A comprehensive guide to identifying and reclaiming your shadow. Throughout our lives we
repress and deny the parts of our authentic selves that our families peers and the world told
us were wrong unlovable or “too much ” and from this repression our shadow is born. By the
time we reach adulthood much of our authentic self is shadow. The connection we once had to
who we truly are has been severed and we no longer feel vibrant and enthusiastic about life.
In this practical and trauma-informed guide to deep shadow work Mary Mueller Shutan explains
how to find compassion for your dark side reconnect with the repressed and abandoned parts of
yourself and reclaim the resiliency and joy of your authentic whole self. She reflects on the
positive protective role of the shadow and describes how it is composed not only of the trauma
and darkness we have experienced but also the light we have yet to absorb. She explains how
your reactivity to specific people and situations—your “triggers”—reflects your own pain and
the ways you project your shadow onto others and the outer world. Presenting a wide variety of
shadow work tools and emotional intelligence exercises the author teaches you how to identify
your shadow projections and safely and skillfully work with the difficult emotions that may
arise during shadow work. As you discover and understand more of your personal dark places
the author then introduces the concept of collective shadows that are created by society yet
affect us individually including online shadows and relationship shadows. She explains how to
identify and free yourself from the projections of collective shadows to promote individual and
collective health. Offering a self-directed process for healing trauma and reclaiming the
eclipsed light of your shadow Shutan shows how shadow work allows you to move beyond the
restrictions you’ve placed on yourself and others and see the beauty inherent in the dark
places of the self.
