can bring up very painful traumatic experiences from childhood that may be worked through best with the help of a licensed professional.
How Long Should you do Shadow Work?
Shadow work can be done for as long as you need until you begin to mentally feel more grounded and at peace with situations in life that would usually annoy you. Many find value in doing shadow work for 2-3 months. However, some more extreme cases of trauma may need a year or more of shadow work to fully heal and accept that trauma. If you need help, always seek the guidance of a loving, unbiased, licensed counselor.
During my own Bizarre Spiritual Awakening, I practiced shadow work exercises for months to help me illuminate old wounds, hurts, and traumas that desperately needed to be healed to move forward in my life.
After doing my initial shadow work and getting the hang of accepting my shadow self, I now only do shadow work when it comes up during dreams, meditation, or I am particularly annoyed by something in life that needs clearing.
Why is Shadow Work Important?
Shadow work is important because it gives us freedom from unconscious programming, stronger, healthier relationships, an awakened sense of self, and the opportunity to respond to life’s annoyances, rather than quickly, unconsciously reacting.
5 Little-Known SHADOW WORK EXERCISES
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These 5 powerful shadow work exercises were given to me by spirit guides to help me quickly “illuminate my shadow side,” “energetically clear my shadow self,” and further “ascend to the 5th dimension”.
If you’d like to read more about How to Ascend to the 5th Dimension, check out my e-book for just $5! In it, you will find out WHAT the 5th Dimension even is, HOW to get and stay there, ACTIVATE your 5th Dimensional chakra system, and the PROPER way to turn on your Star Tetrahedron (Which greatly reduces the anxiety, drama, and noise you’ve been feeling lately!)
These first 2 exercises especially brought my shadow to the forefront like nothing I’ve ever tried.
1. Rainbow Bright’s Tube of Healing
My spirit guides did NOT prepare me for rainbow bright’s tube of healing! They simply said to “try it”, so I did!
The night after I did this shadow self exercise, the fear side of my shadow self was illuminated in full force during my dreams!
Every fear I’d ever had came to the forefront with some annoying, but funny in hindsight, folk singers in the background loudly singing, “You have found your fears,” with banjos!
It seemed horrible at first and I began to run, but I had guides in the dreams that helped me look at the fears and ask “What is so bad about this?”
Like my AI-powered lawnmowers chasing me ended up not being so terrible when I simply walked up some cement steps! LOL!
To Practice Rainbow Bright’s Tube of Healing:
- Lie on your bed or sit in a comfortable position.
- Close your eyes and begin deep, circular breaths.
- Now visualize the brightest rainbow you can imagine surrounding your whole body with a tube of rainbow light. Make it really glow! Make it as bright as you can! Feel every sensation and play with child-like wonder as you do this!
- Hold the visualization for a few minutes or as long as you like, then go on about your day, or go to sleep.
2. Drink Water Charged with the Cosmic Diamond Violet Flame
To illuminate and clear your shadow self, you need some powerful energetic tools, tools that aren’t given in traditional shadow work journaling exercises.
This exercise comes from the book, The Archangel Guide to Ascension: 55 Steps to the Light that is filled with light codes and I highly recommend it!
Although journaling is important and was also an answer given by my guides for working with my shadow self, it is not complete to simply journal your shadow into your conscious awareness.
Becoming aware of your shadow self is wonderful, but clearing the sticky energetic residue of the shadow with these powerful energetic tools will do so much more!
I have found that when working with these tools, it is very helpful to enter a state of playfulness! Your rational mind doesn’t understand the energetics of light and sound like your aura and Soul will.
So, for this next exercise for shadow work – play, pretend, make it up, and most importantly, feel rather than overthink.
To Practice the Drink Water Charged with the Cosmic Diamond Violet Flame Shadow Work Activity:
- Get a cup of clean filtered or spring water (Clean water is super important! No tap water please!)
- Place the water in front of you.
- Ask (with reverence), the Cosmic Diamond Violet Flame to enter your water.
- Ask Ascended Master St. Germain and Archangels Zadkiel and Gabriel to assist with infusing your water with the Cosmic Diamond Violet Flame.
- Now, close your eyes and visualize the a beautiful bright violet diamond completely surrounding your glass of water.
- Make it as bright as you can! Imagine it shining as brightly as a violet diamond sun would!
- Thank St. Germain, Archangel Zadkiel and Archangel Gabriel for their assistance!
- Now drink the water and then say the affirmation: “I AM the Cosmic Diamond Violet Flame. I AM the Flame of Mercy. I AM the Flame of Joy. I AM the Flame of Oneness. I AM Saint Germain. I AM Gabriel Zadkiel.”
After doing this exercise, I immediately felt euphoric, however I had more fears and pain brought to the forefront in my dreams for me to understand, heal, and unconditionally love and accept about myself.
If you are not ready to do this, it may be best to simply start with the journaling for shadow work exercise below that is excellent for beginners!
3. Journal to Illuminate your Shadow Self
Journal a list of all fears, guilts, shames & things that annoy you and answer the question, “Why?” Such as “Why do I feel guilty when I drink alcohol?”, or “Why do overly confident people annoy me?”
As you answer these questions, you may have memories simply “pop up” out of the blue from your childhood that you had forgotten.
If you are having trouble thinking of things, these 50+ Deep SHADOW WORK PROMPTS are questions to help you get started with shadow work.
As you do these shadow work journal exercises, be kind to yourself. There is no room for criticism, confrontation, or anger towards your shadow self.
After all, it formed to keep you safe and protected in a 3rd dimensional world. Be as kind, loving, understanding, and accepting of the things you find in your shadow self as you would with a very young child not understanding why swear words are bad.
The more unconditional love and understanding you allow your shadow, the easier pulling the “roots” of your shadow work practices will be.
4. Heal your Root Chakra, Sacral Chakra, Solar Plexus Chakra & Earth Star Chakras to Help Clear your Shadow Self
Your shadow self hides in your lower three chakras as “energetic imbalances”, and it is a good idea to Spiritually Ground ALL three of these chakras while healing your ancestral karma by turning on your earth star chakra, often called “the billionaire chakra”.
Many fears and anything to do with survival or making enough money to afford your current lifestyle will be held in your root chakra, as part of your current shadow side.
Often stemming from early childhood are the times you felt guilted, shamed, or victimized. For example, if you have not healed from early childhood trauma, these aspects of the shadow self will be held in the sacral chakra.
Aspects of your shadow side may also be responsible for self-esteem and self-confidence issues. This part of your shadow will be held in your solar plexus chakra.
Known as the super-root, the earth star chakra grounds us and connects us to Mother Earth’s love and stability. Activating the Earth Star Chakra will assist in releasing your shadow self from your lower three chakras held within your physical body.
Activate your Earth Star Chakra Guide
5. Deep “Darth Vader” Breathwork will Bring your Shadow Side to the Forefront
When we practice mindfulness meditation, we bring our shadows to the forefront of our psyche. To understand what mindfulness meditation is, you can go to this post: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Mindfulness Meditation.
But, for the purpose of practicing shadow work, as well as connecting with my spirit guides, then have given me this Ancient Meditation for Reaching Higher States of Consciousness.
You may have heard of this type of deep meditative breathwork before. It involves pranayama breathing, sometimes called “the ocean breath,” or “Darth Vader breath”.
When practicing this form of mindfulness meditation, you will definitely meet and be confronted with your shadow self and ALL the things you thought you were over, but actually just hid away because they were uncomfortable.
Things such as a time when a kid in your class called you “ugly,” or said you “stunk,” or your mom said that “you aren’t fat, but you’re not thin,” will come up!
How to Practice the “Darth Vader Meditation” for Uncovering your Shadow Self:
- Get into a comfortable position.
- Many practice this mindfulness meditation sitting up (I like to lay down!) Just keep your spine straight while doing it.
- Practice a few deep, circular breaths with your eyes open while becoming aware of your body and yourself.
- Now close your eyes and slowly, deeply breathe all the way down into the tip of your tailbone (root chakra).
- Expand your lower belly as you breathe deeply.
- As you slowly exhale, push the air out of your nostrils more forcefully until you can hear your breath loudly. (It will sound like Darth Vader or the ocean waves rolling in.
- Listen to only your breath for several moments until you get into a deep cycle of breathing.
- Once you get into this magical “meditation zone,” where your rational mind stops yammering, and all you are aware of is your breath, your shadow self will most likely present itself to you.
Tips for Successfully doing Shadow Work Exercises
Your shadow self is a significant part of what makes you, you. We can repress it, pretend it doesn’t exist, fight it, or argue with it – But this will only make your shadow side stronger.
Remember that “what you resist, persists.” And “what you allow, easily flows out.”
When I was first confronted with my shadow self, I ran, hid, argued, and fought. I then also decided that maybe simply ignoring my shadow issues, would help me work through them.
I am strong enough to ignore my shadow, I thought one day. And a spirit guide whispered in my ear, “Don’t ignore, allow.”
As you practice working more with your shadow self, you will get stronger at becoming a neutral observer of your shadow side – Allowing the roots of your shadow to simply pass you by as you dream or practice deep meditation is the best way to do shadow work.
Shadow work journaling will also greatly assist you in figuring out your shadow triggers, and the root causes of where your shadow self originated from.
This helps you make the shift into a much greater understanding of who you are, your beliefs, and why you react the way you do to certain unconscious triggers.
Also, make sure to try out the shadow work exercise visualizations above to illuminate your shadow self while also energetically clearing it from your aura and chakra systems!
How to Accept your Shadow Self?
The more you work with your shadow self, the easier it will become to accept your shadow self. Practice makes perfect! You will eventually become like an understanding parent to your childlike shadow side, which is very healing to your wounded inner child.
Find kindness, forgiveness, acceptance, and unconditional love for your shadow self as you go through the above, and in my opinion, best exercises for shadow work.
It takes time, but finding and accepting your inner darkness is very healing and freeing to you and your Soul!
As always, remember to spread love, kindness, and light! It really does make a difference!
Jamie
More Shadow Self Posts:
Did you enjoy this shadow work exercises post? Do you have any other useful exercises for shadow work that you’d like to share with other readers? Please comment below and don’t forget to share to social media!
Working with your Shadow Self Useful References:
A great book for fully exploring, understanding and integrating your shadow self through exercises and activities is DEEP Shadow Work Journal & Workbook.
This Shadow Work Journal has exercises and prompts for both advanced shadow workers and beginners alike! It is very simple to follow and easy to do in your spare time.
This book includes these little-known shadow self exercises from the Teacher’s of Light to easily find and integrate your shadow!
**The above information on shadow work prompts is for informational purposes only and is not to be considered advice. Please consult a licensed therapist or counselor if you are struggling with issues of severe depression, grief, trauma, or mental illness.**