Shadows

In Jack Kornfield's A Path With Heart he touches upon the concept of 'near enemies.' That is, along with every benefit that comes from a meditative or yogic or spiritual practice, there is a shadow that should be watched for - the more negative aspect that one might fall into out of laziness or un-mindfulness or even being misguided.

Paraphrasing for the most part here, an insight meditation or Buddhist practice might lead towards a withdrawal from the world, and similarly Zen or Vedantic practices might find one feeling disconnected or ungrounded in their every day life. In a more physical way, someone focused entirely on hatha yoga might find themselves developing a perfection of body, and forgetting to develop their heart and mind. Or in a slightly different vein, a devotee of Kundalini yoga may become addicted to the physical-mental experiences characteristic of the practice, forgetting their meaning and significance (or even, lack thereof). And in a more widespread manner (re: say, organized religion), an overly moralistic practice may lead to either a reinforcement of low self-esteem, or rigid self-righteousness.

Personally, off the top of my head I can think of two near-enemies I've been caught by; one started out as my girlfriend at the time being affected by delving into an idealistic, world-is-a-dream, life-is-an-illusion kind of practice (whose near enemy/shadow might be complacency, amorality, and indifference). I only realize all this in retrospect, of course, but I can look back and see my self falling into the same shadow she had after at first having an aversion to, and then a dark attraction to the same practice, and then our relationship mutually falling apart [not because of that, I have to note, but that as a symptom of larger issues]. More personally, I've noted myself at times dependent upon insight meditation or desperate for an intuition before acting, and that has led to its own kind of paralyzation and addiction, in a sense.

The solution to avoiding these shadows is both internal and external, though I hesitate to attempt to speak to any, myself. In general terms, internally, as the Buddha and many others have said, one's self and common sense should be both the final authority and first place to start looking when watching for near enemies, and at the same time, a good teacher, guide, or friend is the external watchguard in a similar manner.
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An interesting article on the idea of an open-heart, mixed with commentary on aikido and social work