Shadow Talk - Benefits of Shadow Work

Shadow work facilitates profound personal transformation by helping us integrate hidden aspects of ourselves for greater wholeness and authentic living. We explore how this practice enables real-time processing of emotions and helps us stop projecting our fears onto others.

• Shadow work provides tools for detaching from chaos without abandoning care
• When we observe rather than react, we break cycles of storytelling and catastrophizing
• Facing our shadows creates immunity to manipulation and fear-mongering
• Integration helps us discover hidden gifts and talents we've suppressed
• The process fosters communication between shadow and light aspects, creating internal harmony
• Shadow work transforms relationships by allowing true vulnerability and presence
• The benefits include greater self-love and calmer, more grounded daily living
• This practice isn't about transcending human experience but embracing it fully
• Different approaches (chakra-based, shamanic) can complement each other on this journey

Join us for a live event to continue your shadow exploration - check out www.granddaughtercrow.com for more information.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Shadow Talk Series
• 4:19 Benefits of Shadow Work
• 13:55 Processing in Real Time
• 22:40 Shadow Work and Global Awareness
• 28:06 Shadow Reveals Hidden Gifts
• 35:54 From Fragmentation to Wholeness
• 45:54 Continuing the Shadow Journey

Transcript

Granddaughter Crow : 0:00

Welcome to Belief, being and Beyond with your host, granddaughter Crow. Hey everybody, welcome to yet another episode of Belief, being and Beyond Shadow Talk series. I do we do really hope that you have been enjoying this series. This is going to be wrapping up this section of the series where we do end with a live. Check out wwwgranddaughtercrowcom for more information on the live event. I hope you guys can make it. Otherwise, we have with us Stephanie Michelle, the author of Chakras and your Shadow. Stephanie Michelle, the author of Chakras and your Shadow, and Jeffrey Gray, the author of all of the Ingresses and Portals and Journey work from my book Shamanism and your Shadow.

Granddaughter Crow : 0:57

This is Shadow Talk, and so at first we talked about, like, what is our personal experience, to kind of give you guys a little bit of a oh behind the curtain. And then oh, expanded it Like it doesn't only come from this lifetime. We went into history and DNA and even just being a female. And and then last time, oh gosh, last time, what did we go into? Just a beautiful talk about um. What did we go into?

Jeffrey Gray : 1:24

Just a beautiful talk about. What were we talking?

Stefani Michelle: 1:29

about last time Because you both erased it from your memory. You know I'm not going to be able to find it. I rely on telepathy to find things.

Jeffrey Gray : 1:40

I remember saying at the end of it that we did a really good job.

Stefani Michelle: 1:46

Right, right, right.

Jeffrey Gray : 1:46

I guess that was just a bow on it and just let it go Right.

Stefani Michelle: 1:51

I think it was about the books, the process of doing the shadow work. I got it.

Granddaughter Crow : 1:58

I got it, and so let me just, I'm just going to go into it, you guys.

Jeffrey Gray : 2:01

Okay.

Granddaughter Crow : 2:02

Okay, yeah, and then last time we talked about why did we approach shadow work from a chakra point of view and or shamanism, and it was just so beautiful because we approached it so that people can embody it and feel it, and it really kind of came out that you can't see your shadow because it's hidden in the shadow. So you got to sense it, and so we thought that we would go ahead and top this off with a little bit more of answering the question to you why would you do shadow work? What are the benefits, or some of the benefits, of doing shadow work? So we, once again, are going to do round robin. Who would like to kick us off? Stephanie, are you ready? You want to kick us off? Or Jeff, do you?

Stefani Michelle: 2:56

have something. Yeah, let's go for it, okay, okay. So I think that what we're doing right now is perfect timing in regards to the entire series, because for me and I know a lot of people that I've been talking to February and March of 2025 has been extremely intense. This year came in to strip away your fears, to strip away old behaviors and patterns, and it is making a scene, let's say, and things are changing. Things are extremely heavy and light all at the same time, and so, for me, if I hadn't done shadow work, if I hadn't been on this journey, this moment, especially the last two weeks, would have very different results than me being able to sit here and talk to you right now, able to sit here and talk to you right now.

Stefani Michelle: 4:09

There was a moment where I had to call my 79-year-old mother and ask her like, am I going to make it? And she said remember your tools. Remember your tools. And she said you. She reminded me, and one of the things that I talk about is your support system. You need to have a support system, and so, for me, I do have my mother and other people, but having a support system is not taboo, it's not bad. Doing shadow work actually enables you, it helps you, ask for help. I couldn't ask for help before. I couldn't call my mother, I would just crawl under a rock and, you know, turn everything off. But with what has been happening the last two weeks in my personal life, I have so many more tools where I can, you know, sit in the experience and, oh, I can't believe I'm going to say this word and detach from it. And the reason why that is such a a intense word for me is because for 45 years that has been the thing my mother has asked me to do. Please detach, please detach. And I thought that meant don't care. Oh, I did not understand until I did the shadow work, that that meant don't put yourself in the eye of the storm, don't put yourself in the chaos, don't take on everyone else's pain, be an observer, zoom out.

Stefani Michelle: 5:47

There was a part in my healing journey where I spoke loudly to God and I've shared this story a million times and he basically said nothing is real and I'm just using the general term that we all understand. But that was the conversation. Nothing is real. And I went through. What about my kids? What about you?

Stefani Michelle: 6:11

Know all these big, large experiences, and I remember when it was a 45 minute conversation and at the end of it I remember saying to him is my knee real? And he said, no, your knee is not real. Nothing is real, it's okay. And and in the moment of having that conversation and again, this was during the shadow work, this was during the healing it was a very scary, scary moment, but the effect of that moment has had on me, has been liberating, has been freeing, has enabled me to detach, has enabled me to go through the moments that I've had these last two weeks up until two hours ago, and see it from just a cycle, just an evolution of time, just a transformation, and not attach myself to any specific moment that is happening, because that attachment is what, for me, causes extreme frenzy, extreme chaos, extreme need to control. And I was able to release all that by doing the shadow work and continuing to do the shadow work.

Granddaughter Crow : 7:17

I absolutely love that because you know moreover to Stephanie's point, because you know, moreover to Stephanie's point you know, as sensitive people, as conscious people, we think that, oh, because I sense something, because I feel something, I need to go there and do this and do that. And so we always like attach immediately, as though it is that is what we are called to do, that's the call to action. But as you grow spiritually, you realize, becoming the observer, and you know, you care, but you're not like it is not moving you, you are observing it and there's a, there's a liberation. And in doing the shadow work, I absolutely agree with that Because for me, another one of the benefits of the shadow is kind of like what Stephanie was talking about these little voices in your head.

Granddaughter Crow : 8:16

That's like I should do this, I should do that, I'm supposed to, and a lot of these narratives, or these sounds in my mind, are based on an old story of survival and or persecution, so that I do or do not get in trouble, do or do not get in trouble, exactly. Sometimes I chose to you know, actually, but at the end of the day, the ability to also step back and observe those internal narratives and go, wait a second. That doesn't equal. That's old. That doesn't equal where I am right now, and let me show up and be present right now. Check what you have to say about the benefits of doing shadow work well, I couldn't agree more with you.

Jeffrey Gray : 9:03

Know what both of you you have have said with it. It's, you know, that self-reflection really needs to be. You don't need to be so judgmental with your when you're doing your self-reflection, you know, because everybody, everybody has these shadows. You know big shadows, dark shadows, huge shadows. Some, you know big shadows, dark shadows, huge shadows. Some people, you know some folks carry with them and, yeah, the detachment is, I think it's the ability to look at it with clarity of an observer. You know, that's true.

Stefani Michelle: 9:43

Yeah.

Jeffrey Gray : 9:44

And I think it's really important that we're doing we doing the work. I agree with the timing of this whole thing. There's a reason why here, why we're here. You know the reason why people are writing the books and why people are reading the books. And you know listening to podcasts and exploring, you know exploring the shadows of oneself. You carry this stuff in your heart. You know you got this heart medicine. What is it? Six feet. You know you've got that energy, the electricity.

Jeffrey Gray : 10:23

We said in one of the first I remember that this is going to be an electric conversation so you've got that and, uh, you share that with you. Share that with whatever is near you. You know dogs cue on that with us. That's one of the reasons why they're man's best friend, um, because they're, you know, they cue, cue on that, um, so this affects.

Jeffrey Gray : 10:46

You know, not everybody's going to do shadow work, right, but I think, with those of us that are aware, self-aware and willing to do that work, that hard work, it's going to combat, uh, the shared shadow consciousness that we deal with. That is so easy, you know. I mean, we're so easily manipulated through these things. You know, oh, I'm scared of this. Well, let's make a big deal out of what you're scared of and you'll vote for us. You know this, this type of of of mentality that's going on right now, and I think it's good, good, noble work for us to be doing and for anybody that you know that picks it up, and it's like I that is such a huge part of it also is that zooming out is not just for your personal situations, it is for global situations.

Stefani Michelle: 11:56

You can be able to see where the manipulation is coming from and you know what the truth is behind the screen of it all. I mean, it really has enabled me not to fall victim to the fear mongering on either side of the spectrum on anything that anyone says. I am able to not take things at face value, at just. You know the sensationalism of it and that is part of shadow work, absolutely. I'm glad that you brought that up. I think that's important.

Granddaughter Crow : 12:32

Me too, and you know so. One is that you're able to hear and see more clearly, not only with your internal voice, but with the global voice. Be aware. So I don't cast my shadow, my fears, my anxiety, my narrative onto other people, especially those that I love the most, you know, and then we're all in a frenzy. So doing shadow work helps you to see and hear and become aware.

Granddaughter Crow : 13:14

I would also like to add one more thing Again the flip side of all of that, not only the darkness and the fear and the slowing down. It also helps us to observe our gifts and treasures and talents, not only in ourself, but in others, and so what I mean by that is sometimes you get raised in a family that does not like people who write with their left hand right, and so you might be a left-handed artist, but because you are raised in a situation where you are writing with your left hand and they don't want you to, you're forced to learn how to write with your right hand, and now you're accepted. So, in a very weird way, you writing with your left hand is a part of your shadow. Now it's the hidden gift that you have, and so sometimes mining and doing this work brings out.

Granddaughter Crow : 14:10

I didn't. I do feel more comfortable writing with my left hand. In fact, it's not just the ABCs and one, two, threes and whatever language you speak, it is these glorious pictures that come through when I'm able to do something that I wasn't because I had to hide it because of the social construct of my childhood. So there's also the ability to see your shadow and your fear, not cast it onto others. See your gifts and your talents and also spot other people's gifts and their talents. I would say that's another huge benefit. It is yeah go ahead.

Stefani Michelle: 14:52

I was just going to say it absolutely is. It's very empowering, it's very clarifying and it is, in a way, you get to process in real time everything around you, and that I think that's just so beautiful. Sorry to cut you off, but yeah, I just couldn't agree more with everything that you're saying.

Granddaughter Crow : 15:12

It's like oh, and that kind of this process in real time is what I also want to kind of clarify or talk a little bit more, delve into. Because when you are able to observe, when you are able to see more clearly, because you see yourself more clearly, when both the fears as well as the gifts, when both the fears as well as the gifts, and then you are able to process in real time, aka be present in the situation, appreciate all of the beauty and the hardship and everything. The processing in real time helps me on a day-to-day activities. So doing shadow work does affect my day-to-day life and how I will stop myself and go wait.

Granddaughter Crow : 16:05

That was an old version of me. Let me be in real time, wait. That was this. Let me be present now. And the more that I am present, the more that I stop casting my shadow and fears and insecurities onto others like, oh my God, they must think that this or that it's just like they didn't even say anything. In fact, they're probably not even thinking about you. What are you doing? You know it changes. It changes the way that I approach all of my activities, not only approach people, but approach just household chores and my job being present because of that. So what daily benefits would you guys see that shadow work does?

Jeffrey Gray : 16:52

You guys yeah, I do, it's, you know, listening, listening to the conversation, it's calming, It'll calm, it'll calm shit down. You know, because all of a sudden you're that, you know. I mean, it's just natural, it's just it's, it's in our nature to go to that, because it's a fucking survival instinct.

Stefani Michelle: 17:26

Yeah, right.

Jeffrey Gray : 17:27

Yeah, it is, yeah it is, so it is natural. But yeah, you just, you know, I mean, if you're not throwing all that out out there and all of it in there and it calms you down, and it calms you down to be in the present, absolutely, you know, and go into that observer mode. Yeah, because you're not afraid right now. What you're afraid of is what you're imagining, or what you're afraid of is a repeat coming up. But you know from the past. But if you're just in the present, you know, you roll through life a lot calmer.

Stefani Michelle: 18:09

I love that. Yeah, that is so powerful that storytelling that we do is. It can make or brick your own spirit, because we are creating stories, we're holding. That's part of the attachment we're holding onto stories. Well, if it happened this way in the past, it's absolutely going to happen this way in the future and the present, and we just keep rolling with those stories.

Stefani Michelle: 18:32

I have my whole life been extremely reactive, extremely volatile, you know, got kicked out of high school for fighting, like one of those like extremely hostile, reactive, emotional. You know, if I'm sad, I'm angry, if I'm hurt, I'm angry If I'm all these things I just go able to do. And just had this moment this week again, I I could hear myself creating stories. I could hear myself just, you know, and then this must be happening, and then this must be happening, and then this must be happening. And then there was another side of me that was going you're creating that. You don't know if that's reality, you're hurt right now. And so all of these defense mechanisms, all of this security measures are coming up saying put everything out there, fight, fight, fight.

Stefani Michelle: 19:31

And for the first time in my life, I, my life, I, as the stories came up, I was going okay, that will start a fight, that will start an argument. Don't say that, don't say that. I knew I caught myself trying to instigate and I have never caught myself before, honestly, I just instigated. I need to fight. I'm feeling big emotions, I need to fight somebody and yeah, it was hard, but, man, I did it. And then there was one part where I did say something, but it was so small compared to the stories that were going on and for the first time in my life, I was able to say I'm sorry, I'm just hurt right now and so my mind wants to hurt you, and I know it sounds so immature that at 49, this is the first time I'm able to do that. But that's been a personal battle of mine and it's just amazing when you can turn that around and do it in real time and say you know, tell yourself you're safe, you're safe, you're safe right now. This is okay.

Granddaughter Crow : 20:46

Yeah, I'm going to ask one of those if the tree falls in the woods and nobody's around to hear it, does it make a sound? So this is just something to think about. Doing shadow work, for example, that what you just took us through that scenario of that, you were able to catch yourself because you realized that you were being reactive with your big emotions. Was it your light that showed you that you were being reactive or was it your shadow that taught you that you were being overreactive? Was it your light that was causing you to react and was it your shadow and learning about that that helped you go? Oh wait, I face my shadow. I create all these stories. My shadow is the wisdom keeper.

Granddaughter Crow : 21:38

Now you don't have to answer unless you have an answer, but what I want to do is slowly shift this paradigm of shadow means negative. That's the evil side of myself, when actually, the more that I do shadow work and the more that we get on these shadow talk conversations seriously this has been so beneficial, the more I'm just like don't be mean to the shadow. It's only here to bring you wisdom and help you. It's real, it's got reality, it doesn't lie to you. So I'm like on that end of this. And so you know, I'm just trying to slowly shift the paradigm within our thinking that maybe it isn't our shadow that is evil. Maybe it is bringing us these hidden aspects of ourselves to light in order for us to be more conscious. So, once again, I don't know if the tree makes a sound or not, you don't have to know. I'm just posing questions to help us shift our mental paradigm of thinking that shadow is evil. Michelle, what do you got?

Stefani Michelle: 22:48

I mean, yeah, Stephanie, michelle, what do you got? I have an answer for me that answers that, and I love that you asked that question For me. In those moments, the shadow and the light are communicating. They're talking to each other, they're friends. I am in wholeness. In that moment, before doing shadow work, I'm fragmented and there is a battle light versus dark and it is a war. But when you do the shadow work, it is a time of peace and they communicate. So for me, it's not at this moment doing the shadow work, it's not one side is talking while the other side is holding back. It's that they're finally working together and they're in harmony and they're in balance and they are in love with each other, with the self, with the wholeness, with being one. And that, for me, is the greatest gift shadow work can give you, as you become whole again instead of fragmented.

Granddaughter Crow : 23:54

That was my answer too.

Stefani Michelle: 23:59

I mean. I was going to say but you had to ask the question because I wouldn't have thought to ask the question. So again, we're working together.

Granddaughter Crow : 24:09

No, I love it. That actually makes a lot of sense. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, and you know it's. It's really interesting to me because doing shadow work not only benefits you, for me, it makes me. Let's just do one more round robin. How does it make you feel today after you have done shadow work, and will you continue in the future? So, for me, I will continue doing shadow work in the future.

Granddaughter Crow : 24:42

I am falling more and more deeply in love and in like with who I am. If you want to fall in love or in like with yourself and you're just like well, how is she doing that? I don't have time to do shadow work. Why don't you write down things that you love about yourself, like I love the way that my nose is, you know, or I love the way that I'm able to laugh at myself, or I love the way that I can do math or figure out what you love about yourself. But for me, doing shadow work makes me fall more in love with myself and it calms me down, like we were all saying, and it actually helps me to show those that I care about that I actually care about them, without like a bunch of worry and insecurities and defense mechanisms in between. I just show up in the present, so it helps me love better. I love it.

Jeffrey Gray : 25:49

Doesn't it Absolutely.

Stefani Michelle: 25:53

It does, it really does.

Jeffrey Gray : 25:55

Yeah, I I.

Stefani Michelle: 25:56

I've never been able to be vulnerable. I you know, not just yourself. Being vulnerable is a form of protection and we think the opposite of it. So, yeah, I agree with you that you get to show up authentically and vulnerably and still be safe.

Granddaughter Crow : 26:33

Are you going to continue to do shadow work?

Stefani Michelle: 26:41

are you going to continue to do shadow work? Oh, absolutely, oh, absolutely, oh, my goodness, I don't think the way that I have um created this routine, this momentum in my life. I can't turn that part of my brain off anymore. I can't ignore that. So that communication cycle is just permanently on and I will forever be refining how I show up I love it.

Jeffrey Gray : 27:03

I love it so funny because when you were talking, um, and you were saying you know you're able, you're able to speak, you know now and in a truth to yourself, and I thought, uh, that throat chakra no longer gets a lump in it, that suppressing the shadow puts there, you know, yeah, yeah. I think the question was are you going to continue to do?

Granddaughter Crow : 27:32

Like what benefits on a daily thing? Or like what do you? What do you if you found it? Are you going to continue?

Jeffrey Gray : 27:38

to do shadow work, absolutely, yeah, without you know, without a question. Like Stephanie said, you can't walk away from it once. Once you're once, once you're aware of it, it's going to, it's going to be there. You're going to carry that with you and I've just, yeah, absolutely, I love it. I wrote down a lack of reflection is a form of avoiding reality. You know which it is and I've always been, and it's so weird because you would think that you know, in the pagan community, you know you're hanging out with witches and all kinds of people, some of the most reality grounded individuals that I've ever met in my life. You know, because of that self-awareness, because of you know constantly peeling that onion, as they would say, to get to the core of yourself, so your magic will be strong and your spirit will be strong, you know, walking through the world. So, yeah, it's an empowerment.

Granddaughter Crow : 28:52

I love it. Oh, absolutely An empowerment. An empowerment. And so another thing that I want to bring up as we're still in the Shadow Talk series. If you have found this, whether you are following this in real time March, february, March 2025, or you find this two, five, 10 years down the road, and it's probably, I have a belief that says it's because it's time for you to investigate what that is. And so, as you investigate, let your heart be open and your curiosity be open to how do you want to approach shadow work.

Granddaughter Crow : 29:37

Stephanie Michelle has laid it out in the chakras, which is so beneficial, and she says you can read it from her book front to back, or choose your own adventure. What we have done is laid it out in a shamanistic worldview and and worked with animals and the natural world, and so you may kind of go well, which one should I do, when, in truth, they compliment each other and you get a figure out how you want to do it. For example, I do have a listener who is got my book for Shamanism and your Shadow and is going to go through that process, and as they go through the process, they're finding the animals that we introduced the shamanic animals, the raven, the snake, the owl and the wolf as literally holding their hand as they approach the shadow work. And then, after they're done with that, they're going to go into which, they just received your book in the mail, stephanie, about chakras and shadow work and they're going to go into keeping that like right there to go. Oh my throat, okay, let's do this. And so you can keep doing this and this and you can add I mean, there's astrology in your shadow to row in your set.

Granddaughter Crow : 30:55

I don't know if there really is a to row in your shadow. If not, maybe we should write that oh, priority information, priority information. Don't record that. You heard it here first. No, the the beauty is, there's so many ways to be able to approach your shadow, so let's do one last. Do you guys want to talk anything about? I mean, this is the awakening, enlightenment process through the darkness of the shadow, and not meaning the evilness, but the darkness of that which is hidden. Let's just kind of wrap it up. But if you want to say anything about the process of enlightenment and how the shadow work has helped with that, feel free.

Stefani Michelle: 31:44

Oh, there is. I was prepared for this question but we went into a beautiful direction that got me. I kind of said all of the points and the other answers, but I'll just kind of give you what I feel enlightenment is For me. It will never be a removal from a human experience I have that already when I'm not in this body.

Stefani Michelle: 32:14

We all, in my opinion I most of the time live in that space. For me, it is a blending of experiencing this life, experiencing this body, experiencing the physical attributes of this earth. We don't have these tangible things, at least not in my memory from where we come from. We don't have this. So enlightenment, again is a blending of that sacred space of being a human, of feeling joy and feeling sadness and not getting stuck in either of them, just allowing them to be part of this beautiful journey and knowing that it really is just a journey and we are forever going. I love that.

Granddaughter Crow : 33:11

I absolutely love that. What would you say in wrapping up the shadow talk, or do you need an extra minute?

Jeffrey Gray : 33:20

Just listening to the conversation, just kind of going with it, I forgot the question you know, because any last words words, um, yeah, you know I mean you gotta.

Jeffrey Gray : 33:38

You gotta do the tears as much as you do the laughter. And you know moments of in like, I've had moments that I felt were enlightening, um and uh, they were both. You know the deepest laughter that you could have and you know the most bitter tears that you can have. And it's an experience. Yeah, take advantage of it. You know we need to take advantage of what we have right now, where we're at, I mean, because you always have it, because you will always have it there's. You know, nobody's taking stuff out of our little biodome here that you know we call Gaia mother earth. You know it's, it's an existence. You were here before and you're going to be here after, and whatever form you take, you know it's it's that energy exchange, but it's yeah, enjoy it. And you know it's it's that energy exchange, um, but it's yeah, enjoy it. And you know you gotta, you gotta, it's gotta be bitter for you to laugh hard.

Jeffrey Gray : 34:47

You know I mean you've got to have that, and maybe it's just my personality, I don't know. I like the huge ups and downs.

Granddaughter Crow : 34:51

I love it. So, jeff, not only is a dark poet, he also does bonsai. Oh, yeah, yeah what is the saying before enlightenment.

Jeffrey Gray : 35:06

Oh yeah, it's before enlightenment chop wood haul water. After enlightenment chop wood haul water. After enlightenment chop wood haul water.

Stefani Michelle: 35:18

That's perfect, that is absolutely right. Of self abandonment, of experience, that you have to just sit somewhere in meditation all day long and be this peaceful, being 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and that's to me, abandonment of life. That's not, that's not experiencing it. I love that saying. Before enlightenment wood and water. After enlightenment wood and water.

Jeffrey Gray : 35:53

Yeah, chop wood and haul water.

Granddaughter Crow : 35:53

Chop wood and water after enlightenment wood and water. Yeah, chop wood and water. Chop wood and haul water.

Stefani Michelle: 35:57

After enlightenment chop wood and haul water right, and it's just that doing that becomes a different experience. When you're enlightened, it becomes an experience of um gratitude instead of an experience of labor. Yeah, I love that.

Jeffrey Gray : 36:16

I love that too.

Granddaughter Crow : 36:18

So thank you guys. Listen, you can text the show, you can drop comments. If you want to continue, or if you have a question that you think is going to stump us, please ask. Let's go there. Anyway, this wraps up at least season one of the Shadow Talk series. If you guys want more of this, please let me know. You can message DM Stephanie. Michelle, thank you so much for all of your voice and your vulnerability and your wisdom that you have shared with us through this.

Granddaughter Crow : 36:54

thank you for writing the book absolutely really appreciate that and, um, you guys, we love you, love you, love you, and I hope that you have a good day on purpose and we will see you on the flippity flip.