The term Shadow work was originally coined by Carl Jung, the founder of Analytical Psychology. He described Shadows as those parts of our personality that are placed in our unconsciousness because they do not correspond with the ideals that we have about ourselves. These can be qualities like anger, jealousy or sadness, sexual desires and also playfulness, joy and strength. Depending on which qualities were unwelcome in our social, personal and cultural upbringing, we exiled different qualities into our unconsciousness. For example, in our culture a girl is typically more welcomed to show her vulnerability than a boy, therefore, the boy will be more likely to take his vulnerability into his Shadow. The result of this is that he has less connection to that part of his personality. We all grew up to have shadows, because in every family certain aspects of ourselves were more welcome than others. 

The thing with shadows is that, even though they seem to be gone, they always influence our behaviour unconsciously. For example, the vulnerability that is expelled in the heart of a boy who learned to be ‘tough’, might express itself through rage when he is being insulted. Or, his shadow might express itself through obsessively seeking sexual attention as sex is his only way to experience his own lost ‘softness’. Moreover, the more we hide or suppress shadows, the more power they get over us. Therapists Connie Zweig and Steve Wolff write in their book Roaming the Shadow, that we can picture our whole personality as an enormous round table with many figures sitting at it. They all have their history, needs, and story to share. What happens if we ignore one of these figures for long enough? First, they try to speak up, but if that does not work, they will make some noise. More subtle at first, but if we don’t pay attention, they will stamp on the table or shout, if that does not work, they throw their chair through the room until we face them.