Shadow Work After Care

There is a lot of talk around doing shadow work, which in the long run is very beneficial. It helps you understand yourself, your patterns, your behaviors and be a better person overall.

What is Shadow Work?

Shadow work was founded by psychologist and occultist, Carl Jung. It is the rejected, forgotten and neglected parts of ourselves, hidden deep into our subconscious. By bringing the light to our shadow, becoming aware of the subconscious patterns in our life, we gain empowerment to change our lives.

Shadow Work is a lifelong journey. As we peel back the layers of ourselves, our shadow is always finding another crevice to hid in. However, from my experience, it seems each journey within gets a little easier to navigate compared to the first few goes.

There is a lot of talk about doing Shadow Work in many spaces across the internet. It is a common thread among spiritual communities, occult communities and witch communities. And while overall, I don't think this is a bad thing. Learning to self-reflect and understand oneself... I will share one thing I wish I was told more about.

Self-Care, Coping Skills and Nervous System Regulation.

Now, I don't think the individual or community that really pushed it was inherently bad for not talking about it. To be honest, the mental health system overall doesn't often cover these things properly. Western Medicine and Psychology has a very left sided-logical approach to healing. I had a few therapists from rehabs, mental health clinics and even 12 step sponsors who meant well and were doing what they thought was right. There hearts really were in the right place overall. But the issue is, the key to true trauma healing isn't commonly practiced or taught like it should be.

When it comes to trauma, you can't think or rationalize your way out of it. Why? Because your body, especially your nervous system, holds onto the trauma. And when you start digging around, whether through Shadow Work or talk therapy, your body remembers. Down to your very cells. And your body and nervous system doesn't know that you are trying to rationalize, move on and aren't in the trauma anymore.

So, when it comes to Shadow Work I highly recommend learning about coping skills, specifically around regulating your nervous system. Why? In case while digging around, you trigger some trauma, you know how to regulate your body and move through it properly.

Now, let's talk a bit about the Nervous System.

The nervous system is a complex system of neurons within our bodies that carries messages between the body and the brain.  The Nervous system is complied of two parts, the Central Nervous system which is the brain and spinal cord. Then we have the Peripheral Nervous System which comes from the Central Nervous System and is full of our nerves and nerve endings.

The Peripheral Nervous System is broken up into two parts: The Somatic Neural System and the Autonomic neural system. The Somatic Neural system is in charge of our voluntary actions(moving your limbs such as in walking or running), while the Automonic Neural System is the involuntary things(like breathing or digestion) and usually is self regulating.

Now, the ANS is broken down into two parts: Sympathetic nervous system and Parasympathetic nervous system. Essentially, they work together but do opposite things for our bodies. Your sympathetic nervous system sends the alert out to the body and brain for DANGER! And the parasympathetic nervous system works to regulate and calm everything down once you are safe from the danger.

Now, this part of nervous system typically will regulate itself out, as it's designed to do. But, trauma is different. Traumatic events can end up getting this system all screwed up and dis-regulated. The Parasympathetic nervous system fails to send the signal to calm down and the sympathetic nervous system gets stuck on a constant flight or flight. Your body can't calm itself down, you are on alert, your anxious, you can't sleep, your ability to eat and digest food is out of whack, your body is flooded with cortisol and adrenaline. Even if technically you are safe and away from what happened. Your body doesn't know the difference. It still thinks you are in danger.

As I stated earlier, while your brain might be able to rationalize this, your body can't. And to be honest, trauma alters and affects the brain, too. Especially if it happened during childhood development or addiction to drugs/alcohol became a way of coping. But fortunately, so does healing. You can create new pathways for the neurons in the brain. But that's another conversation for another day.  

How do you regulate your nervous system?

When you start to embark on a journey into Shadow Work and you have unresolved trauma, you likely will dig into it. And when you dig into it, there's a chance you will trigger the trauma response and throw yourself out of whack. I got stuck in a cycle of retraumaizing and retriggering my shit for about 3 years before I was lucky to stumble upon a mental health clinic that was revolutionary and taught me this. Most of my time there I spent doing breathwork and meditation, and everything started clicking. I stopped ruminating through my shit and was able to move through it.  

It is crucial to learn how to regulate your nervous system and create an aftercare self-care plan for when you do shadow work. I will provide a list of various ways in a moment on techniques and things you can do. It is also a good idea to start practicing when you aren't as well, as it can help you with your day to day life.

Ways to regulate your nervous system:

-Movement. Whether it's running, walking, dancing, Yoga, Tai Chi or even just shaking your body.

-Meditation. Guided meditations are a great place to start for beginners.

-Breath-work. Specifically diaphragmatic breathing, or belly breathing. Also, ensuring that your exhale is longer than your inhale. Another good one is paired muscle relaxation meditations. Youtube is a great free resource, as well as Insight Timer App

-Refraining from overuse of drugs and alcohol.

-Ensuring you are well-rested.

-Temperature changes. This is best done with filling a bowl with ice water and submerging your face into it and holding your breathe. Doing this a few times triggers a response called the Diver's Response, more information on how this works is here.

-Alternating between hot and cold in the shower.

-Co-regulation with pets or a loved one.

-Stay hydrated and ensuring you are eating.

-Somatic Healing. There are lots of resources via Youtube and various social media platforms with certified practioners who provide free resources.

Daily meditation and breath-work is recommended, as it can take a few months for the nervous system to reset and heal. Although, for some, this can actually be difficult at first and may find exercise or other techniques better. Find what works for you.