Shadow Work SeriesHealing the Inner Child: Reclaiming the Lost Parts of You

Inside each of us is a child who had to grow up too soon.

Not because of one dramatic moment — although for some, that may be true — but more often, because of the subtle and repeated messages absorbed early in life:You’re too much. You’re not enough. Be good. Be quiet. Don’t cry. Don’t ask for more.

This is the Inner Child — one of the five key Shadows we work with at The Energy Studio.

The Inner Child shadow represents the emotional imprint left by what happened (or didn’t happen) during your formative years.They carry the echo of unmet needs.They hold the heartbreak of not feeling chosen, safe, seen, or soothed.And while your body grew older, this part of you remained frozen in time — still hoping someone will come back and do it differently.

When unacknowledged, the Inner Child influences how we show up in the present.They’re behind reactivity, avoidance, emotional shutdown, perfectionism, and people-pleasing.They often carry wounds of rejection, shame, or abandonment — not because we were weak, but because we were wise enough to adapt.

But here's the truth:The Inner Child isn’t broken.They’re buried.And when we’re willing to meet this part of ourselves with care, everything begins to soften.

The Child Within Is Not Just a Memory

This part of you remembers who you were before the masks.Before the performing. Before the protecting. Before the pretending.

The Inner Child is spontaneous, creative, emotional, honest.They want to play, to cry, to be held, to be wild.They carry both joy and pain — innocence and memory.

But for many, what was once free became suppressed in order to survive.So we traded expression for control, curiosity for compliance, joy for performance.We learned to shrink in order to belong.To self-abandon in order to stay safe.

Healing the Inner Child is the process of reversing that trade.Not with force — but with reverence.Not by diving in — but by walking slowly, with attuned support.

What Somatic Experts Want You to Know

Inner Child work isn’t just about journaling, talking, or reparenting scripts.It’s about what lives in the body.

Peter Levine teaches that trauma is not in the event — it’s in the body’s response.So when you begin to touch your Inner Child wounding, you’re not just remembering — you’re re-feeling what was once too much to process.That’s why going slow matters.That’s why safety matters.And that’s why some of this work isn’t meant to be done alone.

Dr. Gabor Maté reminds us that true healing happens through compassionate awareness.The Inner Child doesn’t need you to perform healing.They need you to be with what’s true, without judgement or bypass.

Pat Ogden notes that early attachment wounds don’t just live in memory — they live in your breath, your posture, your muscle tension.They’re stored in your nervous system, and they surface when you try to move forward, love deeply, or relax into joy.

This is why trauma-aware, somatic support is essential.

You can’t think your way out of wounds that were stored in the body.

A Safer Way to Begin

Instead of rushing in with practices or processes, allow this to be your first step:Acknowledging that the Inner Child is there.That their pain is valid.That their needs make sense.And that the support they deserve doesn’t have to come all from you.

This work is best done in relationship — in an energetically attuned space with someone who can co-hold what arises.Because the Inner Child doesn’t just want to be seen.They want to be felt.And that can be overwhelming if you’re alone in it.

At The Energy Studio, we offer Introductory Somatic Healing sessions designed to support this kind of deep inner reconnection.We don’t rush or fix.We honour timing.We meet you in the tenderness.And we let the body show us what’s ready — and what still needs safety to unfold.

A Final Word

The Inner Child isn’t a concept — they’re a living part of you.They are the pulse underneath your patterns.The ache behind your self-doubt.And the spark beneath your joy.

This isn’t work you have to do alone.And it’s not something to force.

It’s a remembering.A return.A sacred reunion with the part of you that never stopped hoping you’d come back.

Ready to begin?Book an Introductory Somatic Healing Session and receive grounded, compassionate support as you reconnect with the parts of yourself that were left behind — but never lost.Book your session here