Shadow Work | Inner Work: How Thoughts Effect Your Energy Field with Cassandra Shofar
Hello. Hello. JJ DiGeronimo here. Thank you so much for joining Together We Seek. As you know, I love to bring forward practitioners, healers…and energy workers that I've met along my path, and I'm so excited to have Cassandra Schofar with me. Cassandra and I met through a mutual friend, Lori, and I have been to one of Cassandra's…retreats. And, we have some other things planned here in the future, and I'm so honored to introduce her to all of you. Hi, Cassandra. Hi. We had so many topics to talk about. there's so many things that you've done in your life that I absolutely love. Not only are you a professional counselor, but you also are EMDR, certified, where you help a lot of people with anxiety, trauma , PTSD. but then you have your a lot more spiritual work that you've done. Not only have
you done, but But then you have your a lot more spiritual work that you've done. Not only have you taught and participated at Lily Dale, one of my favorite places, but you've also worked with, James Van Proulx. I did his, his spiritual healing certification program. Yeah. I love him. I have so many of his oracles, and, I just you just bring such a nice mix of really the clinical and the spiritual. And we decided to talk about shadow work, which Mhmm. I think is so interesting because no one ever just wants to talk about shadow work. So I love that you really leaned into that. And I guess before we start, can you just share a little bit about how you describe shadow? Sure. So, I guess in order to do that, I'm just gonna talk a moment about its origins. so the concept of the shadow essentially came from this Swiss psychotherapist
Carl Jung. Some people may be familiar with him already, but, he kinda coined that term. And…he believed…that the shadow essentially represented the part of our human psyche that we generally tend to hide, or the parts of us that we repress, or we, kind of mask, right, from the rest of society…and so, a lot of people who might be familiar with shadow, they think of shadow, they think maybe feelings that are negative, emotions that are negative, shame, guilt, you know, jealousy, insecurity, stuff like that. But the shadow also encompasses, like, desires that we have that we don't…we don't, express, desires, dreams that we have, things that we wish we could express or that we yearn to experience or express from one reason or another, whether it's…social conditioning, culture, judgments, etcetera, or fear of judgment, we, like, kind of hide, so I agree with Carl Jung on his take on it. Like, that's how I view the shadow as well. It's sort of a mix of those things.
Carl Jung, believed, like, if you can learn to connect with these aspects and integrate them in with the light aspects, the parts that we do express and show to everybody in our world, that then we are living our ourselves in a whole holistic way. Like, we're living fully versus only, like, half of ourselves, essentially, if that makes sense. Yeah. So it's not really something that you should push away or hide, but you should actually bring it in, integrate it. Yeah. I think that can be scary to a lot of people. Like, oh, no. I don't wanna talk about what makes me feel inadequate or insecure. So how do you suggest people start to even talk about their shadows or even recognize their shadows? So I knew a lot of people in my life who were dealing with a lot of…medical and health issues. Right? Whether I knew that they were, and this is past tense. Some of them have since passed away, unfortunately. Or people who are ongoing, like, have health concerns, and challenges right now. So I was exploring disease…and…what causes it, right, From an energetic perspective and an energetic lens. And so, as we've heard at this point, I feel like there's now a lot more proof scientifically that what we think impacts our body. Where we put our attention impacts our body. Right…
And so when I'm thinking about disease, I'm thinking, okay, you know…where's the disconnect? Right? Where's the disconnect that leads to disease physically? because when you trace it back, it comes down to disconnect. Right? When we think about mitochondria supporting the cells in our body, and if they don't connect and they're not communicating anymore, then our cells become rogue and we know where that goes. Right? So all of that ties back to connection and communication. And, so, when I was thinking about all that, I was thinking, okay…
when we only focus on the light, right, we're thinking…oh, if I just focus on these good things, that's what I'm gonna manifest. Right? But what I think people don't always realize, and this was a light bulb moment for me, when you don't acknowledge the dark or the uncomfortable, right, you were sort of inadvertently or in this, like, backdoor way, you're giving it power. So you might be thinking I'm only focusing on the light. Right? So that's all that I'm gonna manifest. But you're also actively avoiding, whether it's consciously or subconsciously, covertly or overtly, like, you're avoiding…connecting with…these other aspects of yourself, and they're in all of us. Right? So…
that to me is the root of this work. And I think it starts by…recognizing your shadows. What are they? Starting to actually face them and look at them, and see if you can even start to dialogue with them. But, you know, I always start small. So, like, for me, I would just start meditating, and suddenly, I would picture myself…
looking at a dark corner. I had an image of a big, huge elephant in the room. I was kind of going off of that concept. That's just standing in the dark corner of the room. And can I just look at it? And can I just…observe it? I don't even need to dialogue with it or connect with it yet. So starting small and then seeing if you can gradually start to dialogue with these shadow aspects of yourself…
engage with them…this is gonna sound really weird, but I saw this recent interview with David Duchovny, of all people. And he was talking about, giving advice to, like, young actors, you know, and he he mentioned the shadow self. And he said, you know, don't be afraid of the dark. That is where the riches are. And, like, that hit me because…that's what I've found is that the shadows are not to be feared, and, actually, they can be integral…to understanding so much of who we are and, what drives us. And, even fear, on the other side of fear is love. Like, when you look at what you're afraid of and you trace it back, it's usually that you're essentially, afraid of maybe losing something. And you're afraid of losing something because you love it. Right? So, I feel like that's where the riches are. And the more you start to dialogue and ask what your shadows want to say, because they just want to express something, just like our light selves want to express something. And if you can ask them what they are here to say, that's the process to begin starting to integrate them. And then those those are the riches.
and then you are…I say this lightly, but, like, it's not like you're taking power away from them at that point. I just feel like a lot of our emotions are messengers. They're giving us information. And once we hear the information, like, they do generally tend to fade, and…they don't feel so like they're hooked into us anymore. and so I feel like that with the shadows, if you can bring them into the light, and start to accept that they are a part of you, and love them…That's the other thing too with this work for me. It's recognizing that…there's so many aspects of myself, and I'm sure a lot of people can relate to this, where once you realize these parts of yourself you haven't been acknowledging are there, you realize, Oh my gosh, I've literally been…cutting off…love, like a supply of any type of love to this part of myself for most of my life. Deny parts of myself…
attention and love that are a part of us. And so it's starting to bring those out of the corner and bring them into the fold. is that making sense? Yes. It makes sense. I just wanna break it down for people that maybe aren't doing the work yet. Mhmm. You know, shadow work, from my experience and what you're describing, it's could be something that happened to you. Mhmm. It could be something that you did. It could be something that you have carrying with you. It could be a story. It could be an experience. It could be…
oh, it just could be energy that you're holding on to. Maybe you were just an observer of a situation happening. And I think for a lot of us, sometimes we don't even know where those shadows sit. And I've met with over a hundred energy practitioners, and that's why I started this podcast because I found so many great people that have done their own work first and now illuminate the path for others, very similar to yours. Mhmm. So I feel like if you don't know where to start…
how do they what if they're like, well, I kind of don't have a great relationship with this person or this happened to me as a child or I experienced this. And they're like, and I try to connect with it, but nothing happens. What do you think they should do? So I feel like, yeah, there's so many entry points to this work. Right? So it is kind of figuring out what is gonna be the thing that resonates with you the most. I mean, I first started exploring this when I was training to become a yoga instructor. Right? So there's yoga principles that talk about, you know, when you get triggered by something going on with somebody else, it's likely because it's in you. Right? And so it's it's the practice of starting to look inward, when something comes up for you. But that was my first access one of my first access points. But, you know, then I started reading books about shadow work. I mean, Carl Jung, you can read a lot of his work.
so books, definitely, there's lots of resources out there if you're sort of a self starter with things like this. But, if you're not having any luck on your own, then, yeah, you probably would benefit from having somebody as a guide of some sort. so you would want to look for people who do this work, whether they're an energetic practitioner who does shadow work, specifically, like, focuses on that area or that's one of the areas. you know, licensed clinical mental health counselors, do this kind of work…EMDR is another access point, you know, because you are that is also a somatic. Like, you're connecting with your body and understanding where emotions are in your body. it's a very body connecting process, that can be very also enlightening to, like, where things are stored in your body. you know, workshops, you can do searches to see, like, you know, my good friend, Lori Spivey, and I have done a couple workshops.
we focus on shadow work, and, hopefully, we'll continue to do that. So, you know, workshops, retreats, energy practitioners who work specifically with this aspect. Anything anybody who does somatic work also is would be beneficial. there's just so many ways to get into it. It's kind of finding might be a little trial and error, but it's finding, like, what resonates…I think that's beautiful. And so I'm sure you didn't just wake up one day and be like, okay. I'm gonna take all these pieces and parts that I've sort of gathered along my path, certifications, experiences…and I'm gonna do shadow work. So, like, how does shadow work…
become front and center for some of the work that you're doing…I think for me…so a friend of mine…passed away…last year…it it felt very unexpected…and…this person was in energy work and in that field and…was all into health and wellness and all the stuff, and…still got sick…and ultimately died because of that. Yeah. So that hit me really hard. and that was the catalyst for me. Even though I had already been doing some of this work, I it was kinda like in fits and starts. I would do it a little bit, and then life would come in, and I'd focus on elsewhere. But that really kinda hit in a way that, I was unable to ignore. And so for me, that was the catalyst. I think for people in general, it's you I hate to say this, but this is just how we are as humans. Like, we have to generally hit some type of rock bottom and or just be have something get enough of our attention that we recognize it's it needs our it needs our focus. Right? So whether it's an illness physically or it's something you know, a bunch of situations going on in in our lives that are really, like, painful,
or challenging. But…those are the catalysts. So I think for me, it it happened to be this person…passing away, and it hitting me in a way that I was like, okay. What can I what can I gain from this? Because this person only focused on these positive things…And…what's there? Is there something there that I can get and understand? And that's when all this information came in about…
avoidance and how powerful that can be, if and how if we can only…start to connect with the things we've been avoiding, like, that might be the true path to wellness or wholeness. Right? So yeah. Powerful. Yeah. Powerful…
Tough lesson, though. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That's rough to see firsthand, but…the lesson that came through is so powerful…Yeah. It was. I mean, I feel like it was maybe, like, you know, when you think about gifts that come from sadness or grief or loss, like, that I definitely view as a gift that came from it…
Yeah. Yeah. I definitely think the crossroads is step one or phase one of your spiritual awakening. The cross roads provide the doorways. They provide the opportunity if you don't get too stuck in, like, this has happened to me, that victim mindset. You know, being able to step back and step out is such a gift to be able to do that. And having people show you how to do that or innately knowing from within is so powerful. And I think it's amazing the work that you're doing. Can you tell us a little bit about…
how you help people? Because, there's so many different people you work with. But I guess, what is your sweet spot and when do people call you…So I have a I do wear a lot of different hats…I would say, I connect with my yoga students in more of a typical group setting every week, right, when I teach. So that's a little bit more of a lighter way of connecting. But if people wanna go deeper, then, yes, they can they can contact me, and we can set up an appointment. And, you know, I do, Reiki…
you know, I also do, like, mediumship and tarot readings too for more of, like, a a guidance perspective or, a guidance approach. But, one of my other certifications is in holistic psychotherapy. And so that does kinda do some of this work. it it does focus on sort of the shadow integration. so people can reach out, and we can, you know, do a free consult and just see what their needs are and kinda go from there and figure it out. You know, I also do like I said, with Reiki, I I incorporate sound baths and things like that to hit hit things on more of an energetic level. so those are some of the areas that, a focus. And I have done yoga, chakra therapy yoga, and regression sessions that also work with,
you know, stuck energy in our bodies and understanding what it's tied to, what memory it might be connected…and changing and shifting the energy around that too, which is also another sort of
way of facing shadow, you know, in in the form of whether it's
trauma or something that was challenging, yeah, that people have been I think this is so beautiful, something that was challenging. Yeah. The people have been I think this is so beautiful because most of us are not talking about our shadow work with our next door neighbor or sometimes our friends. And this is why I love having these discussions because it gives people access to somebody that has no opinion, but has the skill set and the training to help you move the energy. Because as you mentioned, it's all energy. And if there's things that are stuck in our body, that can manifest into something you don't want. And so making sure that you are…paying attention to your shadows. What is making you feel bad or holding you back or maybe second guessing your own decisions? What is that energy? Where does it come from? And do you need it anymore? Can you extract it to create more room for love and light? Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And I I have found that the more you interact with that energy, the lighter it gets. And, you know, the lighter it gets. And, also…
it's it's not a spiritual bypass either. It's, like, loving yourself anyway. That's what I keep saying. Like, when I have shame come up or anything else that's difficult is going, okay. This came up. I hear you. I hear your message. I love you anyway. Right? It's just…it's getting to that point where you just love all the parts of yourself, and you're not trying to get rid of them, but they kinda just generally get softer and softer anyway, right, as sort of a byproduct. So yeah. I think that's amazing because so much of society teaches us to love ourselves when things are going right, when we have external metrics to prove that we matter. And I feel like really thinking about yourself without any of all that. Just loving yourself because you're human right now here on the planet that you've chosen to be here and that you're here to share the light you brought with you, I think is such a powerful message for people that might feel like they're not enough or they haven't done enough. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. it's it's just a different way to look at things and to kind of change the way you view what's worthy of love and what isn't. It's ultimately recognizing that all of you is worthy of love, not what society deems. Right? But, like, all of you. And, also, that your worth isn't tied to one action. You know? So one outcome.
I've been doing this for over a decade now, and I'm still learning that lesson. I…really just giving myself the grace to just be like, I am love. I share love. And no matter what I accomplished or didn't accomplish or whatever I even screwed up today, I still love myself because you know what? I'm getting up every day, and I'm just being the best version of myself. And I feel like that is such a beautiful gift you can give yourself. Yep. Yep. Yeah. With this, Cassandra, it's two two And I just wanna say thank you so much for joining us and sharing your journey. All your links are below. For those of you listening that wanna reach out to Cassandra, please do so. Check out her book on Amazon. Check out her work. We didn't even talk about the work, as a certified medium that you've done in Lily Dale and other places, but she is really a spectacular soul. And if you feel called to her, I encourage you to reach out and schedule a session with her. Thank you, JJ, so much for having me on. Thank you so much. And for everybody listening, thank you. Take a minute today, later today, tomorrow to just think about what are your shadows? What are things that are making you feel small or making you feel less than? What are the stories, the experiences, and are you ready to shine light on those shadows? I can encourage you that it's worth it, and it will bring you a lot more inner joy and connection the more you look at all the things that are happening on the inside. So with that, we'll see you here again next time, and thank you for joining Together We Seek podcast.
Cassandra Shofar is a licensed professional counselor, certified yoga instructor, journalist, Reiki Master and a certified medium.
She earned her master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling in 2024 through Cleveland State University and currently practices at Ubuntu Wellness in Chardon, Ohio. She is EMDR certified and works primarily with adolescents and adults suffering from anxiety, depression, PTSD and addiction.
Cassandra completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training in 2013 through Bhumi’s Yoga in Columbia Station, Ohio, and a 500-hour professional level training in 2016 through TRY 4 Life Yoga Teacher Training in Aurora, Ohio. Her certifications include therapeutic yoga/reiki restructuring, chakra yoga and yoga nidra.
Cassandra is also a trained medium, receiving certification in 2019 through the Trilogy Institute in Lily Dale, N.Y.
She is a holistic psychotherapy coach certified through the Global Association of Holistic Psychotherapy and completed the James Van Praagh School of Mystical Arts Spiritual Healer Certification Course in 2017.
For the past 20 years, Cassandra has been a professional journalist in print media and is currently editor of four newspapers in the Geauga County area.
Website: https://lunasiderayoga.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/lunasiderayoga
IG: https://www.instagram.com/lunasidera/
SubStack: https://substack.com/@cassandrashofar
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578555395?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860
#ShadowWork #IlluminateTheShadow #MindBodyConnection #ShadowSelf #SpiritualAwakening
