Shadow work is a gentle yet powerful inner practice that focuses on becoming aware of the parts of ourselves we’ve pushed into the background—our “shadow.” This includes unexpressed emotions, old wounds, fears, habits, and even hidden strengths that may have once felt unsafe or unacceptable. Rather than something negative, the shadow simply holds experiences that haven’t yet been fully understood or integrated. Shadow work is about meeting these parts with compassion instead of judgment.

The term comes from psychologist Carl Jung, who described the shadow as the unconscious aspects of the personality. Spiritually and holistically, shadow work is the process of shining awareness on these hidden layers so they can be healed, released, or transformed. It doesn’t mean reliving trauma; it means gently understanding why certain triggers, patterns, or emotional reactions show up in your life.

Shadow work can be done in simple, grounding ways and should always be approached at your own pace:

Self-reflection & journalling: Write honestly about emotional triggers. Ask questions like “What is this feeling trying to teach me?” or “When did I first feel this way?”

Mindfulness & meditation: Quiet moments help you notice thoughts and emotions without reacting to them. Candle light meditations can be especially supportive, creating a sense of safety while you reflect.

Working with symbols: Tarot, oracle cards, runes, or dreams can gently bring unconscious themes to the surface, offering insight without force.

Emotional acceptance: Allow feelings to be present without trying to “fix” them. Simply acknowledging emotions often softens their hold.

Grounding practices: Nature walks, breathwork, or body-based practices help you stay regulated and connected while doing deeper inner work.

It’s important to be kind to yourself and stop if something feels overwhelming. Shadow work is not a race—it’s a relationship with yourself.

When practiced gently and consistently, shadow work can lead to profound healing and self-awareness:

Greater emotional balance and mental clarity.

Reduced reactivity to triggers and past wounds.

Improved self-acceptance and self-compassion.

Healthier boundaries and relationships.

Reclaimed confidence and personal power.

A deeper sense of wholeness and authenticity.

Ultimately, shadow work helps you feel more comfortable inside your own skin. By integrating the parts of yourself you once avoided, you create inner harmony, emotional resilience, and a stronger connection to your true self.

At the Self Discovery Studio, we speak of healing not as something to be fixed, but something to be remembered.

Soul retrieval is an ancient shamanic concept that recognises how, through moments of shock, grief, fear, or prolonged emotional strain, parts of our energy can quietly withdraw in order to survive.
This is not something dramatic or frightening — it is protective.
A soft retreat of the self.

Soul retrieval is the gentle act of calling those lost fragments home.
Through visualisation, meditation, symbolic journeying, breath, ritual, and intention, we invite back the parts of ourselves that learned to hide — the inner child, the voice that stopped speaking, the heart that closed a little too tightly.

Nothing is forced.
Nothing is taken.
Only welcomed.

Shadow work walks alongside this process.

Where soul retrieval gathers what was lost, shadow work lovingly turns toward what was hidden.
The shadow is not dark in a harmful way — it is simply the parts of us that were never given space to be seen.
Unexpressed anger, buried grief, unmet needs, forgotten joy, suppressed creativity.

In shamanic shadow work, we do not judge or analyse.
We listen.
We witness.
We allow symbols, feelings, and images to arise naturally, understanding that the shadow does not want punishment — it wants compassion and understanding.

When practiced together, soul retrieval and shadow work become a sacred reunion.

You are not becoming someone new.
You are becoming whole.

At the Self Discovery Studio, these practices are held gently — through candlelight meditations, guided visual journeys, tarot as symbolic language, movement, craft, and journalling. Always at your pace. Always with grounding.

This is not about reliving pain.
It is about reclaiming power.

You are not broken.
You are remembering yourself.