Learn How To Stay Zen About Your Finances

Our relationship with our finances can spark attachment, avoidance, envy, fear, and more. But when you approach money with the same consciousness you bring to your yoga practice, your financial life can offer profound personal insight and wisdom.

- Meghan Rabbitt

SIX YEARS AGO, Sadie Nardini was trekking around New York City teaching more than a dozen group yoga classes a week, many of which were donation based. When students started asking her about her rate for private classes, she wanted to say “$125”—but instead, “$50” came out of her mouth.“I avoided finances like I avoided Bound Triangle [Pose],” says Nardini.

Then, about a year later, she had a realization. “Asana is powerful—though not always comfortable,” she says. “Letting the tough stuff emerge is where you get your chance to realign with who you really are.” Nardini knew it was time to apply the same principle to her angst around money. So, she curled up in her favorite café with a large chai and a journal and started writing her “story” around finances—noting, for example, that even as a child she had never felt capable of handling money because her father always had control over the family’s accounts. As she wrote, she also recalled how, as she began her yoga career, she didn’t feel truly worthy of making a good living doing what she loved. “I couldn’t charge as much as others told me I was worth because, deep down, I struggled with self-esteem,” she says.