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Do you have a hidden talent that you keep secret from everyone you know? Or a deep, dark fear that you keep suppressed, or an aspect of yourself that you find shameful? If so – and most people do – then shadow work could be a powerful and transformational tool for you to explore.

“Shadow work is a series of practices – it could be meditation, guided visualizations or letter writing exercises – that help us shine light into our shadow to firstly find out what it is, and then bring it into the light and start expressing ourselves fully,” explains best-selling author Charlie Morley, whose new book Do The Shadow Work, which blends ancient wisdom and modern psychology, is out now.

What is the shadow?

But before diving in – what exactly is the shadow?

“Well the shadow was pioneered into Western psychology by the famous Carl Jung, and he used it to describe the parts of the unconscious mind that contain everything that we hide from ourselves and others; everything we suppress, reject or deny makes up what he called the shadow,” explains Charlie, a lucid dreaming and Tibetan Buddhism expert who has been running workshops and retreats for over 15 years.

Charlie's new book 'Do The Shadow Work' blends ancient wisdom and modern psychology — Charlie’s new book ‘Do The Shadow Work’ blends ancient wisdom and modern psychology

“These things are in the shadows because we are yet to shine our conscious awareness onto them. So to work out what’s in our shadow, we might start looking at the answers to questions like ‘What am I most afraid of? What am I most ashamed of, what habits make me feel unworthy, which parts of myself do I not show others for fear of rejection?’

“Then we start to get some idea. This would be what we refer to as the dark shadow.”

However, we all have what Charlie calls a ‘golden shadow’, too, which makes up around 90% of the shadow.

“In Western psychology, the golden shadow is often referred to as the positive shadow, so things like our hidden talents, our full potential, our sexuality, our spirituality. Things we hide out of fear of rejection.”

Charlie speaking on stage in Jordan — Charlie is an in-demand public speaker

The benefits

So what is there to gain by doing shadow work? And why would we want to do it in the first place?

“Yeah, why would we want to do that? Surely if stuff’s hidden in the shadows, let’s leave it there – you know, don’t wake a sleeping giant,” smiles Charlie, who has been very candid in opening up about his own shadow aspects throughout the book.

“And I would say if anyone reading it is 100% happy with everything in their life, then maybe don’t do shadow work. If everything is fully there, you feel you’re fully stepped into your goals, all of your traumas are resolved, everything’s great, then it’s not for you.

The front cover of Charlie Morley's new book Do The Shadow Work — ‘Do The Shadow Work’ is published by Hay House, and on sale now

“But if people are reading and there are parts themselves they feel are not fully expressed, if they do feel that there are traumas or wounds from their childhood that are still festering, that haven’t been fully faced and embraced, then shadow work is the key to this.”

Express yourself fully

He continues: “Medical News Today acknowledges shadow work as a form of self-therapy in which the subject looks back into their past and to their future to find ways to express themselves fully and to integrate past traumas.”

“Abraham Maslow, the guy who did the famous Hierarchy of Needs, said, ‘You show me someone who is not fully expressing themselves, and I will show you depression.’ The opposite of depression is not happiness, it’s expression. So if we’re not fully expressing ourselves, we are in a depressed state.”

Charlie claps as he delivers a speech on stage — “Shadow work helps us to start expressing ourselves fully,” says Charlie

Shadow work can spark a life-changing healing journey and help transform fear and shame into loving awareness, energy and power. But it can be daunting at first.

“Rather than going straight into the childhood trauma, look at where in your life you could express yourself more fully,” he suggests. “What is there in your life that makes you feel really alive, but you don’t fully express to others?

“If you didn’t have to work for money, how would you spend your life? What really makes you feel alive, in what areas of your life do you hide your light? Get those down on paper and then see if, first of all, you can speak them out loud to another person?’

Woman flexing muscles in front of superhero shadow — Shadow work can help you embrace your untapped potential

This below exercise from the book, called Meeting the Shadow, is a great place to start.

Guided meditation: Meeting our shadow

We’re going to imagine actually meeting our shadow in personified form. We’ll do this by imagining that our shadow sides, both dark and golden, come and sit with us. Then were going to visualize welcoming them, taking them by the hand and sitting with them in friendship.

Don’t worry about whether you can visualize clearly, just relax into the immersive feeling of imagination. I recommend doing this exercise using the ‘Meeting Our Shadow’ guided meditation that you can find on my website, but if you would like to follow it without guidance, this is the full script:

Just sitting, with your eyes open or closed (either is fine), breathing through your nose or mouth (either is fine), breathe deeply. Show your body that you love it enough to give it what it needs: breath. You are totally safe. You are held lovingly by the beneficial motivation of this meditation. Relax deeply – deeply enough to look into your shadow.
Take a moment to think about the unloved parts of yourself that you find unacceptable to show to others. Think about the parts of your mind that you struggle to love: your anger, your fear, your past traumas, aspects of your sexuality that you fear may be frowned upon perhaps. Take a moment to consider and to encounter the dark shadow parts of yourself. If shame, guilt or discomfort come up, don’t turn away from them as you have done before, turn towards them.
Find the place in your body where the dark shadow is located. Imagine that your dark shadow flows out of your body and manifests in physical form on your left-hand side. What does it look like? Does it have a form or is it formless? Does it have a gender? Is it a human, an animal, or perhaps something else? However it manifests, your dark shadow is sitting next to you on your left-hand side. It will only show you what you are ready for, so feel its energy fearlessly and greet it like an old friend.
Take your shadow by the hand and sit with it. Friendship starts with a smile, so smile at your shame, your fear, your guilt, or whatever form the energy takes. Encounter this energy with love. Hold its hand. Nothing more is needed. Feel it responding to your love.
And now take a moment to think about all the magnificent parts of yourself that you find unacceptable to show to others.Is there a part of yourself that you find too bright to show to others? Your true potential, your intuition, your divine light? Take a moment to encounter these golden shadow parts of yourself. If power, joy or strong energy come up, don’t turn away from them as you have done before, turn towards them, greet them like old friends. They are part of you.
Find the place in your body where the golden shadow is located. Imagine that your golden shadow flows out of your body and manifests in physical form on your right-hand side. What does it look like? Does it have form or is it formless? Does it have a gender? Is it a human, an animal or possibly something else? However it manifests, your golden shadow is sitting next to you on your right-hand side. It will only show you what you are ready for, so feel its energy fearlessly and greet it like an old friend. Take your shadow by the hand and sit with it. Friendship starts with a smile, so smile at your divine light, your power, your golden potential… Encounter this energy with love. Hold its hand. Nothing more is needed. Feel it responding to your love.
And now, sitting between the dark and golden shadows, repeat after me, in your own mind, three times, the following words: ‘I am ready to love my shadow. I am ready to befriend both the dark and the bright’.
Allow the visualization to dissolve so that you are now sitting alone again.

Dedication: With the knowledge that you have just connected lovingly with both aspects of your shadow, take a moment, if it feels right to do so, to dedicate the beneficial energy of the meditation to yourself and all beings, using the statement: I dedicate the beneficial energy generated by this exercise to the benefit of all beings.

Charlie giving a talk at Mindvalley — Shadow work can spark a life-changing healing journey, says Charlie

For more exercises and to delve deeper into shadow work, pick up a copy of Do The Shadow Work, which is packed with information and over 20 practices to guide you through the process.

“It’s a form of self therapy,” says Charlie. “And it can be totally transformational.”

Do The Shadow Work by Charlie Morley, published by Hay House, is on sale now. Visit https://www.charliemorley.com

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