“There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.”

A lot of the young adult clients that I work with want to learn about meditation, finding their inner voice and listening to their intuition. I love exploring this with my clients and as a therapist and yoga teacher, we often start by learning about the chakras or seven major energy centers in the body.

The sixth chakra, or ajna (sanskrit or Hindu term for the third eye) is where some of our inner voice lives. It also lives in our body and our gut feelings. When we can access both channels, we can gain access to our body’s wisdom and our own inner knowledge. But, just as important as learning about this is also learning how to protect our sixth chakra and our body from being overwhelmed by other people’s opinions or projections.

So, what does this look like? It can mean setting healthy boundaries with others, when they are offering us well-meaning feedback. Have you ever shared an experience with someone and the response you heard was:

“Why didn’t you just (fill in the blank?)”,

“Why aren’t you just (fill in the blank.)” or

“I would never have done (fill in the blank.)” These comments may be coming from a good place, but this kind of feedback can often make us feel ashamed, judged, or defensive.

It’s okay to say,

“I appreciate you listening. I’m feeling into what path feels like the right one for me. It would mean a lot if you could just listen as I find my way.”

It’s okay to ask others for what we need and it’s also healthy to let them know we are working on finding our own voices. It’s ok to be selective about with whom we share our newfound voice. It’s like a fledgling plant that is trying to grow. Getting too many opinions or thoughts from others can be like flooding this new plant with too much water.

We need time to learn to cultivate our own inner voice and listen to our bodies and gut feelings. We can make more discerning choices with whom we do and don’t share our thoughts, feelings and ideas. Learning to trust yourself takes time and it’s important to give yourself patience and space as you learn this new skill.