[2019] Shadow Work InVivo
Shadow work is a term used to describe exploring and acknowledging the hidden motives of our behaviour, those aspects that we tend to deny or suppress. The understanding and integration of our shadows require a depth of self-reflection that can only be processed ‘in vivo’ (in life) as opposed to ‘in vitro’ (external to us).
Dr Gabor Maté, a physician and world leading trauma specialist, urges us to grasp that the roots of our behavioural logic (whether accurate or misplaced) are stored in the earliest developing part of our brain. These life-directing systems cannot be accessed through engaging prefrontal-thought characteristic of adulthood. In other words, you can’t ‘think’ yourself out of misplaced beliefs and the child-like logic of what kind of behaviour that gets our needs met. Delving to that level awareness requires us to sit with the subconscious and to somatically feel into it. Only by exploring ‘in vivo’ can we truly understand and integrate our shadows, unlocking our full potential as human beings.
Dr Gabor Maté, a physician and world leading trauma specialist, urges us to grasp that the roots of our behavioural logic (whether accurate or misplaced) are stored in the earliest developing part of our brain. These life-directing systems cannot be accessed through engaging prefrontal-thought characteristic of adulthood. In other words, you can’t ‘think’ yourself out of misplaced beliefs and the child-like logic of what kind of behaviour that gets our needs met. Delving to that level awareness requires us to sit with the subconscious and to somatically feel into it. Only by exploring ‘in vivo’ can we truly understand and integrate our shadows, unlocking our full potential as human beings.