Hi, I’m Bari Tessler.
A Pioneer in the Field of Somatic-Based Financial Therapy
My life’s work captured my heart when I was just a child.
Growing up, I wanted to be a Solid Gold dancer, just like the women I saw having the time of their lives on my TV screen. It was the 70s and I loved to dance – the expression, the gold sequined outfits, the freedom to be fully in my body – it was my very first love.
As I got a little older, I decided I wanted to be a businesswoman. I didn’t know what kind of businesswoman, but I loved the idea of being my own boss, making my own money, and creating my own destiny.
Then at 16, I asked my parents if I could go to therapy because I wanted to understand myself on a much deeper level and quickly became fascinated with psychology and psychotherapy.
Yet I spent my undergrad years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison earning a degree in History and by the time I finished school, realized I had no idea what I wanted to do or who I wanted to be when I grew up.
Little did I know my childhood passions would merge into a truly unique career – and in a way I never dreamed possible.
But since I didn’t know that at the time, I made the next best choice –
Travel.
I went to Israel for a year and while jogging on a kibbutz one day, felt an idea jolt through me – merge dance and psychotherapy into dance-movement therapy.
I was convinced I’d made up an entirely new field.
I soon learned that my inspiration was guiding me. There were graduate programs in dance movement therapy and somatic psychology at one place in particular – Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.
A year later, I auditioned for my master’s program and was accepted as the youngest in my cohort.
I was also in the midst of experiencing the loss of 4 of the closest men in my life – my beloved grandpa, both of my uncles, and my Israeli boyfriend.
I intuitively spent many sleepless nights lighting candles and dancing through my grief. Then when my studies began, I learned the skills I needed to walk myself through bereavement and into acceptance, healing, peace, and hope.
I was officially a student of somatic psychology.
And – I was a changed woman.
When Mission, Movement, and Money Collide
I spent my 20s earning my master’s, gained invaluable experience through internships, and wrote my 150-page thesis on how self-created rituals and movement therapy are empowerment tools for young women on their healing journeys.
I also worked in the mental health field, in hospice, and led authentic movement groups for women both during and after grad school.
At that time in my life, I thought my work would be on intimacy, sexuality, relationships, the body, food, grief, and even death.
Everything but money.
I’d achieved my M.A., had finally walked across the stage, and then one day when my student loan came due, a lightbulb moment practically blinded me –
WE NEVER TALKED ABOUT MONEY!
My somatic psychology training and education was incredible, and yet while we discussed every subject under (and beyond) the sun, we never discussed our money emotions, our money stories, how to help clients not fight about money, or even how to start our own private practices.
I was mind blown. It was such an obvious missing piece.
It was so obvious that it became my mission.
But not before I took a little bookkeeping detour where I met my mentor – and my life’s work.
I spent 4 years moonlighting as a bookkeeper for other therapists, artists, and creatives and got a BIG peek inside how people thought about money, their money habits, and how they ran their businesses – a front row seat into their most personal worlds – all because I handled their books.
Money relationships were already front and center in my professional life – I just didn’t realize they were about to become my entire world.
It’s funny how destiny always finds a way.
Into the Woods We Go
I was 32 years old when my life’s work met me in a tiny 350 square foot cabin in the California Redwoods.
I’d just returned from a life-changing hike with a loving demand from my mentor ringing in my ears – “Young lady, it’s time to give a talk on your methodology.”
“What methodology?”
At the time, even I didn’t know that my life’s work was knocking at the door of my heart.
But she did.
And now I was suddenly hiking alone through the woods, hearing my own voice softly sift through the trees –
“How am I supposed to help my community have a more healthy, mindful, empowered relationship with money?”
I walked back through the door of our cabin a couple hours later and felt like I was glowing.
My husband could tell something was happening and threw white paper up on the wall as the answers to my question poured out of me.
Money healing.
Money practices.
Money maps.
The Art of Money methodology was born.
In that moment, he turned, stared at me, and said –
“You’re doing financial… therapy.”
My eyes widened. The phrase shot like a bolt of electric energy through my veins.
“What did you say?”
It was 2001 and that phrase was brand new.
I started teaching my method almost immediately.
People’s lives began changing right before my eyes – and so did ours.
We moved from our tiny cabin in the woods to a larger cabin in the middle of a beautiful apple orchard.
12+ people at a time would huddle together in our apple orchard living room – all hungry to work the method and rewrite their money stories.
Then, I began taking it on the road.
One night, we would be in San Francisco, one night in Berkeley, one night in Oakland. I drove all over the Bay Area to teach. When 12 grew into 20 over and over again, people all over the country began to ask –
“Hey, do you teach online?”
And for the next 25 years, the rest became history.
On the Horizon of the Rest of My Life
I was pioneering a movement, so it only made sense to take the method as far as we could.
I began teaching tele-classes while we still lived in California, before settling back here in Boulder where my husband and I originally fell in love. I also woke up one day at 38 years old – after never wanting kids my entire life – and knew that our next right step was to have our son.
Intentionally becoming pregnant later in life and having our son 4 months before my 40th birthday was a game-changer for my work because it paved the way for me to be totally online –
And worldwide.
I created a home study program, then opened my first year long version of The Art of Money where my 3-phase method attracted 500 people per cohort for many years.
Now at 57 years old, I look back at the last three and a half decades and smile.
I am a financial therapist with a Masters in Somatic Psychology, a 2x Author and Founder of The Art of Money method and program.
I’ve worked as a somatic financial therapist with individuals, couples, and entrepreneurs from every income bracket and socio-economic background.
I’ve taught my financial therapy method one-on-one, in small and large groups alike, live on stage, and online since 2001 – serving over 5000 people from 50 different countries.
My work has been featured on Oprah.com, Inc.com, The Cut, Reuters Money, The Huffington Post, Nerd Wallet, The Wall Street Journal, Girlboss, USA Today, Real Simple, The Fiscal Times, Redbook, MindBodyGreen, and in hundreds of interviews, podcasts, and guest blogs. I’ve even been featured on the covers of Experience Life Magazine and Mindful Magazine. (If you would like to visit my media page with headshots, interviews and speaking, go here).
I’ve mentored other therapists, coaches, and financial professionals to incorporate money psychology teachings and tools into their practices.
My first book, The Art of Money: A Life-Changing Guide to Financial Happiness, was published in 2016 and has sold over 35,000 copies. My second book, The Art of Money Workbook, was published in 2022 – true pinch me moments.
As I look ahead at the next decade and dance toward the golden years of life, I take into account just how much I love having the ability to slow down and deepen –
As a woman, as a wife, as a mother, dancer, reader, hiker, dark chocolate connoisseur, baker, and financial therapy practitioner and pioneer.
And yet I know there’s so much more to come – and I’m thrilled about it.
I dream of seeing The Art of Money: A Life-Changing Guide to Financial Happiness included in master’s level Psychology, Social Work, and Counseling programs across the country, and in fact, it’s already being used as a textbook in a personal finance course at my alma mater, Naropa University.
The horizon is both coming and is already here and somehow, the depth of my life and life’s work is just getting started.
Braving This Terrain Together
As you look further into my work and consider what it can mean for your own life, I want you to know that you are safe here.
I’ve hiked this terrain and know these woods like the back of my hand.
Wherever you are on your money journey, it is yours and it is good. You are brave for being here and stepping into this money work.
Come back to your own pacing, just as I have, over and over again.
We’re traveling together now – so let’s begin here:
Practice self-compassion and practice taking baby step after baby step to create a new relationship with money because every little step adds up to big change.
You can also dig into my work, whether through my podcast, top 10 blogs, books, or by joining our self-guided Art of Money program.
Please feel the freedom to browse my menu of services where you’ll find short descriptions and various price points for offerings that can serve you on your money journey.
And remember, the savviest financial tools you’ll ever find are compassion, body-based wisdom, and radical un-shaming.
Peace, hope, and empowerment are yours for the taking.
With gratitude, deep care, and wild joy for your journey, I hope to meet you soon –
P.S. A few of my favorite things:
