Shadow Work
Colette Baron-Reid & Dr. Bob Weathers (Part 2) – Humanizing Addiction, Sustaining Long-Term Recovery: Healing Effects of Trauma, Stigma & Shame, and Forging Lives of Connection, Service & Gratitude
Ep. 111 (Part 2 of 2) | Colette Baron-Reid and Dr. Bob Weathers shine a bright light on the big picture state of addiction in our fragmented culture today—how people have become addicted to disconnection, dissociation, and identifying as victims in addition to substance use and other more traditional addictions—as well as sharing the essential elements and practices that have made their sustained long-term recovery possible. Dr. Bob explains that the first step in addressing addiction is to humanize the conversation around it and why. Our tendency toward addiction is universal, embedded in human nature itself, for one. And research shows that people who have suffered childhood trauma are five to ten times more susceptible to becoming addicts—their stress threshold five to ten times lower than other people’s, their stress hormones five to ten times higher. Studies also show that addiction is the most highly stigmatized mental disorder of all. It is humbling to realize what addicts are up against, calling us to compassion, understanding, and action.
Both Colette and Bob are solidly grounded in long-term sobriety and deeply dedicated to helping others out of their suffering. Top down, intellectual information is clearly not adequate to sustain recovery—so what is? Spiritual connection, social connection, shadow work, healing shame, surrendering. As Colette says, “In recovery, you discover there is something greater than yourself, your pain, your story, and your limitations—this is the solace.” There comes a turning point when it stops being all about us, and the desire to serve arises. With service comes the all-important experience of belonging. As Bob relates, “It’s not just about not drugging or drinking—I want a vital life.” And what is missing on a global, universal level? Again, connection and community. Recorded August 28, 2023.
Read MoreColette Baron-Reid & Dr. Bob Weathers (Part 1) – Humanizing Addiction, Sustaining Long-Term Recovery: Healing Effects of Trauma, Stigma & Shame, and Forging Lives of Connection, Service & Gratitude
Ep. 110 (Part 1 of 2) | Colette Baron-Reid and Dr. Bob Weathers shine a bright light on the big picture state of addiction in our fragmented culture today—how people have become addicted to disconnection, dissociation, and identifying as victims in addition to substance use and other more traditional addictions—as well as sharing the essential elements and practices that have made their sustained long-term recovery possible. Dr. Bob explains that the first step in addressing addiction is to humanize the conversation around it and why. Our tendency toward addiction is universal, embedded in human nature itself, for one. And research shows that people who have suffered childhood trauma are five to ten times more susceptible to becoming addicts—their stress threshold five to ten times lower than other people’s, their stress hormones five to ten times higher. Studies also show that addiction is the most highly stigmatized mental disorder of all. It is humbling to realize what addicts are up against, calling us to compassion, understanding, and action.
Both Colette and Bob are solidly grounded in long-term sobriety and deeply dedicated to helping others out of their suffering. Top down, intellectual information is clearly not adequate to sustain recovery—so what is? Spiritual connection, social connection, shadow work, healing shame, surrendering. As Colette says, “In recovery, you discover there is something greater than yourself, your pain, your story, and your limitations—this is the solace.” There comes a turning point when it stops being all about us, and the desire to serve arises. With service comes the all-important experience of belonging. As Bob relates, “It’s not just about not drugging or drinking—I want a vital life.” And what is missing on a global, universal level? Again, connection and community. Recorded August 28, 2023.
Read MoreConnie Zweig (Part 2) – Meeting and Healing the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: An Essential Practice for Awakening, Growth, and Healing
Ep. 80 (Part 2 of 2) | Connie Zweig, award-winning author, depth psychologist, master shadow guide, and longtime contemplative practitioner asks some good questions—and answers them too, with unusual clarity and deep insight born of long experience and a cutting-edge mind. Why is it that we meet darkness on the spiritual path? What do we banish into the shadow? How do we reclaim what we project onto charismatic leaders? Learning to recognize and resolve the shadow is a powerful practice, and one that is all too often overlooked in a time when psychology is focused on objective approaches, neglecting the fact and force of the unconscious. Cultivating shadow awareness, we can begin to look beyond projections and stereotypes, recognize the risks of black and white thinking, and learn how to reclaim what Carl Jung called the “unlived life.” Connie discusses the psychodynamics between spiritual student and spiritual teacher, and other situations where people have disproportionate power over others, shining a bright light of illumination on the nuances and complexities of these relationships.
This is an intimate look into the challenges of the spiritual path, where we need both psychological practice and spiritual practice to advance our awakening, and a very relevant, timely conversation with shadow currently erupting in our culture in epidemic proportions. Connie’s dedication to helping people find their way through the dark nights we inevitably experience on our spiritual journey comes through strong and clear. Her authenticity, caring, and wisdom is palpable, inspiring us as to how the lights really go on when we start to see the dynamics of our inner world and relationships with more nuance, deeper insight, and shadow awareness. Recorded April 5, 2023.
Read MoreConnie Zweig (Part 1) – Meeting and Healing the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: An Essential Practice for Awakening, Growth, and Healing
Ep. 79 (Part 1 of 2) | Connie Zweig, award-winning author, depth psychologist, master shadow guide, and longtime contemplative practitioner asks some good questions—and answers them too, with unusual clarity and deep insight born of long experience and a cutting-edge mind. Why is it that we meet darkness on the spiritual path? What do we banish into the shadow? How do we reclaim what we project onto charismatic leaders? Learning to recognize and resolve the shadow is a powerful practice, and one that is all too often overlooked in a time when psychology is focused on objective approaches, neglecting the fact and force of the unconscious. Cultivating shadow awareness, we can begin to look beyond projections and stereotypes, recognize the risks of black and white thinking, and learn how to reclaim what Carl Jung called the “unlived life.” Connie discusses the psychodynamics between spiritual student and spiritual teacher, and other situations where people have disproportionate power over others, shining a bright light of illumination on the nuances and complexities of these relationships.
This is an intimate look into the challenges of the spiritual path, where we need both psychological practice and spiritual practice to advance our awakening, and a very relevant, timely conversation with shadow currently erupting in our culture in epidemic proportions. Connie’s dedication to helping people find their way through the dark nights we inevitably experience on our spiritual journey comes through strong and clear. Her authenticity, caring, and wisdom is palpable, inspiring us as to how the lights really go on when we start to see the dynamics of our inner world and relationships with more nuance, deeper insight, and shadow awareness. Recorded April 5, 2023.
Read MoreRobert Masters (Part 2) – Becoming Intimate with All That Is: A Terrifying Psychedelic Experience and the Transformative Power of Opening to Fear, Grief, and Vulnerability
Ep. 51 (Part 2 of 2) | Robert Masters, psychospiritual guide, shadow work expert, and author of Spiritual Bypassing and To Be A Man, tells the story of his life-shattering psychedelic experience with DMT, from which it took 9 months to recover. Following this experience, Robert found himself transformed in many ways, heart broken (not just open but broken), embracing ordinariness instead of the limelight, attuned to his own mortality, and intimate with all that is. Here, Robert shares about how to learn from such an experience, how to unseat fear from its place of power, recognize grief’s wisdom, and the always-important need to turn into our pain—under all conditions at all times.
Robert Masters also talks about men’s work: the need for men to reclaim their integrity as well as be vulnerable in relationship; include heart in their anger; and sexuality, shame, and how to outgrow porn habits. And our existential metacrisis. Can we become a species reborn in a good way as we confront our current challenges? This conversation blends psychotherapeutic brass tacks with transcendent insights into the nature of reality and opening to the divine mystery. As Robert says, “If there was a time for waking up, this is it.” Recorded August 17, 2022.
Read MoreRobert Masters (Part 1) – Becoming Intimate with All That Is: A Terrifying Psychedelic Experience and the Transformative Power of Opening to Fear, Grief, and Vulnerability
Ep. 50 (Part 1 of 2) | Robert Masters, psychospiritual guide, shadow work expert, and author of Spiritual Bypassing and To Be A Man, tells the story of his life-shattering psychedelic experience with DMT, from which it took 9 months to recover. Following this experience, Robert found himself transformed in many ways, heart broken (not just open but broken), embracing ordinariness instead of the limelight, attuned to his own mortality, and intimate with all that is. Here, Robert shares about how to learn from such an experience, how to unseat fear from its place of power, recognize grief’s wisdom, and the always-important need to turn into our pain—under all conditions at all times.
Robert Masters also talks about men’s work: the need for men to reclaim their integrity as well as be vulnerable in relationship; include heart in their anger; and sexuality, shame, and how to outgrow porn habits. And our existential metacrisis. Can we become a species reborn in a good way as we confront our current challenges? This conversation blends psychotherapeutic brass tacks with transcendent insights into the nature of reality and opening to the divine mystery. As Robert says, “If there was a time for waking up, this is it.” Recorded August 17, 2022.
Read MoreThomas Hübl (Part 2) – Healing Collective Trauma: We Are All Shareholders in a Traumatized World
Ep. 25 (Part 2 of 2) | Thomas Hübl, renowned spiritual teacher, author, expert on collective trauma, and creator and facilitator of The Collective Trauma Integration Process, shares fascinating, life changing information about the dynamics of collective trauma—how it is embodied and perpetuated in the language we use, and how we are bound together in a sort of “mutual collusion” that predisposes us to repeat our past, and to repeat over and over the things we would much rather leave behind. With remarkable insight and wisdom garnered from years of study, exploration, and effectively working with large groups to integrate collective shadow, Thomas also explains how we can create space for a new future by metabolizing the suffering held in both our personal and collective unconscious and making awakening and spiritual clarity the indubitable priority of our lives. Recorded at the Science and Nonduality Conference, October 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater.
Read MoreThomas Hübl (Part 1) – Healing Collective Trauma: We Are All Shareholders in a Traumatized World
Ep. 24 (Part 1 of 2) | Thomas Hübl, renowned spiritual teacher, author, expert on collective trauma, and creator and facilitator of The Collective Trauma Integration Process, shares fascinating, life changing information about the dynamics of collective trauma—how it is embodied and perpetuated in the language we use, and how we are bound together in a sort of “mutual collusion” that predisposes us to repeat our past, and to repeat over and over the things we would much rather leave behind. With remarkable insight and wisdom garnered from years of study, exploration, and effectively working with large groups to integrate collective shadow, Thomas also explains how we can create space for a new future by metabolizing the suffering held in both our personal and collective unconscious and making awakening and spiritual clarity the indubitable priority of our lives. Recorded at the Science and Nonduality Conference, October 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater.
Read MoreConnie Zweig – The World Needs Elders: How Inner Work Transforms Aging into a Developmental Process, a Life Culmination, and a Gift
Ep. 19 | Connie Zweig, Ph.D., Elder, award-winning author, and Shadow expert, has provided us with a rare gift in her recent book, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul. Upon discovering there was a surprising lack of any information, resources, or even language with which to contextualize the inner work of aging and the crucial rite of passage to elderhood, Connie has given us just that. In this conversation, we come face to face with our own inner ageist shadow character and we learn that if we do the inner work, we can make the all-important shift from doing to being, let go of our roles, begin to identify with our spiritual nature, and open the door of our awareness to further developmental stages. Rather than becoming seniors in decline, Connie illuminates who we can become as elders. “The world needs elders now: for their compassion, their gratitude, their generosity, their skills, their shadow awareness, and their spiritual development. The world is starved for this nourishment.” Recorded on October 6, 2021.
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