Embracing the Shadow
The ever-changing energy of life itself is a shapeshifter, moving us in and out of every emotion, experience, challenge, and joy imaginable. Each stitch is weaved together to create the fabric of a full human experience.
While our egos yearn for stability, comfort, security and ease, the actual nature of life, of what it means to be a human, is always founded in duality.
We must experience the good and bad, the dark and light, the joy and suffering, to complete our journey here on Earth. There is a purpose for all of it, beyond what the mind may want us to feel or experience.
During times of great joy, it is easy to operate in our humanness. But it’s those times of pain, grief, challenge and confusion that present us with the greatest lessons — the teachings that make us grow, learn, adapt, and develop resilience of being and strength of spirit.
When the shadow work arises, it is vital to remember that we are not alone. Millions of people across the planet are moving through their own unique, personal shadows simultaneously. It is an incredible time to be alive, as humankind begins to realize that we need not accept pain as permanent, but use it to transmute and heal ourselves.
And when we heal ourselves, we heal the world. The ripple effect of doing our own work, confronting our shadows and coming to truth, is immeasurable.
Our inner world is a direct reflection of our outer world. When we learn to see challenge as an opportunity for growth and spiritual development, we begin to see that very truth reflected in those around us.
As shadow work arises, so does great pain. But when navigating pain, we have a choice. A tool is available to us, a gift from the Earth. A sacred plant whose sole purpose on the planet is to help heal the world.
Iboga.
Iboga does not simply take the pain away. It does not restore us to ease and joy without our own conscious choice to show up and do our part.
Many times, Iboga forces us directly into our pain, trauma, depression, grief, anxiety, PTSD, addiction. Without confronting our shadows, we can never truly heal. Anything other than directly diving into our pain merely acts as a band-aid. The wound remains just under the surface.
The energy of this powerful healing plant forces us — when in our daily lives our mind is too strong to allow us to feel — to dive deep into our shadow.
In nature, Iboga is a root. This root energy allows it to access the root of where our suffering began, so that we can address our healing at the core of disharmony.
This is true healing, deep beneath the surface. At the origin.
We do not need to move through our suffering alone, without tools. We have the opportunity to, quite literally, speed up the healing process at the hands of Iboga.
On our own, deep, core healing work can take years — even decades — to move through. But the depth of Iboga’s healing capacity is so great that this timeline can be trimmed significantly. Lives are continually transformed in the course of one 8-day retreat.
Outside of life itself — which is the greatest gift — Iboga is the most valuable gift we are presented with. It allows us to harness our true purpose, our limitless potential, and fully witness and take part in the gift of life — by embracing the shadow and growing through it, instead of allowing it to define us.
This is authentic transmutation. Our shadows are a gift as well. They are what propel us deeply into who and what we truly are. And when we discover these truths, we never go back. We can live in the light.
Adapted from a piece originally written by Deena for Iboga Wellness Center, where she acts as Creative Director and assists as a medicine provider whenever she travels to Costa Rica.