Shadow is not evil; it is what we refuse to look at in ourselves, including our unlived lives.

Nervous-system language can help us understand ourselves, or help our ego avoid being meaningfully changed.

The body is not only something to calm; it is often psyche asking to be heard.

The nervous system is having a moment online. Scroll long enough on your chosen platform and you will find exercises and workbooks promising to regulate your nervous system sitting beside posts about vagal tone. As a psychotherapist who works daily with the unconscious and the body, I am glad people are getting curious about what lies underneath. Yet I am also uneasy, as much of nervous-system wellness culture seems to serve the very aspect of us that authentic inner work is meant to humble: the ego.

You have likely heard the language;

“That’s just my trauma response, and you’re dysregulating me.”“My body is keeping the score, and that person is a trigger for me.”

“That’s just my trauma response, and you’re dysregulating me.”“My body is keeping the score, and that person is a trigger for me.”

Comments like these are something Jung would have recognized immediately: shadow wearing the costume of self-care.

So, let me be clear: this is not a total takedown of somatic psychology. I love the body; for years, I deliberately sought out somatic clinical supervision because the body is where so much of the work comes alive.

Nervous-system language has given many people their first words for experiences that once felt shameful or unnamed, and that matters. The point is not to call anyone out, but to call all of us in, and to get curious about what our wellness habits might be protecting us from.

What shadow is, and what it isn't

For Jung, shadow was never simply a synonym for evil. This psychological........

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