Helping Clients Transform their Inner Critic from the Inside Out

 $497 USD $99

"Helping Clients Transform their Inner Critic from the Inside Out," offers a multi-faceted exploration of the inner critic, defining it as a normal yet often harsh internalized voice stemming from early experiences and societal pressures. Through diverse perspectives, the modules delve into its manifestations, from critical self-talk and physical sensations to protective functions and ego-driven behaviors. The program equips participants with a rich array of somatic, inquiry-based, and compassionate techniques, empowering them to transform their relationship with the inner critic and cultivate self-compassion. UltiMatély, this package aims to guide individuals toward integrating all parts of themselves for enhanced self-acceptance and well-being.

About this course

Helping Clients Transform Their Inner Critic from the Inside Out

The inner critic can be relentless—hijacking progress, sabotaging relationships, and silencing intuition. For many clients, it's not just occasional judgment but a constant background hum of self-doubt, shame, and the fear of never being enough. This comprehensive eight-module course, led by Dr. Scott Lyons, founder of the Embody Lab, offers a revolutionary approach: the inner critic didn't appear out of nowhere. It formed as a protective response, often rooted in early experiences of rejection, criticism, and emotional neglect. While it may seem harsh or punishing, at its core, the critic is trying—however imperfectly—to keep the system safe.

A Paradigm Shift:

This course is for therapists and healing professionals ready to help clients move beyond looping patterns of self-attack and into a more spacious, embodied relationship with themselves. You'll learn to work with the inner critic not as an enemy to be silenced, but as a part to be understood and integrated through somatic awareness, nervous system regulation, and deep relational repair. Because when the inner critic is met with compassion rather than more resistance, it begins to soften—and that's when healing becomes possible.

What You'll Learn:

Through eight comprehensive modules from world-leading experts, you'll discover diverse approaches to understanding and transforming the inner critic:

Module 1: Listening to the Voice Within with Dené Logan

Understanding the Inner Critic:

• Define inner critic as normal human experience rooted in internalized voices and societal limiting beliefs
• Recognize it as ego's attempt at self-sabotage and cultivation of limiting beliefs
• Understand how it functions across various life aspects

Common Manifestations:

• Identify harsh, abusive inner voice (that would never be directed at friend)
• Recognize underlying fears: failure, being seen as fraud, perfectionism
• Track denial of gifts, undervaluing contributions
• Notice internalization of external rejections as personal flaws

Three Key Navigation Methods:

• Connect with "bigger why" for motivation and service to others
• Humanize others to reduce fear of judgment
• Explore fear of one's own power

Inquiry-Based Practices:

• Apply Byron Katie's "The Work" to challenge limiting beliefs
• Question truth of critical thoughts
• Understand bodily responses to beliefs
• Envision life without limiting thoughts
• Shift relationship with critic toward self-compassion

Module 2: The Origins of the Inner Critic with Dr. Albert Wong

Developmental Origins:

• Define inner critic as internalized negative voice from critical early caregivers and societal pressures
• Understand development as survival mechanism for navigating unsafe environments
• Recognize role in maintaining attachment despite danger

Somatic Manifestations:

• Track impact on thoughts and physical sensations (chest tightness, constricted breath)
• Identify behavioral patterns (people-pleasing, withdrawal)
• Recognize personal triggers that activate critic
• Notice specific negative phrases and internal dialogue

Practical Somatic Techniques:

• Apply resource breathing to cultivate safety and calm
• Use physical assertion to interrupt critic (pushing away)
• Employ verbal boundaries for unblending from critic
• Practice inhaling safety, exhaling tension

Advanced Inner Dialogue:

• Use empty chair work to understand critic's underlying needs
• Engage in internal dialogue process
• Foster integration with misunderstood part
• Explore vulnerabilities beneath critical voice

Module 3: Listening to the Body's Wisdom with Deanna Jimenez

The Critic's Nature:

• Define as strict, inflexible inner normative voice struggling with nuance
• Understand prioritization of mental processing over present-moment bodily sensations
• Recognize heavy, authoritarian quality that pulls from present moment
• Differentiate from other internalized voices

Narrative and Somatic Expression:

• Identify through personal insults and negative comparisons
• Notice inability to receive positive feedback
• Track somatic expressions (furrowed brow, intense/vacant eye contact, eye tightness)
• Observe when critic becomes louder (uncertainty, discomfort, stillness)

The CARE Process:

• Catch: Notice when critic is present
• Acknowledge: Recognize without judgment
• Resource: Connect with supportive inner resources
• Engage: Enter compassionate dialogue

Additional Interventions:

• Personify critic to externalize it
• Bring compassion by acknowledging protective intentions
• Find function by exploring needs it attempts to meet
• Develop supportive inner dialogue

Module 4: Turning Toward the Critic with Dr. Christopher Walling

Historical Context:

• Trace roots in Freudian psychoanalysis (superego)
• Understand Transactional Analysis (critical parent)
• Connect to contemporary models (Internal Family Systems)
• Recognize evolution of understanding

Somatic Psychotherapy Approach:

• Identify internalized judging aspect operating through introjects
• Understand defensive processes connected to bodily sensations
• Work with incomplete self-protective responses
• Use body as bottom-up entry point for intervention

Experiential Techniques:

• Apply enactment exercises to externalize critic
• Use chair work for dialogue and awareness
• Reference SASB model as evidence-based framework
• Foster understanding of underlying protective functions

Relational Shift:

• Move from fighting or ignoring to establishing relationship
• Understand critic's needs and origins
• Promote self-compassion through somatic awareness
• Support transformation through dialogue

Module 5: Unmerging from that Critical Voice with Ann Weiser Cornell

Protector Parts Framework:

• Understand critic as protector part ensuring safety
• Recognize ultimate motivation is protection
• Identify various manifestations (harsh voices, bodily constrictions)

Forms of Protectors:

• Negative thoughts and self-talk
• Predictions of doom
• Unhelpful advice
• Body constrictions (tight throat)
• Sleepiness during inner work
• Disaster images

Three Surprising Secrets:

1. Protectors are always worried
2. They are powerless to take over action
3. They believe they are alone in their protective job

Inner Relationship Focusing:

• Acknowledge part without agreeing or disagreeing ("Something in me says...")
• Sense their underlying worry
• Understand what they're trying to prevent
• Offer empathy for their burden
• Invite revelation of positive intentions
• Transform critical parts into tender, supportive aspects

Module 6: The Inner Critic - An Ecopsychology Perspective with Jeanine Canty

The Inflated Ego:

• Understand problematic ego inflation in Western society
• Recognize fostering of "false self" oriented toward external expectations
• Identify disconnection from true needs and natural world
• See how ego-driven state cultivates inner critic

Constant Evaluation:

• Notice evaluation against false, inherited standards
• Recognize disembodiment and focus on abstract thinking
• Understand loss of intuitive and embodied wisdom
• Track disconnection from authentic self

Expanded Senses of Self:

• Ecological Self: Feeling at home in nature
• Multicultural Self: Holding multiple perspectives
• Transpersonal Self: Connecting to larger consciousness
• Self-Transforming Self: Embracing perpetual change
• Imaginal Self: Reclaiming power of play and creativity

Practical Techniques:

• Practice embodiment (staying with breath and body)
• Cultivate mindful awareness of negative thought patterns
• Connect with transpersonal self as witness
• Engage in nature and creative activities
• Develop self-compassion by recognizing conditioned nature of critical ego
• Rest the overworked ego
• Shift from ego-driven criticism to balanced, compassionate self

Module 7: Befriending the Inner Critic with Cyndi Darnell

Embodied Befriending:

• Understand critic as cruel, demeaning voice that intends to help and protect
• Recognize warnings against vulnerability or risk-taking
• See how it interferes with self-esteem and confidence
• Accept paradoxical protective function

Compassionate Embodied Practice:

• Connect to personal power and stability through moments of flow
• Invite critic into "heart space"
• Physically cradle symbolic representation (pillow, toy)
• Welcome all parts of oneself

Transformative Potential:

• Move from fighting to befriending
• Transform critic from debilitating hindrance to manageable presence
• Enhance self-esteem and confidence
• Foster self-acceptance through compassionate engagement
• Experience challenging yet liberating practice

Module 8: The Wounded Protector with Dr. Frank Anderson

Origins of Critical Energy:

• Understand internalization of external critical energies
• Trace absorption through family legacies
• Recognize cultural influences and personal experiences
• Identify how abuse or neglect creates protective critical voice

IFS Compassionate Approach:

• Apply curiosity about positive intentions ("How are you trying to help?")
• Ask about origins ("Where did you learn how to do this?")
• Offer alternative, less harsh protective methods
• Avoid shaming the critic itself

Understanding Protective Function:

• See critic as guarding against perceived threats
• Recognize underlying wounds it defends
• Address vulnerabilities beneath critical voice
• Transform through compassionate engagement

Integration and Freedom:

• Move from debilitating hindrance to manageable aspect
• Foster self-acceptance and reduce self-loathing
• Allow greater freedom and confidence
• Integrate critic as transformed part of whole self

Core Competencies Developed Across All Modules:

Understanding the Critic:

• Recognize protective origins and intentions
• Identify diverse manifestations (cognitive, somatic, behavioral)
• Understand developmental and cultural roots
• See critic as attempting safety, however imperfectly

Somatic Awareness:

• Track physical manifestations (chest tightness, throat constriction, jaw tension)
• Notice breath patterns associated with criticism
• Identify body's response to critical thoughts
• Use somatic cues as entry points for intervention

Intervention Techniques:

• Resource breathing and grounding
• Physical assertion and boundary-setting
• Empty chair and enactment work
• CARE process and Inner Relationship Focusing
• Embodied befriending practices
• Inquiry-based questioning (Byron Katie's Work)

Relational Approaches:

• Dialogue with critic rather than fight it
• Offer empathy for critic's burden
• Understand critic's worries and fears
• Provide alternative protective strategies
• Address underlying wounds

Expanded Perspectives:

• Connect to bigger why and service
• Cultivate expanded senses of self
• Engage transpersonal and ecological awareness
• Humanize others to reduce fear
• Rest inflated ego through nature and creativity

Transformation Process:

• Move from resistance to compassionate understanding
• Unblend Self from critic
• Externalize to create dialogue
• Integrate rather than eliminate
• Transform harsh protector into supportive ally

Expert Faculty:

Learn from world-leading voices: Dené Logan, Dr. Albert Wong, Deanna Jimenez, Dr. Christopher Walling, Ann Weiser Cornell, Dr. Jeanine Canty, Cyndi Darnell, and Dr. Frank Anderson, with golden nuggets from special guest Fran Booth—each bringing unique perspectives from various therapeutic traditions including IFS, Focusing, Somatic Psychology, Ecopsychology, and more.

Multiple Lenses, One Truth:

What makes this course unique is the diversity of approaches—from somatic psychology to Internal Family Systems, from ecopsychology to Focusing, from inquiry-based work to embodied practices. Yet all converge on a revolutionary understanding: the inner critic is not the enemy. It's a wounded protector doing its best with outdated strategies. When we meet it with curiosity and compassion rather than more criticism, transformation becomes possible.

The Paradox of the Critic:

Across all modules, a profound paradox emerges:

• The critic tries to protect but creates suffering
• It warns against vulnerability yet perpetuates shame
• It fears judgment yet judges relentlessly
• It wants safety yet prevents authentic connection
• It believes it's helping yet sabotages growth

Understanding this paradox is the key to transformation. The critic isn't malicious—it's scared, worried, alone in its protective job, and using the only strategies it learned (often from the very voices that hurt us).

From Fighting to Befriending:

Traditional approaches try to:

• Silence the critic
• Argue with it logically
• Override it with positive thinking
• Eliminate it entirely

This course teaches a radically different path:

• Listen to what the critic is trying to protect
• Understand where it learned its harsh methods
• Offer empathy for its burden and worry
• Provide alternative, gentler protective strategies
• Address the underlying wounds it guards
• Integrate it as a transformed part of the whole

Transformation Through Integration:

This course supports professionals in helping clients:

• Recognize critic as internalized protective voice
• Understand its developmental origins and survival function
• Track its somatic manifestations in the body
• Unblend Self from critic's perspective
• Engage in compassionate dialogue with critical parts
• Challenge limiting beliefs through inquiry
• Connect to expanded senses of self beyond ego
• Address underlying wounds the critic protects
• Transform harsh protector into supportive ally
• Live with greater self-compassion, freedom, and authenticity

Who This Is For:

Essential training for:

• Therapists working with self-critical clients
• IFS practitioners deepening parts work with critics
• Somatic practitioners addressing embodied criticism
• Clinicians working with perfectionism and shame
• Anyone supporting clients with low self-esteem
• Practitioners interested in multiple modalities for critic work
• Therapists wanting to integrate somatic, cognitive, and relational approaches
• Professionals working with trauma survivors (where critic often develops)

What Makes This Comprehensive:

Eight modules, eight perspectives, all teaching the same fundamental truth from different angles:

• Dené Logan: Inquiry and bigger purpose
• Dr. Albert Wong: Somatic origins and techniques
• Deanna Jimenez: Body's wisdom and CARE process
• Dr. Christopher Walling: Historical context and enactment
• Ann Weiser Cornell: Focusing and protector secrets
• Dr. Jeanine Canty: Ecopsychology and expanded selves
• Cyndi Darnell: Embodied befriending
• Dr. Frank Anderson: IFS and wounded protector

Each module stands alone as valuable teaching. Together, they create a comprehensive understanding that transcends any single approach.

The Core Message:

When the inner critic is met with compassion instead of more resistance, it begins to soften. When we understand it's trying to protect (however harshly), we can offer empathy for its burden. When we address the wounds it guards, we free both the critic and the criticized to transform. When we integrate rather than eliminate, we become more whole.

This is not about getting rid of the inner critic—it's about transforming your relationship with it. Because the critic won't disappear, but it can become a friend. The harsh protector can become a supportive ally. The relentless judge can become a discerning guide. And clients can move from constant self-attack to spacious self-compassion.

Essential training for any practitioner ready to help clients transform their inner critic from the inside out—through somatic awareness, nervous system regulation, compassionate dialogue, and deep relational repair.

Join our brilliant experts for the following sessions:

DENÉ LOGAN

Dené Logan is a Marriage and Family Therapist, a group facilitator, and an author based in Los Angeles. In addition to working with clients in private practice, she is a mindfulness coach, a yoga teacher, and specializes in supporting others in showing up more authentically in all of their relationships - including (and perhaps most importantly) in the relationship with themselves.
Dené utilizes her background in depth psychology to infuse archetypes, ritual, and metaphysics into the exploration of how each of us can reclaim the aspects of our authentic selves that we’ve been culturally conditioned to turn away from in an attempt to maintain attachments.
Her first book, Sovereign Love: A Guide to Healing Relationships by Reclaiming the Masculine and Feminine Within, is available now. You can connect with Dené further at denelogan.com or on IG: @dene.logan

DR. ALBERT WONG

Dr. Albert Wong is the Director of the Trauma Certificate Program at Somatopia and a leading educator and clinician in the field of somatics.  He was residential staff at the Esalen Institute for five years and served as the Director of Somatic Psychology at John F. Kennedy University. A Marshall Scholar, he has been featured on PBS, in Time Magazine, and in the book The American Soul Rush. He was educated at Princeton, Oxford, and the University of Tennessee and is the recipient of numerous national awards (Westinghouse Science Talent Scholarship, Goldwater Scholarship).  He maintains a private counseling and consulting practice centered around somatic psychotherapy and is the founder of the online somatic education platform, Somatopia: www.somatopia.com. He is the author of the recently released book, The Healing Trauma Workbook.

Website:  www.somatopia.com 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/somatopia 

Instagram: @somatopia 

Youtube: www.youtube.com/somatopia 

DR. CHRISTOPHER WALLING

Dr. Chris Walling, PsyD, MBA, FABP is a licensed clinical psychologist, board-certified psychoanalyst, and an active leader in the bio-behavioral sciences. Dr. Walling is an Associate Professor in the Department of Research Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and the Research Chair & Past-President of the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy. He is a Fellow of the American Board of Psychoanalysis and a member of the New Center for Psychoanalysis where he serves as Faculty in the Adult Psychoanalytic Training program and serves on their Education Committee & Diversities Committee, Dr. Walling also serves on the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Committee on Gender & Sexuality.
Dr. Walling serves as a Clinical Research Fellow at the Kinsey Institute for Research on Sex, Gender and Reproduction, located at Indiana University, Bloomington. In addition, he has been honored as a Gina Ogden Curatorial Scholar for 2024 by Kinsey, where he also serves on their International Advisory Council. His clinical interests survey the fields of somatic psychotherapy, relational psychoanalysis, human sexuality, and trauma psychology. His peer-reviewed works are published in the American Psychological Association‘s Journal of Psychotherapy and the International Body Psychotherapy Journal. Dr. Walling maintains a private practice in Brentwood (Los Angeles), California.

ANN WEISER CORNELL

Ann Weiser Cornell is an author, educator, and worldwide authority on Focusing, the emotional self-healing method developed by her close colleague, Eugene Gendlin. She has taught Inner Relationship Focusing in twenty countries around the world for more than thirty-five years, as well as online. Her books include: The Radical Acceptance of Everything, Focusing in Clinical Practice: The Essence of Change, 21 Days to Better Boundaries, and she's the co-author (with Barbara McGavin) of Untangling: How You Can Transform What’s Impossibly Stuck. She is a Past President of the Association for Humanistic Psychology.

Website: www.focusingresources.com 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/FocusingResources 

DR. JEANINE CANTY

Jeanine M. Canty, PhD, is a professor of transformative studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco, telecommuting from Boulder, CO. Formerly the chair of environmental studies at Naropa University, she continues to teach at Naropa and at Pacifica Graduate Institute’s ecopsychology certificate program. A lover of nature, justice, and contemplative practice, her teaching intersects issues of social and ecological justice, ecopsychology, and the process of worldview expansion and change. She is author of Returning the Self to Nature: Undoing our Collective Narcissism and Healing our Planet (Shambhala Publications, 2022) and her most recent edited book is an expanded, second edition of Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women’s Voices (2025).

DEANNA JIMENEZ

Deanna Jimenez is an Assistant Professor at California Institute of Integral Studies in the Somatic Psychology Department and a somatic/transpersonal psychotherapist in private practice supporting individuals and couples.

Her clinical work is centered in the dialogue of mental health as it intersects with race, culture and spirituality. She received a Bachelor's in International Relations from UC Berkeley studying the efficacy of conflict resolution and cultural awareness in the international workplace. Following a career in corporate and non-profit fields, Deanna received her Masters from John F. Kennedy University in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology. Through an eclectic body of training, she uses a freedom-focused approach to support clients who have dedicated their lives to transformative justice movements. In supporting people of marginalized identities to build a solid spiritual, embodied foundation we raise collective consciousness while dismantling systems of oppression. To learn more about Deanna and her work, please visit: www.deannajimenez.com

CYNDI DARNELL

Cyndi Darnell is a world renowned sex & relationship expert. She brings over 25 years of clinical and practical expertise to the world of intimacy, relationships and  somatic healing. She's the author of Sex When You Don't Feel Like It: The Truth About Mismatched Libido & Rediscovering Desire. She works online with people of all genders and orientations around the world in many relationship configurations via zoom. You can find her on Insta & BlueSky @cyndi_darnell, and Substack @cyndidarnell and via her website www.cyndidarnell.com

FRANK ANDERSON

Frank Anderson, MD, is a world-renowned trauma expert, Harvard-trained psychiatrist and global speaker. He is the co-author of the IFS Skills Training Manual (2017), acclaimed best-selling author of Transcending Trauma (2021) and newly released memoir, To Be Loved: A Story of Truth, Trauma and Transformation (2024). Dr Anderson has a long affiliation with Bessel van der Kolk at the Trauma Research Foundation and is a lead trainer at the IFS Institute under Richard Schwartz. He is passionate about teaching brain-based psychotherapy and integrating current neuroscience knowledge with cutting edge models of therapy.

Dr. Anderson believes that traumatic events can have a lasting effect on the health and well- being of individuals and that addressing these events will help lead people down a path of love, connection and unity. He is the director and cofounder of the Trauma Institute (traumainstitute.com) and Trauma-Informed Media (trauma-informedmedia.com), organizations that provide educational resources and promote trauma awareness. As a result of his early childhood experiences and personal journey transformation, he is dedicated to bringing more trauma healing to the world. He splits his time between Boston and Los Angeles where he lives with his husband and two sons. Follow him at FrankAndersonMD.com and on Instagram @frank_andersonmd.

FRANCES D. BOOTH

Frances Booth LICSW is a Certified IFS therapist, consultant, and international trainer. She is a colleague of Richard Schwartz, founder of IFS, and Susan McConnell, author of Somatic IFS. As a clinical social worker, her somatically focused practice specialties are trauma, anxiety, depression, cancer, and attachment ruptures and repair. Fran is a cis-gendered, white, heterosexual woman of Irish-German descent and she will speak with us from the land of Narragansetts, Niantic, and Wampanoag peoples, now known as Rhode Island, USA.

Website: www.francesbooth.com

DR. SCOTT LYONS

Dr. Scott Lyons is a licensed holistic psychologist, educator and author of the book Addicted to Drama: Healing Dependency on Crisis and Chaos in Yourself and Others, with Hachette publishing. Scott is also the host of The Gently Used Human Podcast, a delightfully depthful and often hilarious exploration of what it is to be human, to have lived life, and come out gently used.

As a renowned body-based trauma expert, Doctor of Osteopathy (Spain) and Mind-Body Medicine specialist, Scott helps people to break free from cycles of pain, limited beliefs, and trauma. Scott is an innovator in transformative wellness and trauma therapy, teaching over half a million people internationally over the past twenty years how to relieve stress and restore vitality. Scott has worked with many of the country’s top leaders and CEOs as an executive coach and wellness consultant.

Scott is the creator of The Embody Lab—the largest online learning platform for body-based trauma therapies—and developer of Somatic Stress Release™, a holistic process of restoring biological resilience, taught in over 20 countries.

Scott is a Certified Body-Mind Centering™ Teacher and Practitioner, Cranio-Sacral Therapist, Visceral Manipulation Therapist, Neuro-Developmental Therapist, Infant Developmental Movement Educator, Registered Movement Therapist and Educator, Trauma Therapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Thai Massage Practitioner, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Mindfulness-based Executive Coach, Experiential Anatomy/ Developmental Movement and Yoga Practitioner, and a 500-hour registered yoga teacher. Additionally Scott holds a BFA in Theater/Psychology, MFA in Dance/Choreography, MS in Clinical Psychology, and a PhD in Clinical Psychology and Mind-Body Medicine.

Scott has been featured in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Forbes Women, Fast Company, The Telegraph, The Guardian, INC., CNBC Make It, Fortune, Bustle, Reader’s Digest and Goop. He has also appeared on The Mel Robbins Podcast, The Jordan Harbinger Show, The We Can Do Hard Things Podcast, The Mental Illness Happy Hour, The Human Upgrade, The Genius Life, and The Chopra Well.

Websites: www.TheEmbodyLab.com, www.drscottlyons.com 

Instagram: @DrscottLyons

Book: https://www.drscottlyons.com/addicted-to-drama-book

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