Dancing with Darkness: How to Reclaim Your Whole Self

“Shadow work is the way to illumination. When we become aware of all that is buried within us, that which is lurking beneath the surface no longer has power over us.” ~Aletheia Luna

For years, I believed healing was about transcending pain. I took the courses, read the books, learned every energy-healing technique I could find, and became a healer myself.

And for a while, I felt better. I had breakthroughs. My anxiety lessened.

My depressive episodes became fewer. But they never fully disappeared. Even after all the inner work, there were still days when I felt unbearably low. …

“Shadow work is the way to illumination. When we become aware of all that is buried within us, that which is lurking beneath the surface no longer has power over us.” ~Aletheia Luna

For years, I believed healing was about transcending pain. I took the courses, read the books, learned every energy-healing technique I could find, and became a healer myself.

And for a while, I felt better. I had breakthroughs. My anxiety lessened.

My depressive episodes became fewer. But they never fully disappeared. Even after all the inner work, there were still days when I felt unbearably low. Days and nights when my thoughts raced, full of fear and doubt.

I told myself that if I was truly healing, these feelings shouldn’t exist anymore. That if I was really evolving, I wouldn’t feel this way.

And worst of all, if I was a healer, how could I possibly still struggle?

Surely, I was doing something wrong.

I started questioning myself. Maybe I wasn’t “good enough” as a healer. Maybe I wasn’t doing enough inner work. MaybeI just wasn’t meant to be on this path.

So I doubled down. I meditated longer. Journaled more. Cleared my energy. Did affirmations.

And yet, the sadness still found me. The anxiety still whispered its fears. No matter how much I tried to fix myself, these emotions refused to leave.

It wasn’t until I stopped fighting my pain that something shifted. I realized I had spent years treating my emotions as something to get rid of. But healing isn’t about eliminating pain: it’s about becoming intimate with it.

So instead of suppressing my darkness, I sta