When I use the word healer, I am referring to anyone in the field of health and well-being: bodyworkers, psychotherapists, life coaches, nurses, acupuncturists, energy practitioners, and anyone whose work is to help others heal.

Every insight in this article comes from observing my own journey as a holistic life coach, trauma educator, and Core Synchronism practitioner, as well as working alongside many gifted practitioners over the years. There is not a judgment of anyone.

We all have a shadow.

The purpose of this article is to challenge the New Age obsession with "love and light" while avoiding our own darkness. Ironically, the greatest danger does not lie in the client's shadow—it lies in the healer who has not become aware of their own.

Remember when you were a child and imagined what a ghost might be like?

There was fear mixed with curiosity. In your young, imaginative mind, you may have told yourself that a ghost wasn't solid. It wasn't material. It couldn't really hurt you because it was only like a mist, a fog, or a vapor.

And yet...

You may have been terrified to get out of bed at night.

Perhaps you hid under the covers after hearing footsteps downstairs. Maybe you called for your parents because you were certain something was there.

Logically, you knew a ghost couldn't hurt you.

But your brain didn't.