Money Breath Meditation

In this 15-minute guided meditation, you'll practice ways to eliminate your impulsive reactions to money-related stress so that you can more easily tap into your innate wisdom to make smarter financial decisions.

Transcript

Welcome to the Money Breath Meditation.

The Money Breath Meditation is designed to slow us down.

It's the perfect antidote to how most of us are around money.

I know for myself,

Money thoughts and decisions happen very quickly.

Or the reactions to situations happen very quickly.

I get a bill in the mail that I don't think I should get,

Or something happens at work,

Or something happens with an investment,

And the reactions happen in a nanosecond.

And in that quickness,

We often say or do impulsive things.

We often react mindlessly or with less wisdom than we have within ourselves.

We often react from our patterns around money.

How our ancestors responded to the same money situations.

And my wish for everyone is that we're able to access a spaciousness,

An emptiness,

A freshness around money so that we can take a course of action that represents who you are in this moment,

What you want for your life around money,

And access your own wisdom,

Which we all have around money.

But that quickness,

That speediness around money,

Keeps us from accessing our own innate common sense wisdom around money.

So here we go.

Let's come into a settled position.

Upright,

But not uptight.

Letting go of everything it took to arrive in this moment.

And just sensing the quality of the breath right now,

However it is.

And as we're feeling the breath,

We might have thoughts arising as well.

And especially with thoughts around money,

These thoughts can change dramatically from one moment to the next.

So we fear scarcity in one moment,

And then the next moment we're fantasizing about getting rich.

We love money in one moment,

And then in the next we hate money.

We feel resigned about our money lives,

Or that our relationship to money will never change,

It will always be challenging.

Or maybe in the next moment it all feels okay.

So just notice becoming aware of confluence of thoughts that we have around money,

The ricochet nature of all of our money thoughts.

And let's do an experiment with slowing down.

So using the breath to create spaciousness.

So here's the good news around money.

A pause of even a half a second can shift your perspective.

It can mean the difference between having money and not having money.

The difference between feeling at peace around money and feeling stressed around money.

The difference between confusion and clarity can be a moment away.

Between impulsivity and patience.

Between reactivity and wisdom.

Between scarcity and a sense of enough.

Between stress and peace.

I invite you to ponder a money trigger,

Something that's been upsetting you around money,

That causes you stress around money.

Think of something that causes you stress,

What I call a money trigger.

And with that thought in your mind,

I invite you to on the inhale,

Count to three.

So counting to three on the inhale,

Hold the breath on the count of four.

And then exhale on five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Ten.

So counting this way means that the exhale is twice as long as the inhale.

Now let's do the same breath again,

And this time let's inhale through the nose,

And exhale through the mouth.

So counting to three on the inhale,

Hold on the count of four,

And then exhaling through the mouth on the counts of five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Ten.

It's a ten count breath.

Counting to three on the inhale,

Pausing on four,

And then exhaling on five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Ten.

So that the exhale is twice as long as the inhale.

The inhale is through the nose,

And the exhale is through the mouth.

And at the end of that money breath,

I like to say to myself,

May my money wisdom increase,

Or may I relax around money,

Or may I feel at peace around money.

So offer yourself whatever words might feel appropriate at the end of that breath.

The money breath is designed to bring oxygen to our brain,

Which is just what we need,

Because often when we're in a money situation,

We have very little access to oxygen.

We're breathing in a shallow way often when we're feeling stress in life,

When we're in that fight-flight response,

We're not taking in full breaths.

And yet,

Addressing any money challenge requires oxygen so that we can access our innate wisdom.

So this money breath seems very simple.

Sometimes I feel like it's almost trite.

And yet,

Every time I remember to bring this money breath into a money situation,

My whole life changes.

Because I'm bringing this oxygen in that I wasn't bringing in prior.

And in bringing that extra oxygen in,

New thoughts arise.

I'm able to see the situation in a much,

Much wider perspective.

And that's often what we need with money,

Is a wider perspective.

Often we're focusing very narrowly that I must buy this house,

And I can only be happy if I get this house.

And then we take that money breath.

And we see and we realize there are many houses.

Even if I don't get this house,

There'll be another house that I like as much or more than this one.

And along with this money breath,

I'd like to offer a practice that I often add on to the money breath.

And it's a four-step process.

And the acronym is easy to remember.

It's the letters S-T-O-P for stop.

And that's often what we need to do around money,

Is just take a pause,

Stop.

The S in stop stands for what I think is the most important step,

Is pausing whenever you're in the middle of a stressful money situation.

The next step,

The T in stop,

Stands for take.

Take a money breath.

So take that 10-count money breath that we just experienced together.

The O in stop stands for observe.

Observe the situation.

So the word observe is sort of like the word witness,

To witness the situation.

And standing back from it,

What do you notice about what's happening?

So pretend that you're a scientist.

And scientists often have two qualities.

They're often very curious.

And they also bring a neutral mind or a kind mind.

So you're looking with a sense of curiosity,

And without emotion,

Notices what's happening.

And then the P in stop stands for proceed.

So proceed with something that will support you in the moment.

An action that's wiser,

Perhaps,

Than the automatic reaction you were going to do a minute ago.

It might be to say to yourself,

I need some more time before I make this money decision.

Like maybe you're buying a house or buying a car,

Or you're selling something,

Or you're about to borrow money,

Or you're about to have a money conversation with your spouse or your adult child.

You know,

In all those moments,

Stop and take that money breath.

That 10 count money breath.

So remember that acronym stop.

Stopping,

Taking a money breath,

Observing what's actually happening,

And then proceeding with something that will be supportive.

My belief around money is that each of us has all the wisdom we need,

All the common sense we need to solve most,

If not all,

Of our money challenges.

And the only thing keeping us from accessing that wisdom is our reactivity,

Our stress around money,

Our automatic,

Rapid reactions around money.

And as we pause,

As we slow down,

As we take a money breath,

All of that changes.

And we have the ability to see answers that we didn't see before.

And sometimes that answer is just to pause and wait a day before making this money decision.

I think we can all relate to this idea,

I know I can,

That if I had taken a pause more often in my life around money,

I would actually have a lot more money today.

I would have had less stress in many financial situations had I been able to take more pauses.

And that's what I'm inviting you to do.

Creating a pause in each money interaction is bringing a breath of fresh air into your life.

And we all need that,

Because the air we're breathing around money has gotten very stale.

We're swimming in the same waters around money that we've always swum in.

And I'm inviting us to step out of those waters with that pause,

Bring in oxygen,

And access our inherent common sense,

The abundance of common sense that each of us have around money.

Wishing you well.