From what I learned so far, Shadow work is essentially identifying traits and parts of yourself that you're ashamed of. Traits you would normally find negative, shameful, horrible, and even downright evil. And acknowledging these traits and accepting them, letting them become a part of you, but not necessarily letting them manifest into reality since it can be projected on others if not integrated.
A lot of my experience is purely anecdotal, but what I noticed was that the shadow can come up in many ways if it isn't properly seen, acknowledged and integrated. It can come up and manifest into our life in many forms such as: Self-sabotage, attracting the wrong people in our lives that aren't necessarily good or healthy for us despite us consciously knowing it. Projecting onto others like lashing out, reacting negatively, (shouting, name calling, insults) etc.
And a lot of these very negative tendencies, can be a cause of many underlying traumatic events, whether it be from family, friends, relationships, experiences with strangers and just the world around you in general. Gaining insight to the reasons why will help people gain more knowledge about themselves as a person, and they'll finally be able to be at peace with their own mind as they recover, practice self-forgiveness, and accept themselves and all their shortcomings.
I noticed a lot of MMA fighters and combat athletes take full advantage of this concept of the mind to get all the success and whatever they want out of life
Thing is though, it can also be a huge form of self-sabotage and cause self-destruction in themselves if not controlled properly.
