What is Shadow Work?. Beccy Golding meets Marianne Hill, certified Shadow Work coach and group facilitator What do you do?
I support people to explore deeply held emotions that they may usually repress or deny – their ‘Shadows’. Trauma can be released and resolutions found, leaving people feeling more comfortable with themselves and able to access positive value in parts of their self that may previously have felt negative.
What does a Shadow Work session look like?
The first session lasts for 5 hours - we identify a clear and specific want for the session and take a family history. The next three hours are spent on Shadow Work proper. This happens on a carpet in the centre of the room, which represents the person’s inner world. The person uses coloured cloths to symbolically represent different parts of themselves - stepping on to the carpet and ‘inhabiting’ these different parts and speaking and acting from them - exploring them in order to build up a picture of what is going on inside them. Once all the parts have been represented on the carpet we look at what changes the person would like to make to the picture, and find a way to make these happen.
What brought you to Shadow Work?
I was struggling with ongoing emotional difficulties that I had as a result of events that occurred in my childhood. Although I had no idea what Shadow Work was I went on a weekend workshop. I will never forget the experience of being facilitated by people who were brave enough to face my trauma with me, and to explore these events openly and calmly.
A misconception is....that it is possible to
make something worse by exploring it. In my experience this is not the case. Things that feel
frightening or overwhelming often only do so because we are unable to discuss and feel them fully. Looking directly at something that we would rather avoid can actually take the power out of it.
Something that might surprise you about what I do is… we have a lot of fun!
When people remove the blocks to expressing difficult emotions they often find that joy is freed up too, and deep happiness can come from exploring your shadows and feeling freer and more relaxed and at home in yourself.
What I’ve learnt about myself is… to be happy I don’t have to change myself, I just have to embrace more of who I really am, and be able to rest comfortably in that.
If others want to do this I’d say…being
a Shadow Work facilitator isn’t for everyone, it’s enormously challenging, as it involves exploring your own shadows in depth, but if you’re up for it then it’s a rich and exciting journey and hugely rewarding.
Sessions last 5 hours (a two hour introductory session is available if required) £35 - £50 per hour. Group weekend workshops £295. Six-month Shadow Work journey £495 www.ShiatsuAndShadowWorkBristol.co.uk MarianneHillShadowWork@gmail.com 0117 9411012 ffi: www.ShadowWork.com
A Homeopath speaks... Beccy Golding meets Mani Norland, Homeopath & Principal of the School of Homeopathy What do you do?
I’m an integrated healthcare professional, a teacher, and principal at the School of Homeopathy, the oldest homeopathic school in the UK. I help look after a team of around 50 faculty members and 500 students. I endeavour to help people live life in balance, gain greater self-awareness, understand what it means to be healthy, and what we can learn from dis-ease. I celebrate the unique, the odd and the creative, whilst looking after the whole, staying connected to nature and living in balance.
What are the myths & misconceptions? Homeopathy is the second largest system of medicine in the world today, used by 1 in 8 people in the UK, 1 in 3 in Europe. It is an exciting profession to work in - homeopathy is a medicine at the cutting edge of science. We know homeopathy works but the healing mechanism is not yet fully understood by science, because of this it is often stated that it is nothing more than placebo and there is no scientific proof for homeopathy. However, this is untrue. In fact, there is a large and growing evidence base for homeopathy including double blind randomly controlled trials that demonstrate homeopathy works and beyond the placebo effect. To find out more just visit these sites:
homeopathy schools with students in over 80 countries and partners in Japan and China.
I know it’s been a good day when… one
of my patients feels so well that they forget the main reason they came to see me in the first place.
If I wasn’t doing this…I’d be a
human doing, not a human being.
If others want to do this I’d say…
“Go for it, if you are ready! It will transform you and your life for the better. Learning about the world, what it means to be human, yourself, health and disease is completely enlightening”. www.homeopathyschool.com 01453 765 956
www.britishhomeopathic.org/research www.homeopathyevidencecheck.org/index.htm www.findahomeopath.org.uk
Homeopathy Clinic: Initial 90min consultation £60, follow-up consultations £35.
Something that might surprise you…
School of Homeopathy: Home-study and college attendance available, from beginner to practitioner level. Next college course starts September 14 in Stroud.
is that my father started the School in 1981 and, from small beginnings, we have grown to become one of the world’s most respected
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