If you struggle with feelings of unworthiness, self-doubt, or shame, then it is likely that what you are dealing with is a specific type of shadow called an introjection. An introjection occurs when you gain inaccurate information from an experience and carry it forward as though it is the truth instead of recognizing it for the distortion that it is.
Introjections commonly result from taking on the projections of other people and are most commonly formed during childhood, which is when we are most vulnerable to them. Introjections can also result from our own misunderstanding of a confusing situation. When we don’t yet have the capacity to understand what’s going on, we may make sense of it in a distorted way and then carry that distortion forward with us.
- Identify the emotion you are feeling in association with the introjection. Allow yourself to feel into it. Can you locate it in your body as a sensation?
- How old is the part of you that is carrying this introjection, if you had to guess? Spend a moment tuning into this part of you, with curiosity and compassion. You might offer reassurance to this part that you are here to help. You might place a hand on the part of your body associated with the feeling, in a gesture of care.
- As best you can, see if you can name the distortion. What is the inaccurate belief that this part of you has been carrying? If you’re not sure, try interviewing this part of you to discover what the distortion might be. This can be done as a journal exercise. A good coach or therapist familiar with parts work can also help with this step.
- When you started to carry this distortion, did you lose access to any important qualities or ways of being that were naturally there before the distortion took hold? Using the same methods as in step 3, do your best to name anything that might have become lost or harder to access when this introjection took hold.
- Who did this introjection come from? Was it a specific person or group of people? Could it have been a misinterpretation on your own part? Come up with an image of the person, people, institution, place, or some other image that you can visualize in your mind, which represents where this introjection came from.
- Imagine that you have a special purpose tube whose job it is to remove this distortion, releasing it back to its source. Imagine yourself connecting this tube to the part of your body where you can feel the sensations associated with the introjection. Connect the other end of the tube to the other person, people or whatever it is that you came up with in step 5. Imagine that with each exhale, the distortion naturally begins to leave your body, traveling down the tube back to its source. Spend a minute or two on this step, visualizing the release of the introjection. You may start to feel a bit lighter.
- Discard the tube. Now, visualize that you have another tube whose job it is to recover whatever was lost when you started carrying this introjection. You identified this in step 4. This tube has a filter on the far end of it that allows only things that belong to you to travel back down the tube. Connect this tube up to the target and connect the other end to you. Imagine that with each inhale, anything that belongs to you is naturally drawn back to you through the tube. Spend another minute or two on this step. Notice if something subtle starts to shift.
- Ask the part of you that was carrying this introjection if there’s anything it would like for you to do now that it has been released. Commit to taking that action and do it as soon as possible. Express your gratitude to this part of you for its trust and willingness to participate in this exercise. Commit to checking in again with this part and repeating it again as needed.
I have had clients who reported that this visualization exercise was a game changer for them. This exercise works by providing a context for your unconscious mind to fill in the blanks. It can be surprising what happens when we engage with ourselves in this way. Acting upon a sincere intent to heal ourselves while using the right tool can be more powerful that we expect.
