Dear Money Adventurer,
Sometimes, as we move deeper into our relationship with money, we find that this work brings up old wounds or painful emotions that we thought we had healed.
These moments are a testament to your mindful awareness and personal growth, yet their unfolding can feel disorienting and overwhelming.
Finding yourself moving through painful histories while also simultaneously trying to learn new practical money skills can feel like the ground is giving way beneath your feet.
You might feel like a child again, yearning for care and support amid difficulty, longing for safety and stability that you cannot provide yourself.
In the midst of these truths lies another: in turning inward to bring awareness and compassion to the places where we feel unsafe, we can learn to cultivate a deeper sense of inner safety to ground us through life’s ebbs and flows.
The somatic term for this feeling-safe-in-your-body-no-matter-what is “self-regulation.” – Just as the name suggests, it is a gift that we can cultivate for ourselves.
I’m going to share three of my favorite somatic practices to help you foster a sense of internal safety as you navigate your money journey.
These body-based exercises are simple, yet profoundly powerful.
When you find yourself struggling with money stress, discomfort, or any big emotion, these personal practices can help you feel supported as you learn to self-regulate with compassion and gentle curiosity.
Let me show you how.
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Practice #1 – Body Check-In
Stop for a moment and turn your attention inwards. Take a deep breath, tune in to how your body and just notice. There’s no judgment here. Don’t try to “fix” anything. Just allow your awareness to move through your body.
What do you notice on a physical level? Are your shoulders up or down? Is your jaw tight or loose? Are your legs crossed or open? Next, what sensations do you notice? And where? Hot, cold, movement, stillness.
Next, extend your focus deeper and notice the emotions coming up for you – no need to justify them or push them away. Simply name them for what they are and allow yourself to be present with them. Next, notice where your breath is in your body and how deep or how shallow. Just notice.
Practice #2 – Resourcing
After you have done a body-check-in, bring your awareness to what would feel good in your body right now. What one adjustment can you make to offer yourself some comfort? Do you need to roll your shoulders back to release some tension? To unclench your jaw? To do a little shimmy and shake it out?
Make that adjustment, whatever it is, and notice the sense of relief or increased ease in your body.
Resourcing is a somatic practice that guides you to shift your awareness to sensations, images, or even objects that make you feel nurtured, supported and connected to a sense of “okayness.” This practice can teach your body that it can experience stress but come back to a state of calm.
By doing a body check-in and scanning for places where you feel good – or even just neutral, you can start to feel resourced. Focus on that physical sensation or body part, pouring your attention into being present in that experience of positivity or neutrality.
Let yourself notice where you feel safe and supported. Let yourself focus on that physical sensation or body part, pouring your attention into being present in that experience of positivity or neutrality. Experiment with what empowers you to feel genuinely resourced.
It could be feeling the soles of your feet on the floor or going for a walk around the block or even drinking some water or having a snack. Resources are those things and actions that we can draw upon for support in times of need or stress.
Practice #3 – Titration
Titration means that we slow things down (internally and externally) and break down tasks into manageable bite-size chunks.
We have a tendency to show up with a long list of money To-Dos that quickly leaves us utterly overwhelmed. I’ve seen too many people try to do too much, too fast in their money journey, only to wind up disengaged and opting out of money work altogether.
Titration is the body-based antidote to this urge to do too much. It is, quite simply, the practice of taking the time to fully integrate each baby step you take before taking the next one. It is a great practice to help you slow down and give yourself space to be fully present for your money journey, but it can also be used any time you feel overwhelmed.
So the moment you start to feel the overwhelm coming on, you can gently pause, take a break, even go into a resourcing moment and slow things down.
This will give you time to breathe and start breaking things down one small bite-size step at a time. We truly can move mountains but it can only be done one baby step at a time.
Please know that you can draw strength and safety from your inner world in a myriad of ways, anytime you need to.
The body check-in, resourcing and titration tools are some of my favorite somatic practices because they are so simple, yet so personally empowering.
You can bring these practices anywhere you go and you can always be equipped in the face of challenging money moments.
Every time you use these tools, you gently expand your capacity to anchor yourself in safety, okayness and compassion.
What a beautiful, powerful thing.
P.S. Want to give your friends or family a wonderful gift? Or need some extra support yourself? My books can help give the gift of financial therapy and can be found everywhere online and in many local bookstores.
