12 Questions — Takes about 3 minutes
Inner work is a pilgrimage into the mysterious dark forests of the body, mind, heart, and soul.
It’s a path for the sage, mystic, and philosopher within all of us – a path that often begins as a solitary, lone wolf quest for healing and evolves as a spiritual path of love, devotion, and freedom.
Of all the paths available to us in life, the journey of inner work is the richest, most rewarding, and transformative. It takes us to the root of our traumas, heals our buried wounds, and liberates us to live a life aligned with our Soul’s truth.
So where do you start? What kind of inner work do you need to focus on within your life’s journey right now? This test will help you to find out.
Remember that you can bookmark this page and come back to it every now and then. Test yourself again in 6-12 months and see what has shifted.
What result did you get, and did it resonate? Share below. Your experience helps others recognize themselves.
What is the Purpose of Inner Work?
At its core, inner work – true inner work – is a path of Soul recovery. Beyond healing our psychological blockages, inner work’s greater goal is to reclaim the Deeper Self within us that was lost, buried, or erased throughout the course of our lives.
It is a sacred, life-long commitment to finding more PEACE in our lives, an acronym for:
- playfulness,
- energy,
- authenticity,
- centeredness, and
- empowerment.
Internally, inner work is a path of embodying our Soul’s essence: the wise, wild, warm, welcoming, and whole presence at our core.
These gifts are open to us when we commit to this path, not just as a hobby, but as a way of life.
What Inner Work Paths Are There?
Like any journey, there are many routes and paths we can take to get us through that subterranean world of our deep psyches and toward our inner Center.
We have defined four ‘pillars’ of inner work as follows:
- Embodiment,
- Self-love,
- Inner child work,
- Shadow work.
You can read more about these inner work pillars here. Keep in mind that we move in a spiral when it comes to inner work, so you can and will revisit these four pillars repeatedly on your path.
Frequently Asked Questions
The four inner work types represent four distinct internal dimensions of the healing journey. Each addresses a different layer of who you are and where you carry pain, blockages, or trauma.
– Embodiment is the foundation. This path focuses on exploring the disconnection between mind and body – the numbness, chronic tension, or sense of watching your life from a dissociated distance rather than living within it. Before deeper psychological work can truly take root, the nervous system needs to feel safe enough to be present.
– Self-Love is the next phase, and it helps you to explore your relationship with yourself, specifically the inner critic, the many worthiness wounds, and the deep-seated core beliefs you may carry that result in self-sabotage or self-loathing. This work is less about positive thinking and more about understanding where your negative inner dialogue originated and dismantling it slowly.
– Inner Child Work goes to the heart of why you may still be anxious, overwhelmed, or disconnected in daily life. It helps you to explore the dynamics of your childhood, and how your ancestors, parents, or caretakers influenced you, for better or worse.
– Shadow Work is the final stage of inner work, and it helps you to explore the ‘dark side’ of your psyche and integrate the parts of yourself that you’ve kept suppressed. This work dives into topics such as shame, rage, jealousy, and other uncomfortable emotions and habits, while also helping you to reclaim the buried “gold” within (your disowned gifts and positive qualities like creativity or playfulness).
Yes, absolutely. Inner work moves in a spiral, not a linear straight line. You may revisit the same layer multiple times throughout your life in different ways, or find that completing one layer of work reveals another beneath it. This is normal and healthy.
Someone who begins with self-love work may find that, for instance, as their relationship with themselves improves, their deeper inner child wounds start surfacing that were once too tender to address. Another example is someone who has done significant shadow work who may reach a point where embodiment – or learning to get grounded in their body, rather than just living in the mind – becomes the most essential layer to their healing.
Your result reflects where you are right now, not where you will always be. We recommend retaking this assessment every 6 to 12 months and noting what has shifted.
Trust that instinct, it’s worth paying attention to. Ultimately, you know what your heart and soul resonate with the most.
There are a few possible explanations. The first is that you may have answered based on what feels most familiar rather than what is most active right now. Our oldest wounds can feel so constant that we stop noticing how they’re impacting our choices, which means a deeper layer of pain sometimes hides beneath the one we’re most aware of.
The second is that more than one result may genuinely apply to you. Most people carry wounds across multiple dimensions simultaneously. The test identifies the most dominant form of inner work you need right now, but it isn’t necessarily the only one you need. If a different result resonated almost as strongly, that dimension is likely part of your work too.
The third is simply that the test, like any assessment, has limits. If a different result speaks to you more clearly or authentically than the one you received, trust your own recognition. You know yourself better than any quiz does.
“Inner work is the effort by which we gain awareness of the deeper layers of consciousness within us and move toward integration of the total self.” – Robert A. Johnson
I got self work to work on
Thanks for sharing Hussain :)
Shadow work is the conclusion of the test.
I have not gone into this much since I actually love my anger. It HELPS me and ignites me into direct action which is the approach I like the best.
Anger can definitely have its positives and negatives. Depends whether you let it use you or if you use it.
Shadow work. I’m really sensitive but when my friend insults me I just try to ignore it. She hasn’t always been like this I’m not sure what changed.
I’m sorry to hear that, Darcy. I’m not sure if the insults are direct attacks or not, but take care of yourself, and remember that true friends communicate clearly and respect each other.
I got Shadow Work.
Thanks for sharing Marlene!
self love. hm interesting how I got that yet everyone always calls me selfish and only care about myself
Self-love isn’t about being selfish, but about learning how to be kind and compassionate to yourself so that you can extend that same quality to others. Thanks for taking the test!
I got the wolf. It recommended shadow work, which I am doing in a sense. I finished the shadow work guide and I’m doing the inner child and self love ones now.
Working on my inner child feels more painful than shadow work! I had a very traumatic childhood so I guess that’s probably why. That’s why I added the self love journal work at the same time.
Thank you for your guidance throughout my spiritual journey 🙏🏻
Yes, I found inner child work to be more painful in some ways than shadow work (and in reality, inner child work is a form of shadow work). Thank you for sharing Yesenia 💜
I’ve just donated as the Self-love article is truly inspiring. Thank you 🙏
Thank you Caroline for supporting us 🙏💜
Please forgive my recent errors and mistakes online. I didn’t mean for my errors and mistakes to wound or cause hurt but things do happen in this crazy world which grow outside of one’s control. at times.
Love to all on the road to Ascension 💜
Hey John,
No need for forgiveness, I heard there was some misunderstanding when you purchased from our shop.
The deeper we look into this universe, the less we see ourselves as controlling the show, and the more we can surrender into these experiences.
Take care!
What happened?
I got self love but I got I already possessed self love on another one of the test and it was inaccurate so I say this one accurate because I feel really depressed right now.
*I got I possess self love*
Im learning self worth because i have had people treat me so much better then how i used to be treated,and by knowing my value i bring into this world it can it get me to the places i want to be in.
Good, I’m glad people are treating you better and feel more self worthy😊 cause if I’m honest right now I feel like I was sucked into a blackhole.💀