Three amazing teachers and authors bring their wisdom and inspiration to the Big Apple tonight.

Debbie Ford, Deepak Chopra, and Marianne Williamson have joined together to share their knowledge on what they feel is one of the most crucial obstacles to happiness we face–the shadow.  In their new book, The Shadow Effect: Illuminating the True Power of Your Hidden Self (HarperOne), these three luminaries, each with a signature approach, bring to light the parts of ourselves we deny but that still direct our lives. They teach that it is only when we embrace our shadow that we discover the true gifts of our authentic nature. 

This trio of beloved New York Times bestselling authors and internationally acclaimed teachers will appear tonight, May 13, 8 pm, The Manhattan Center, 311 West 34th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues). They will be discussing and autographing  the book. Select clips from Debbie Ford’s The Shadow Effect movie will be shown. The event, hosted by the Omega Institute and HarperOne, costs $39.

You can also watch from the comfort of your home but registering at liiv.com.

Debbie Ford has been teaching us how to identify, face and embrace the shadow for 15 years and has penned 7 books on the topic.

In a recent interview with Beliefnet, she described the Shadow as, “the parts of ourselves that we hide, deny, or suppress.  There are parts of ourselves that we are unaware of or we’re in denial of or the parts of ourselves that we don’t like that we feel ashamed of or embarrassed by that we suppress.  We spend our time, sometimes knowingly, sometimes unknowingly, hiding them.”

Ford explains that shadow exists within all of us. It is a part of us and yet we spend most of our life running from it. Our shadow makes itself known every day. It is the reason we get furious over a friend showing up ten minutes late, yell at our parents or kids when they have done nothing wrong, and sabotage our own success at the worst possible time. Until we are able to embrace our dualistic nature, we will continue to hurt ourselves and those closest to us and fall short of our potential. But far from being scary, embracing the shadow hold the key to great joy, inspiration and success.

“In trying to express only those aspects of ourselves that we believe will guarantee us the acceptance of others, we suppress some of our most valuable features and sentence ourselves to a life of reenacting the same drama with the same outworn script,” Ford says. “Reclaiming the parts of ourselves that we have relegated to the shadow is the most reliable path to actualizing our human potential. Once befriended, our shadow becomes a divine map that reconnects us to the life we were meant to live and the people we were meant to be.”

In The Shadow Effect, the three authors pierce the veil of our unclaimed self, helping to release us from the past and propelling us on a journey to wholeness where we can reclaim happiness.

“We’re often afraid of looking at our shadow because we want to avoid the shame or embarrassment that comes along with admitting mistakes,” points out Marianne Williamson. “We feel that if we take a deep look at ourselves, we’ll be too exposed. But the only thing we should actually fear is not looking at it, for our denial of the shadow is exactly what fuels it. One day I looked at something in myself that I had been avoiding because it was too painful. Yet once I did, I had an unexpected surprise. Rather than self-hatred, I was flooded with compassion for myself because I realized the pain necessary to develop that coping mechanism to begin with.”

Online reservations no longer available for tonight’s event. For information, call the Omega Institue at 877.944.2002.