No one told me that the more I healed, the louder my inner critic would become.

At first, I thought I was doing something wrong. I believed that healing should feel peaceful. But what I’ve learned—both through experience and in working with others—is that the inner critic often speaks up more during healing. That happens because your nervous system is shifting into new territory, and your old patterns are being challenged.

Kundalini Yoga helped me meet those moments with compassion. There’s a meditation I often return to that uses mantra and mudra to settle the mental noise. It doesn’t make the voice disappear. It simply reminds me that I’m not defined by it.

When you’ve spent years surviving, parts of your brain aren’t used to peace. They may label rest as laziness, boundaries as selfishness, or joy as something you don’t deserve. That voice isn’t the truth. It’s a nervous system reflex.

The real work is to keep breathing, to keep coming back, and to keep choosing to listen—not to the critic, but to the part of you that knows better.

• Practice compassion-based healing inside Harmony Within.
• Want to explore trauma and voice? Learn more in the KYT training program.

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