Shadow Work is the practice of acknowledging and accepting one's Shadow Self, ​and then eventually allowing that acceptance to heal and grow you spiritually. The 'Shadow Self', or sometimes referred to as 'the ego', is the dark and often times discarded parts of ourselves that we push deep down. It's all the junk that gets swept under the consciousness rug because it's too uncomfortable or painful to accept or deal with. Things like fear, hurt, regret, anger, embarrassment, even certain desires are usually prevalent in the darkest parts of our psyche. At face value, that's a dangerous can of worms one would obviously never try to open. But, can of worms or not, the Shadow Self is still a very real part of all of us and continuous denial and suppression can cause very real damage to our lives.