Make it Conscious - Inner Work Exercises

One of the applications of active imagination is to engage proactively with the archetypes of the collective unconscious. While it's not possible to integrate any particular archetype in its entirety, it is important to build and deepen a relationship with them. If you reject or repress any archetype, it tends to return in a darker, more disruptive form. And by meeting archetypal material in symbolic form, you gain more information about it: its purpose, its features, its behaviours, and why it needs to exist.

🌿 This work begins with understanding your own psychological blueprint. Take the free Personality Dynamics Assessment: https://makeitconscious.com/pda/

🔔 To work with Max directly, book a free Perspectives call — https://makeitconscious.com/coaching/

This exercise uses active imagination, a technique developed by Carl Jung for engaging directly with unconscious contents, facilitating genuine psychological transformation.

----------

Playlists & Series:

Active Imagination Exercises - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2MMxqoPMkk9eEbVIrbwq-7B&si=NgEZKF8F2ztgqEpb

Core Active Imagination Series - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PWOC6QlGwXS2aWnaPTTF-8&si=m1YzEy1d8Ewf8e8d

Mapping the Shadow Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PriUHnSAKpaf5eOpy27Nsw

More from Make it Conscious:

Extended Exercises (Hestia) - https://hestia.makeitconscious.com/

MiC Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/6AxGzV3sa6kK2NKSKDyuJa?si=4153da0bb1a243a3

Inner Work Exercises Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/4OMC4T1PNsA951dvvHhYMs?si=72af3c85c97b4536

Blog - https://makeitconscious.com/blog/

Connect:

Instagram - https://instagram.com/makeitconscious

X - https://x.com/makeitconscious

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571759044093

Welcome back to this core active imagination series. Today we're going to be working with emotion, in a proactive way — meaning you get to decide from the outset which emotion you want to work with. You can work with any kind, pleasant or unpleasant, something you're experiencing now or experienced recently. The fact that it is an emotion means it has some kind of charge for you, that it is connected to the unconscious, and that there is something in it for you. We're going to use the technique of active imagination to examine it more closely and meet with it in symbolic form.

🌿 This work begins with understanding your own psychological blueprint. Take the free Personality Dynamics Assessment: https://makeitconscious.com/pda/

🔔 To work with Max directly, book a free Perspectives call — https://makeitconscious.com/coaching/

This exercise uses active imagination, a technique developed by Carl Jung for engaging directly with unconscious contents, facilitating genuine psychological transformation.

----------

Playlists & Series:

Active Imagination Exercises - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2MMxqoPMkk9eEbVIrbwq-7B&si=NgEZKF8F2ztgqEpb

Core Active Imagination Series - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PWOC6QlGwXS2aWnaPTTF-8&si=m1YzEy1d8Ewf8e8d

Mapping the Shadow Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PriUHnSAKpaf5eOpy27Nsw

More from Make it Conscious:

Extended Exercises (Hestia) - https://hestia.makeitconscious.com/

MiC Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/6AxGzV3sa6kK2NKSKDyuJa?si=4153da0bb1a243a3

Inner Work Exercises Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/4OMC4T1PNsA951dvvHhYMs?si=72af3c85c97b4536

Blog - https://makeitconscious.com/blog/

Connect:

Instagram - https://instagram.com/makeitconscious

X - https://x.com/makeitconscious

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571759044093

Working with dreams is one of the primary methods Jung practised and recommended to his patients. A dream is unconscious content coming alive at night, when the ego is quiet, so anything that felt unfinished still has something in it for you. If nothing particular comes to mind, that's fine — you can work with whatever your mind shows you as the exercise proceeds.

🌿 This work begins with understanding your own psychological blueprint. Take the free Personality Dynamics Assessment: https://makeitconscious.com/pda/

🔔 To work with Max directly, book a free Perspectives call — https://makeitconscious.com/coaching/

Active imagination is the technique developed by Carl Jung for engaging directly with unconscious contents, facilitating genuine psychological transformation.

----------

Playlists & Series:

Active Imagination Exercises - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2MMxqoPMkk9eEbVIrbwq-7B&si=NgEZKF8F2ztgqEpb

Core Active Imagination Series - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PWOC6QlGwXS2aWnaPTTF-8&si=m1YzEy1d8Ewf8e8d

Mapping the Shadow Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PriUHnSAKpaf5eOpy27Nsw

More from Make it Conscious:

MiC Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/6AxGzV3sa6kK2NKSKDyuJa?si=4153da0bb1a243a3

Inner Work Exercises Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/4OMC4T1PNsA951dvvHhYMs?si=72af3c85c97b4536

Blog - https://makeitconscious.com/blog/

Connect:

Instagram - https://instagram.com/makeitconscious

X - https://x.com/makeitconscious

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571759044093

This exercise introduces a technique I call simply bare attention: directing your attention to the direct and raw experience of what you are actually feeling or sensing. Bare attention avoids two extremes that limit this work. The first is not noticing a feeling entirely; the second is getting involved in narrative about the feeling. To work with unconscious content, we need the layer where the full experience is less mediated by the conscious ego.

🌿 This work begins with understanding your own psychological blueprint. Take the free Personality Dynamics Assessment: https://makeitconscious.com/pda/

🔔 To work with Max directly, book a free Perspectives call — https://makeitconscious.com/coaching/

This exercise uses active imagination, a technique developed by Carl Jung for engaging directly with unconscious contents, facilitating genuine psychological transformation.

----------

Playlists & Series:

Active Imagination Exercises - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2MMxqoPMkk9eEbVIrbwq-7B&si=NgEZKF8F2ztgqEpb

Core Active Imagination Series - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PWOC6QlGwXS2aWnaPTTF-8&si=m1YzEy1d8Ewf8e8d

Mapping the Shadow Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PriUHnSAKpaf5eOpy27Nsw

More from Make it Conscious:

MiC Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/6AxGzV3sa6kK2NKSKDyuJa?si=4153da0bb1a243a3

Inner Work Exercises Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/4OMC4T1PNsA951dvvHhYMs?si=72af3c85c97b4536

Blog - https://makeitconscious.com/blog/

Connect:

Instagram - https://instagram.com/makeitconscious

X - https://x.com/makeitconscious

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571759044093

One of the main features of this work is the ability to turn the mind back on itself. At each step of this technique there's an element of doing exactly this — becoming aware of the mind itself. As far as we know, this is a uniquely human ability, something that defines us: the ability to self-reflect. Some might call it mindfulness, which captures part of it, though that word doesn't really explain what this is. It's meta-awareness — an awareness of awareness itself. The goal is to open up a connection with the mind, with yourself, and reach reconciliation with it.

🌿 This work begins with understanding your own psychological blueprint. Take the free Personality Dynamics Assessment: https://makeitconscious.com/pda/

🔔 To work with Max directly, book a free Perspectives call — https://makeitconscious.com/coaching/

Active imagination is the technique developed by Carl Jung for engaging directly with unconscious contents and facilitating genuine psychological transformation.

----------

Playlists & Series:

Active Imagination Exercises - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2MMxqoPMkk9eEbVIrbwq-7B&si=NgEZKF8F2ztgqEpb

Core Active Imagination Series - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PWOC6QlGwXS2aWnaPTTF-8&si=m1YzEy1d8Ewf8e8d

Mapping the Shadow Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PriUHnSAKpaf5eOpy27Nsw

More from Make it Conscious:

Extended Exercises (Hestia) - https://hestia.makeitconscious.com/

MiC Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/6AxGzV3sa6kK2NKSKDyuJa?si=4153da0bb1a243a3

Inner Work Exercises Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/4OMC4T1PNsA951dvvHhYMs?si=72af3c85c97b4536

Blog - https://makeitconscious.com/blog/

Connect:

Instagram - https://instagram.com/makeitconscious

X - https://x.com/makeitconscious

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571759044093

One of the key purposes of active imagination is producing insight — into ourselves, into why we do what we do, into what caused our situation, and how what we're doing now might affect our lives in the future. This is a vital part of any inner work or adult development process. But there's a challenge, because producing insight is a contradiction in terms. How can you produce insight into yourself? You can't. That's why we need to engage with the unconscious, which contains all the seeds of our development. It's not so much that you produce insight as that you create the conditions, the openness and the intention, that allow insight to simply happen.

🌿 This work begins with understanding your own psychological blueprint. Take the free Personality Dynamics Assessment: https://makeitconscious.com/pda/

🔔 To work with Max directly, book a free Perspectives call — https://makeitconscious.com/coaching/

Active imagination is the technique developed by Carl Jung for engaging directly with unconscious contents and facilitating genuine psychological transformation.

----------

Playlists & Series:

Active Imagination Exercises - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2MMxqoPMkk9eEbVIrbwq-7B&si=NgEZKF8F2ztgqEpb

Core Active Imagination Series - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PWOC6QlGwXS2aWnaPTTF-8&si=m1YzEy1d8Ewf8e8d

Mapping the Shadow Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PriUHnSAKpaf5eOpy27Nsw

More from Make it Conscious:

MiC Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/6AxGzV3sa6kK2NKSKDyuJa?si=4153da0bb1a243a3

Inner Work Exercises Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/4OMC4T1PNsA951dvvHhYMs?si=72af3c85c97b4536

Blog - https://makeitconscious.com/blog/

Connect:

Instagram - https://instagram.com/makeitconscious

X - https://x.com/makeitconscious

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571759044093

Today I'm going to be sharing more with you about the basic framework of this technique — this three-step approach to active imagination practice that you can use on a daily or regular basis, today the third step: bringing content into the imagination and connecting with it.

🌿 This work begins with understanding your own psychological blueprint. Take the free Personality Dynamics Assessment: https://makeitconscious.com/pda/

🔔 To work with Max directly, book a free Perspectives call — https://makeitconscious.com/coaching/

This exercise uses active imagination, a technique developed by Carl Jung for engaging directly with unconscious contents, facilitating genuine psychological transformation.

----------

Playlists & Series:

Active Imagination Exercises - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2MMxqoPMkk9eEbVIrbwq-7B&si=NgEZKF8F2ztgqEpb

Core Active Imagination Series - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PWOC6QlGwXS2aWnaPTTF-8&si=m1YzEy1d8Ewf8e8d

Mapping the Shadow Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PriUHnSAKpaf5eOpy27Nsw

More from Make it Conscious:

MiC Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/6AxGzV3sa6kK2NKSKDyuJa?si=4153da0bb1a243a3

Inner Work Exercises Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/4OMC4T1PNsA951dvvHhYMs?si=72af3c85c97b4536

Blog - https://makeitconscious.com/blog/

Connect:

Instagram - https://instagram.com/makeitconscious

X - https://x.com/makeitconscious

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571759044093

Continuing through the three-step basic technique for active imagination that you can do on a regular, even daily basis — watch your mind, note what appears, and connect with it in the imagination. This exercise focuses on that second step, noting.

🔔 Work with Max: Book a free Perspectives call — https://makeitconscious.com/coaching/

🌿 Not ready to book a call? Take the free Personality Dynamics Assessment and start your journey with MiC: https://makeitconscious.com/pda/

This exercise uses active imagination, a technique developed by Carl Jung for engaging directly with unconscious contents, facilitating genuine psychological transformation.

----------

Playlists & Series:

Active Imagination Exercises - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2MMxqoPMkk9eEbVIrbwq-7B&si=NgEZKF8F2ztgqEpb

Mapping the Shadow Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PriUHnSAKpaf5eOpy27Nsw

More from Make it Conscious:

MiC Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/6AxGzV3sa6kK2NKSKDyuJa?si=4153da0bb1a243a3

Inner Work Exercises Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/4OMC4T1PNsA951dvvHhYMs?si=72af3c85c97b4536

Blog - https://makeitconscious.com/blog/

Connect:

Instagram - https://instagram.com/makeitconscious

X - https://x.com/makeitconscious

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571759044093

In this exercise we focus on the first of three steps in this active imagination technique — watching the mind. Using the breath as a canvas, we turn the mind back on itself rather than remaining lost in the natural flow of discursive thought. This is the foundation of the practice: simple, repeatable, and available no matter what's going on for you.

This exercise uses active imagination, a technique developed by Carl Jung for engaging directly with unconscious contents, facilitating genuine psychological transformation.

🔔 Work with Max: Book a free Perspectives call — https://makeitconscious.com/coaching/

🌿 Not ready to book a call? Take the free Personality Dynamics Assessment and start your journey with MiC: https://makeitconscious.com/pda/

----------

Playlists & Series:

Active Imagination Exercises - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2MMxqoPMkk9eEbVIrbwq-7B&si=NgEZKF8F2ztgqEpb

Mapping the Shadow Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PriUHnSAKpaf5eOpy27Nsw

More from Make it Conscious:

MiC Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/6AxGzV3sa6kK2NKSKDyuJa?si=4153da0bb1a243a3

Inner Work Exercises Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/4OMC4T1PNsA951dvvHhYMs?si=72af3c85c97b4536

Blog - https://makeitconscious.com/blog/

Connect:

Instagram - https://instagram.com/makeitconscious

X - https://x.com/makeitconscious

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571759044093

Active imagination is a technique developed by Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, who described the conscious mind — the ego — as like a cork in an ocean, to illustrate the vastness of the unconscious relative to what we're aware of. In this exercise, we engage with the unconscious directly using a simple three-step method you can use on a daily basis. The unconscious mind is a vital part of who we are, containing the seeds of meaningful development — and yet it's something many of us have a fear of, or simply don't know how to work with.

This exercise uses active imagination, a technique developed by Carl Jung for engaging directly with unconscious contents, facilitating genuine psychological transformation.

🔔 Work with Max: Book a free Perspectives call — https://makeitconscious.com/coaching/

----------

Free Personality Dynamics Assessment: https://makeitconscious.com/pda/

Discover your psychological type and development pathway.

Hestia - The hearth of the Make it Conscious community: https://hestia.makeitconscious.com/

Premium courses, active imagination exercises, and community for Jungian depth work.

----------

Playlists & Series:

Active Imagination Exercises - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2MMxqoPMkk9eEbVIrbwq-7B&si=NgEZKF8F2ztgqEpb

Mapping the Shadow Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeuFwuWK5O2PriUHnSAKpaf5eOpy27Nsw

More from Make it Conscious:

MiC Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/6AxGzV3sa6kK2NKSKDyuJa?si=4153da0bb1a243a3

Inner Work Exercises Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/4OMC4T1PNsA951dvvHhYMs?si=72af3c85c97b4536

Blog - https://makeitconscious.com/blog/

Connect:

Instagram - https://instagram.com/makeitconscious

X - https://x.com/makeitconscious

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571759044093