Shadow Work, Releasing Past Trauma - Techniques
Greetings all, I was hoping to get a few different shadow work techniques for releasing past traumas and behavioral patterns, so if people can list or link any that have been effective to them that will help a great deal.
I've been on the tails of quite a big one in me. If you could list any without bias that would be great, for everyone.
Then for me - a lot of them require visulisation to be guided to answers, but I am unable to visualise very effectively, and don't receive dreams very frequently. I do however have a natural ability to manipulate energy.
Thank you for your help.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by ks on
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Hi!
This is a topic that I have studied/worked/dealt with for many years. I love talking about healing from trauma, weird, I know! I get super geeky!
Many behavior health specialists (I'm retired now) believe that PTSD is incurable, which I have never accepted.
I have a few questions, for whatever you feel comfortable sharing.
What is shadow work and how does this treat trauma? Is the trauma from long past or recent experience? This current life or past lives? On a scale of 1 (low) - 10 (extreme), rate the trauma(s), from your subjective opinion, not from social norms/dictums.
I know of several effective trauma treatments, but you ask for 'shadow work techniques' specifically, and will reserve my remaining advice for when I understand what you mean by this.
all the best,
ks
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Permalink Reply by Karrade on
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Certainly, I have little problem speaking about almost anything. Shadow work to me is something that is on your back that you cannot see, behind you out of view, that hits you in the face and you hadn't realised you'd been doing it all your life, or not doing something because of it all your life.
To me, our shadow is the reflected half of things in the way of spirit. To some its what happened to them, or what they do and don't like to acknowledge, its perhaps things that are too painful to address, or we've just built something destructive or blocking into our personality and quite often have no idea about.
Shadow work, for me is working with these things to actively engage them, help to them to pass or better integrate with the life we are living, rather than have to wait for a very painful situation to emerge to even know they were there in the first place. Its to go looking for them, and then choose whether they aid us or not.These things can manifest as behavioral patterns, fears, dreams, fights at work, stress, you name it, something that is not fitting well in our day to day lives, as it's in our reaction to it that counts.
That covers what is shadow work to me.
Is this from a past life, this life or another life. Its from all lives, even before. They are all part of the same thing after all. On a scale of 1 - 10, - 6 or 7. It was higher but my work on my own ego and releasing fears reduced it a bit, but really all I managed to do was release the charge or triggers I had in relation to this latest manifestation of it. I find it hard to separate certain behaviors out for you, as they are all part and parcel of the same thing, and I am that thing :). I find myself becoming numb to it now, I don't know if that's healthy or not, or part of the process. There was a lady in the shop the other day, very powerful woman, spirit could have filled the room and just a moment with me when I engaged her about her work, she was getting massive emotional impacts just from standing opposite me.
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Thank you for taking the time to have a look at this and offer any suggestions. :)
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Permalink Reply by Bruxby on
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so, like when i personally have insomnia i just keep trying to go back to sleep and then i'm like nope that's not working so i write in my journal and surf the net to go face to face with my extra energy we just keep trying to do implosions.
lets start with the definitions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_(psychology)
then the effects:
http://biologyofkundalini.com/article.php?story=PitfallsonthePath&a...
then the work or methodology
http://biologyofkundalini.com/article.php?story=ShadowSabotageandSa...
and
http://kiloby.com/writings.php?writingid=263
personally from going to and through these things it seems to boil down to compassion and awakening to our conscious awareness and that is a personal journal that there can be outside help but the work is concentrated within.
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FYI: Nerd Alert! This ended up being long, but I can't help it, I geek out some times!
Bruxby, the links are wonderful. I bookmarked them; I anticipate using them many times in my future. Thank you for your insights and for turning me onto the knowledge in those links!
Mark, I too find visualizations challenging. I once heard (from the Dali Lama?) that Tibetan monks use a technique to strengthen this ability: place a picture of a simple mandala or image in front of you. Look at and study the image. Then, close your eyes and try to recreate the image through visualization. Open your eyes again and study the image. Compare it to your visualization. Close your eyes again and meditate while creating the image in your mind's eye. Practice holding the image and stabilizing it. Repeat as needed.
When a person is traumatized, the experience changes a person physiologically: an example is when fear produces hormones like adrenalin to be released, which causes the body, and especially the brain to change significantly. The longer that time passes between the experienced trauma and the resolution of the trauma, the more intractable and severe the corresponding symptoms and effects become. The personality will eventual start to change, among other things.
Think of trauma as a tree. For example, I had a client who had a bad bike accident at sunset. She became fearful of that time of day, of cars, riding a bike and fearful of being outside when it was dark out. The bike accident, the initial trauma was like the tree's roots. The roots grew into a tree with different branches: fear of the dark, cars, bikes, losing control, injury, etc. The longer she went without resolving this trauma, the bigger and stronger the tree grew and new branches started to grow: fear of going too fast, sudden movements, loud, unexpected noises, surprises, etc. If my client tried to resolve the trauma by dealing with her fear of surprises, and then her fear of bikes, she would be resolving traumas for awhile. I prefer to attack the roots, the bike accident. By resolving her experience of the bike accident, we resolve the whole tree, at once, rather than hacking away at a tree branch by branch. Some times traumas are not so easy to identify, so we go backwards to discover the roots. A nebulous fear may be indicated by a heaviness in a body part, which can be uncovered through further investigation. I can help you with that if you wish. For now, I want to give you some tools.
TWO PRACTICAL EXAMPLES FOR TREATING TRAUMA
A) I suggest tapping for mild to medium scale traumas. Google EFT (emotional freedom technique) tapping and pick a website you like. This: http://www.emofree.com/eft-tutorial/tapping-basics/how-to-do-eft.html is an example of what I mean by tapping. (I'm not endorsing this website. I'm not familiar with it. I'm linking to it only as an example, so you can research EFT if you chose to). It is a technique to manipulate 'chi' (Chinese word which roughly translates to 'life force') through tapping on the chi's meridian points which releases blocked/ trapped energy in the body. It is used to treat stress, trauma, fears, phobias, etc. I like it because it is simple and easy to learn and use. You can even modify your tapping regime to be used unobtrusively in public, to deal with panic attacks, for example. It is effective for managing symptoms (arguments at work, stress-related pains, etc.), but is, in my opinion, not a cure. It helps those who are living in great pain, to manage their day to day stresses.
B) For a real cure that I 100% believe in, there is EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). Not only is it a cure, but it is effective for the entire scale of trauma and is available to everyone. If you are in the UK, it should be free through the National Health, as all therapy is available (whatever bureaucratic hoops you must jump through would be well worth it). I have used EMDR to treat adults who experienced traumas in their infancy. These traumatic experiences were similar to yours, I think, in that they could be classified as 'shadows'. These were traumas that were experienced while in 'pre-verbal' infancy. In other words, the traumas, while very real experiences, were not verbally accessible to the person.
What is EMDR? EMDR is a therapeutic treatment for trauma which uses eye movements to trigger the brain to reprocess an event. Eye movements are used to force the brain into an healing/processing state ( in theory, mimicking a modified REM state). A person who has suffered catastrophic trauma(s), (ritual satanic abuse, child soldiers, etc), with the guidance of a certified EMDR therapist, can take their body through the traumatic event and reprocess the experience. EMDR is highly effective and there are certified EMDR therapists every where in the world. It can be used for phobias, nightmares, large and small traumas. If you are interested, I can talk about EMDR in greater detail.
TWO TREATMENTS FOR TRAUMA THAT ARE LESS ACCESSIBLE
A) Steve Richards is someone you may appreciate, Mark. He is an Australian Aboriginal healer who heals traumas of the spirit and soul. He does travel to the UK, but I classified him as being 'less accessible' because of his fee and location. I mention him because I think you will like his website, which is a great resource http://www.holographickinetics.net/. His site describes how 'looping time' heals traumas by closing the 'loop' of time. This places the person outside of time. There is a mathematical component on the site which explains how the manipulation of traumas affects time lines, and vice-versa. This model has given me a lovely context for how I understand the laws of the universe. I wish I was in Australia and had more access to this great healer's wisdom!
B) There are studies which state that hypnosis is effective as a treatment for trauma, but I have found it's effectiveness to be unpredictable and sporadic. It works for some people, some times, but not enough for me to use it to treat traumas. If you find you are able to be hypnotized easily, this may be a great solution for you.
Mark, on a personal note, I appreciate how you initiated a dialogue about your quest for freedom from your traumas. Your motivation is touching. I too have tried 'everything', from sweat lodges, Tibetan shaman, acupuncture, to talk therapy and finally EMDR. Even with an arsenal of tools at my disposal, it isn't fun or easy to stay motivated to work on things that are painful to deal with. Being numb is not part of the healing process; but ironically it is a coping response: a healthy, normal way of surviving the 'day to day' while living in great pain. It is your body's way of surviving, and of keeping you safe.
There are resources available to all of us, and I enjoy sharing these with you. I hope they give you hope and energy to 'face your shadows'.
I wish you all the very, very best.
ks
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Permalink Reply by Dolphina on
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KS
Heartfelt gratitude for the link to Steve and his holographic kinetics - I have just finished watching his 14 youtube clips and am eager to study more of his work as another tool to my kit for the work I do with abused and traumatised young people here in AU.
Smiles
P
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Hi Dolphina,
Bless your beautiful heart!! I understand he works with youth too! So, you have that angle in common. I'd love to hear more about your work, sounds really cool! Also, check out his shadowland voyagers interviews, on youtube. I'm really glad you were inspired enough to check him out.
all the best,
KS
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Thank you for this list KS meant a lot :). I had read these but not commented, I needed a few more pieces of the puzzle before being able to apply them. Now I am slightly more in touch with my emotions, it gives me some feedback not just a blank wall.
Tapping I believe requires me to have identified the root causes of the issues, but sounds like a method i'd be naturally attuned to, as I like working with energetics.
My dreams are, not something that can be healed easily. I've had someone I care about share them before and come out with bruises the next morning, they can be quite rough, as can all my families (as it's a shared thing). Entities and such like floating around in there are sometimes not pleasant, though mostly they have been addressed by spiritual healers literally walking into my dreams and helping. (Best to bring a dream structure of your own if you do that for anyone else)
Dreamhealing was a method I was trying more or less on myself without knowing the full techniques when I was last doing self work, as I wanted control/liberation of my dreamscape again.
I had however been seeking a shaman locally, with little luck, so many this is someone I can contact, thank you.
EMDR - I don't feel I'd qualify for. Emotional trauma I have suffered plenty of but little physical trauma, beaten up a few times but the only time physical trauma is in me that really hurts, is when I couldn't help my brother from being beaten up in front of me. Not been able to let go of that but that was an issue outside of childhood.
Please do talk about EMDR though :)
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Permalink Reply by Michelle Abbaszadeh on
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Mark,
I understand that you have trouble with visualization...so I say wear your shadow, build your mask, and walk in it's shoes for a day or an hour.
I did this once and it scared me. My shadow -Director of Everything
I walked around with a clip board, a whistle and my interpretation of order. and,,,, I turned it up x 5!!
I flagrantly told people how they were feeling what they were doing wrong and what to do to fix it.
I found myself alone with nothing to direct
Let me know how it goes...
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Permalink Reply by Terry Dika on
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Hi Michelle, try flagrantly telling the self , and let us know how it goes!
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Thank you for the idea :) I am not sure how much more i could turn it up though.
I wear my mask everyday, all day.
At the moment it's dense/hard, needing to have it's opinion defended as in childhood I had to shout for that every day and still never received acceptance for it. I have learned to identify that in every single person around me, that is constantly having their own opinion crushed and nullified, rather than accepted. It's going on everywhere. - I know what part of my childhood that is from.
My mask is logical first, needing to reason everything, needing to know and understand everything so much so that any other energy is diverted to that, and the experience itself blocked or stale. - I don't yet know which part of my childhood that is from.I ALWAYS tell me people what is wrong and how to fix it heh, thats me to a T. I always will keep that part of me though, as I find it lacking in most other teachers(people), not all thankfully now, it helps people time to time.
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I do shadow work,,,it is called PNRT, Progressive Neural Resolution Therapy,,I take you back to were the situation started address the part, give it a new job, voila, the subconscious part is no longer running the show. Now your innate conscious self can really be strong and do something, The most amazing and effective work I have found.
There can be layers of course, phobias can usually be done in one session!
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