It was recently pointed out to me that I don’t often share with you, my beloved community, the profound magic & learning that happens at my training retreats, so here we go!
Two weeks ago I led a special training retreat for Advanced Facilitators to learn how to leverage Shadow and Archetype for greater healing and transformation in their retreats and workshops.
This particular training is one of my favorites and the growth in the room is always astronomical.
One of the reasons I teach this particular training is because I believe it is SO important for coaches, teachers, healers, and workshop leaders to have a firm understanding that in order for their clients to feel fully whole and complete, and in order for their clients to have access to all of their power….they MUST be willing to look at, embrace, and ultimately love ALL parts of themselves.
Not just the pretty parts. Not just the shiny parts. Not just the “acceptable” parts. ALL parts.
Too many people walk through their lives only accepting part of who they are.
Only accepting the “acceptable” parts.
They reject, vilify or ignore their anger or their grief or their destructive impulses or their competitiveness or their deep need of others…etc, etc.
But when you reject these “not-so-shiny” parts of yourself, you effectively stuff important parts of yourself into the shadows where they fester and morph into lower level energies that can’t be harnessed like jealousy and neediness and rage.
Also, when you reject these parts, you are more likely to abuse power or to self-sabotage.
And you never feel truly WHOLE, because you aren’t embracing the whole of who you are.
I never cease to be awe-struck by the women in the room when I lead them through the journey of reclaiming all of who they are, and when they learn how to do this for their clients.
The energy in the room is palpable.
The revelations are some of the most profound.
And the inspiration to go even deeper with their own clients gets activated.
From this last retreat, here are just a few examples of transformations I had the honor of guiding and witnessing (there were so many!):
- One participant reclaimed her deep, deep impulse and desire to want and need others to support her. She had spent the last three decades telling herself that she was too “needy”, and the result had been failed romantic relationships and distanced friends. Over the course of three days, she brought her “needy” Shadow out of the light and reclaimed it as a vital, healthy, powerful part of herself.
- Another participant looked at her jealous nature straight in the face. She was able to see how the jealousy stems straight from a part of herself she’s stuffed into Shadow: the part that wants to be bigger and bigger and more seen and visible. The retreat jump started her journey to embracing and reclaiming this very powerful part of herself.
- During our very sacred Grieving Ceremony, one participant went deep to finally unlock the blocked emotion she had had for over a year around the loss of a loved one. The blocked grief had been causing headaches, trouble focusing in her daily life, and a general feeling of dis-ease and stress. At the ceremony, she gave herself permission to feel her grief and to express it…and found a deep sense of calm, lightness and clarity on the other end of it.
- Yet another participant reclaimed her Seductress Archetype. She had abandoned this powerful energy inside of herself years before, and along with it she lost a certain life-force, passion, and self-possession that was associated it. The entire room watched in awe as we witnessed this woman re-active her Seductress and funnel the energy into her life and business.
Now, to be clear – while the three-days we had together were very potent, the work for these women isn’t done. The work we did together was actually just the very beginning in terms of the transformation, growth, and results that will come about if they continue to consciously work on their Shadows and Archetypes.
The training jump-started life-long work down this pathway.
For themselves. And for their clients.
Can you imagine how different the world would be, how different politics would be, gender issues, race issues, how we treat our children, etc., if we were all able to acknowledge and embrace our Shadows?
I feel honored and so lucky to be doing my little part in creating this new reality.
