Body Check In: My Favorite MoneyTool

written by Bari Tessler February 5, 2011
Body Check In My Favorite Conscious Bookkeeping Tool

The Body Check-in is an incredible practice for life and money.

The first step of the Art of Money journey is to bring more awareness to your money story.

Here is a great tool to assist you.

I have been teaching this tool since I started offering the Art of Money work over a decade ago. I know many of you have a similar practice that you bring to other areas of your life or maybe this type of thing is brand new for you. Either way, I invite you to experiment with this tool and incorporate it into your daily and weekly ‘MONEY PRACTICE’.

Here is a brief excerpt from the workbook of the Art of Money program…

I’d like to give you your first and most important tool right now, while we’re still at the outset of your journey. I shared earlier that my graduate school experience was lacking in any sort of financial education. It did, however, teach me a simple yet wonderfully supportive process called the body check-in that has become an integral part of my Art of Money work. It’s a great tool to use whenever we’re learning anything new or whenever we’re doing inner exploration. Since you’ll be doing a lot of both of these in this course-often simultaneously-I want you to be very familiar with this tool and will often remind you to use it. The body check-in begins by stopping whatever else you’re doing and taking a few deep, slow breaths. Closing your eyes is also often helpful. You then take on an attitude of openness and curiosity and place your attention on your inner experience. Let yourself become aware of any thoughts, feelings, images, body sensations, or memories. Simply acknowledge what you find without trying to change it in any way. Refrain from any self-judgment or self-criticism, or, if that does arise, just notice it as well. If you want to write anything down in a journal, that can be part of the process, but it’s not necessary. That’s all there is to it.

This process serves several important purposes. First, it pushes the pause button on any additional information or stimulation coming at us from the outside world. This pause is very helpful when our inner world is getting stirred up or “activated” and we’ve started to become scattered or fragmented. It helps us reconnect with ourselves, see what’s actually happening inside, and thereby get to know ourselves better.

Next, tuning into the content of our inner experience is a way of honoring it, of sending ourselves the message that “You matter, and what’s arising inside of you is important.” In this way, we are taking good care of the sensitive and vulnerable parts inside us.

This compassionate and attentive self-care in turn builds our confidence that we can take good care of ourselves, and that it’s therefore safe to continue learning and growing and moving forward even when the territory is unknown or seems frightening. Finally, the body check-in also makes us better students, since when we’re distracted or overwhelmed our ability to take in and digest new information is greatly reduced.

Body Check-In…

I suggest you use it frequently throughout your day whenever you have interactions around money. It will give you very important information and clues regarding your money story. It can be very helpful before, during or after money conversations with your spouse, clients, bosses, friends and family. It can be helpful to also do it when you’re in less direct contact with money, such as before opening a stack of mail that includes (or might include) bills or when you’re casually thinking of something that you want to purchase. I want you to think of the body check-in as an essential part of your journey, as it holds abundant opportunities for self-discovery and self-connection.

Here is a summary of the steps involved:

a) Stop whatever else you are doing.

b) Take a few deep, slow breaths.

c) Be open and curious about your inner experience.

d) Notice any thoughts, feelings, images, body sensations, memories.

e) Acknowledge what you find.

f) If self-criticism or self-judgment arise, just notice that too.

g) Write about your experience in a money journal if you’d like to. If you need motivation to do frequent check-in’s, reviewing the ample benefits as discussed earlier may help to provide it. And, please let yourself enjoy this tool as it can be very supportive and informative for you in many ways!

With my dearest wishes,

Bari Tessler Linden

Grab the 8-minute guided body check-in meditation mp3 and workbook below.  

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