Unmasking the Inner Critic with Andrew Lang

In this episode, I’m talking about unmasking the inner critic with my guest Andrew Lang. Andrew is a lifelong educator and a gentle, light-hearted facilitator of meaningful inner work. So, you’ll hear about how to recognize your limiting narratives and transform them – in a kind, embodied, and even playful way.

Andrew Lang is the author of a book called Unmasking the Inner Critic: Lessons for Living an Unconstricted Life. He offers an expansive definition of the inner critic, and how it includes everything from negative self-talk to emotional and physical constrictions that ultimately limit us and make us feel less whole.

Elements of Unmasking the Inner Critic That We’ll Cover:

• How your negative mental voice relates to internal “protector parts” that want to keep you safe
• Where these unhelpful narratives and emotional patterns come from
• Inviting your inner critic into a “listening room,” rather than taking an aggressive approach (like “destroying the negative voice,” or “battling your demons”)
• Common illusions associated with the inner critic, like “I am not good enough,” “I am not important,” “I am not lovable,” “I am alone,” or “I am my trauma”
• How dis-illusionment can be a beautiful process, despite the challenges we face when letting go of familiar beliefs. 

Andrew also positions this deep internal work within the context of our lives in society, and we talk about how unwinding our individual confusion can contribute to changing harmful constructs like racism, meritocracy, patriarchy, and heteronormativity. You’ll hear about a few key moments that brought Andrew to this work, and how it’s unfolded through different phases of his life.

This is a really rich episode, and despite the seriousness of the topic, we had a lot of fun recording it! I hope you’ll enjoy listening to this conversation and come away with some ideas you can put into practice.

(And bonus: you’ll get some solid Pacific Northwest coffee recommendations at the end…)
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Guest Bio:

Andrew Lang is an educator in the Pacific Northwest, an alumnus of Richard Rohr’s Living School for Action and Contemplation, and author of Unmasking the Inner Critic: Lessons for Living an Unconstricted Life. Along with writing regularly, he facilitates workshops helping people to navigate their inner lives and explore their sense of identity and spirituality.

You can learn more about Andrew Lang and his book at https://www.andrewglang.com/

You can also follow him on Instagram (and Threads!) @andrewglang 

For more links and resources mentioned in this episode, find the show notes at movedtomeditate.yoga/podcast.

Lastly, you can follow the podcast (and Addie, the host) on Instagram at @addie_movedtomeditate (for mindfulness, movement, yin yoga, and pictures of PNW nature and my adorable kitty, Mustache).