Being stressed out about money will affect your teaching, consciously or unconsciously. Money troubles can make you unfocused and stressed, worrying about how many students are in the room instead of the quality of your teaching.

Ippoliti, Amy & Smith, Taro, The Art and Business of Teaching Yoga (2016).

I love this quote because it captures what I know in my gut to be true, money worries trouble us on a deep mental, emotional and physical level. Today, however, I’m going to provide an exercise I do in my worskhops that partially addresses this reality–without making an extra dime of income.

Where we came from

By where we came from, I don’t mean our city of origin or socioeconomic status. I mean our very earliest memories with money. They say (don’t ask me who “they” is, I don’t know) that our relationship with money is formed by the age of six years old. If that’s the case, I think it behooves each one of us to recall some of our earliest memories around money. Here are some prompts from Suze Orman,

What were the best presents you recall receiving as a child?

Did your friends have things you didn’t?

Did you get money every time you saw your grandparents?

Did you feel ashamed of having more than your friends did?

Did your parents fight about money?

Did you steal–from piggy banks, wallets, dime stores?

What did your parents tell you about money that made you feel good? Feel bad?

Orman, Suze. The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom (2000).

I encourage you not just to think about your answer to “your earliest childhood memories related to money” but to write it down before reading on.

Jillian’s Story

One student had early positive associations with money–she was never attached to it. And when her parents needed new carpet, she gladly handed over all the money she had saved. As an adult, however, this early detachment was not serving her or her family well, because they were living below the poverty line and requiring assistance that they wanted to be independent of. She realized she needed to be more conscious about finances and allow it to take on an appropriate amount of importance. I spoke to her recently and they are living in a more affordable part of the country, are paying down debt and slowly working toward higher levels of financial security.

Savannah’s Story

Another student was brave enough to share her story. She said when she was young she got invited to a birthday party. She made a gift from items around the house, wrapped it, and proudly took it to her friend’s party. It was only when it was opened, and she saw the looks on all the adults’ faces, that she realized that her gift was not like the others. She felt shame.

Current Fears about Money.

After you’ve written your earliest childhood memory, take a moment to write some current fears around money. I remember buying my first condo by the beach after graduating from law school. It was a vision I had held for years…buying my own home with my own money. It wasn’t long though, before a deep money fear crept up: being on my own with no safety net. In fact, I’d often have visions of treading water in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with no life preserver, no raft and no person to lend a hand of safety. Shoulders above the water line, but the legs egg-beatering frantically below the surface.

And this was a time when I made a very healthy income. So, take a moment, if you will, and write your own fears or bothersome imagery. Some may include, “I won’t be able to get another job.” “I don’t have enough to pay for my kids’ college.” “I use my credit cards to cover gaps each month.” “I don’t know if I’m doing enough to retire before I’m 80.” “I got screwed in my divorce.”

The Antidote to Early Programming and Fear

Do not underestimate the power of the next exercise, despite its simplicity. Usually, I don’t do this until the next classs, so we have time to really contemplate the deep rooted beliefs and shine a light into the darkest corners of our money-psyches.

Today we’ll jump ahead to the fun part. It’s affirmations. Anything that is a fear, memory or concern, write the opposite down. Here are some ideas to get you started. Notice they are all (i) written in the present tense; and (ii) many use the powerful “I am” phrase.

Sample Affirmations

• There is an abundance of money and opportunity.
• I am worthy of being paid well.
• I am worthy.
• I am wise with my finances.
• I am a money magnent.
• I am filled with positive energy and great ideas.
• I offer my best and I am rewarded.
• I welcome an unlimited source of income and wealth in my life.
• Money comes in expected and unexpected ways.
• I have an eye for opportunity.
• I am clear on the path I should take.

Now, there are some options on how you integrate these affirmations. It probably doesn’t matter which you choose, what matters is that you’re consistent, daily, for at least 30-60 days.

Integrating Affirmations

The goal is to replace old, worn out, ineffective patterns of thinking with new thoughts. Your subsconscious does not know the difference between fiction and reality. So the more you repeat a phrase, visualize an outcome, the more your mind will work feverishly to make it happen. See, the brain doesn’t like dissonence. Dissonence is “a tension or clash resulting from the combination of two disharmonious or unsuitable elements.” For example, when we have a value system, we are happiest when we live within our value system. Our values and actions are in harmony.

If our actions aren’t in line with our values, we will feel restless, unsettled, discontent, anxious or unhappy. Our brains are detecting inner dissonence; therefore, we will do one of two things: change our actions or change our values.

It is the same with money. If we have come to believe we don’t deserve more/accept less/get used to counting our pennies, that starts to be where we feel normal. Or if we are stuck in an immature cycle of “I deserve it” and put it on credit, then hide our credit card bills in denial and shame–then that state is “true” for us.

So we’re going to tell ourselves new truths until we believe them at our core by doing one or more of the following:

• Reading our affirmations each morning and/or each night before bed, out loud, with emotion. Smile and be enthusiastic! Emotion integrates the belief faster.
• Recording affirmations on your phone and listening on your drive to work.
• The 7-7-7 Rule. Seven affirmations, seven times for each, spaced seven seconds apart. Record, listen. (A neuroscientist in my class said there is serious research to back this one up!)

Let’s Change our Lives!

Just writing this post has got me excited to bust out my affirmations again. Whenever I’m starting to have low energy or conflict, I know my wiring is starting to revert to bad thinking tracks. I taught this technique to my husband after listening to Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway by Susan Jeffers. We got 3×5 index cards that were spiral bound at the top and wrote 1-2 affirmations per card. He read his every day for a solid year and the change was incredible. See, he had been suffering from depression and trauma from the loss of his closest brother to suicide. He had been struggling for a couple of years to come out of the fog.

His cards helped his succeed at work and feel more positive about himself. He said he never realized how bad his thoughts were until he started reading his cards. Every few months he’d rewrite them. He kept all of them as a sort of “journal” of his evolution and what was important to him at the time.

Affirmations don’t just work for money stuff, they work for life. Isn’t it all one great whole anyhow? Wishing you the best, start today! The books referenced in this post are listed below.

xo, tricia