Shadow Work Workshops and Presentations
Colin presents a number of types of workshops and presentations in person and online including:
• 21st Century Jungian Shadow Work and the Alchemical Path of Inner Evolution
• The Alchemical Relationship - Intimate Relationship as a Vessel for Advanced Inner Development
• Conflict Resolution for Intentional Communities - A Jungian Psychological Framework
• Integral Shadow - Shadow Work Through the Integral Four Quadrant Lens
• Psychedelic Shadow Integration Protocols and Practice, Post Ceremony
21st Century Jungian Shadow Work and the Alchemical Path of Inner Evolution
In this workshop, Colin preents his shadow work system developed with Melissa Mari, in basic form. You will learn foundational theory on the shadow of the psyche from a Jungian and Integral perspective, plus basic but deep shadow work practices that will serve you now and for life. You will learn about the “alchemical relationship” and psychological tools to help you use relational conflict as a doorway into deep healing and intimacy. You will also be initiated into an alchemical, spiritual philosophy for shadow aware life at the cutting edge of human development. Together we will work through a variety of shadow work practices and Colin will address your personal challenges and answer your questions.
The Alchemical Relationship - Intimate Relationship as a Vessel for Advanced Inner Development
In this workshop (or presentation) Colin will share the many principles and practices that were learned in his 12 year relationship with Melissa Mari, the co-founder of this work. The alchemical relationship is not just a conscious partnership where couples are becoming more aware of their own biases and projections, but an active theraputic container where shadow work becomes a primary focus. In this way of being and living, we are able to experience the greatest levels of human intimacy possible. Most people have never experineced the level of psycho-spiritual intimacy, creativity and feeling state depth that is available to them when both partners commit to the alchemical, theraputic approach to relationship. In alchemical relationship, we come to understand and heal ourselves in ways that are not possible alone and are rare in therapy. This work is for couples who already have a psycho-spiritual orientation but feel that they have not reached their relational potential yet.
Conflict Resolution for Intentional Communities: A Jungian Psychological Framework
Intentional communities often fail in ways their founders never anticipated. People arrive with good intentions but bring unresolved psychology into close quarters, and without the right tools, everyday friction escalates into conflict that can break a community apart. This workshop offers a practical psychological framework designed specifically for community living. Participants learn a shared vocabulary drawn from Jungian psychology, shadow work, and IFS parts work, giving them a common language for understanding reactive states without defaulting to blame. Conflict is understood as a field phenomenon where all parties have activated inner parts, which opens the door to genuine resolution rather than cycles of defense and retaliation. The framework also includes an emotional processing method for working through what gets stirred up, and a weekly community practice built around ongoing shadow awareness. The goal is a psychological operating system that communities can build into their structure from the beginning, or adopt at any stage of development.
Integral Shadow - Shadow Work Through the Integral Four Quadrant Lens
The creator of Integral Theory, Ken Wilber developed a “four quadrant” tool that helps us view and work with any subject from a truly holistic perspective. Colin uses this tool to expand shadow work out from the usual domain of the personal internal state of an individual to relationships, culture, body and behavior to the social systems we participate in. Using this tool, it becomes apparent that shadow work is not only a healing modality that applies to us internally and personally but it is a mindset and practice that extends to all domains of life and reality. In this workshop or presentation, you will learn how the shadow manifests across all domains of reality and specific shadow work practices that apply to all domains. This way of working truly becomes the New Ethic of shadow aware life and practice that Carl Jung and Erich Neumann encouraged us to pursue for our own sakes and that of humanity.
Psychedelic Shadow Integration Protocols and Practice, Post Ceremony
Psychedelics or “entheogens” are highly powerful tools for attaining great depths of self knowledlge, including access to the shadow material that we all carry within, from the personal to the archetypal. But the types of shadow content that can be uprooted and brought into consciousness can be shocking and disorienting. Indigenous traditions that utilize psychoactive plant medicine all have mythic cultural frameworks that make sense out of these experiences and the shaman of these traditions give direction to the initiates that come from thousands of years of experience. Westerners do not have this cultural background. They are not born and raised within these cultural ecosystems. Many modern Westerners who use these substances on occasion for self knowledge are able to cope with the disorientation through communities of like-minded individuals and there are some shaman who live and work at this intersections such as our friend and colleague C. Michael Smith. This workshop or presentation focuses on the same Jungian and alchemical principles and practices that our other presentations feature, but is focused on the individual who is using psychedelics for healing purposes. A basic Jungian perspective and alchemcial framework is actually the perfect bridge for Westerners on this path of self knowledge, we believe. Colin has used psycheledics of many types as therapeutic tools for decades.