Hello,
Welcome,
My name is Lew Redman.
Today's practice is gonna help you explore your relationship with money and particularly how money can be more easeful in your life,
Both in how you receive it and also how you let it flow through your life.
Lynn Twist in her book The Soul of Money says,
Us or empowers us.
Defining us would mean that we have our identity in how much we make or don't make.
It limits us when we use it as the reason and the filter of why we can or can't do anything.
It's empowering us when we are in right relationship with it,
When we use it as a way to share what we value in the world,
That we spend money in a way that has positive energy behind it.
We do it with gratitude and joy.
We receive it with gratitude and joy.
And we're in a flow state with it.
And it's so fascinating how money and water share so many connections,
First in the sense of it being currency,
Money being a current,
That there is a flow just like how water flows.
And the way that we talk about money,
We might say that it's rushing in,
It's the gold rush.
Or it's trickling,
Right,
Just kind of trickling into our lives.
Or we might feel like it's stagnant,
Like a water puddle that's just not moving.
We also use it in a descriptive of it's dirty.
Like money can be dirty just as water is dirty.
Or it's pure,
It's clean,
It's fresh.
Just the way that we put this energy onto money.
And so this meditation is gonna use that metaphor a bit to help us explore your relationship.
And also one empowering belief I'm going to invite you to try on and to see if we can root out a disempowering belief that you might have.
And so the empowering belief that I want to offer you is it's easier to make a lot of money in a short amount of time than a little money over a long period of time.
There's been a book written on this concept called 10x is easier than 2x.
And I share my own experience with this belief because I've lived it.
I was working at a company making $39,
000 a year.
I got a promotion and I started working more and making only a little bit more,
$43,
000 a year.
Shortly after that I had a spiritual experience and awakening and I quit my job to pursue some way that I was making money that was more aligned with me.
And in the year that I quit,
I got this job that came out of nowhere that helped me pay the bills while I started pursuing the work that I'm doing now.
And in that job,
I made more money.
The following year that I quit my job than I did at my actual company job.
And I was working a fraction,
When I say a fraction,
Like an eighth of the time I would go for a week somewhere and I would make a bunch of money and then I would come back and I have all this time to work on the things that I cared about.
And it was an example of,
Wow,
I can make a lot of money in a short amount of time and it can be easy.
This also happened to me in my journey when I was teaching yoga,
I was making $35 a class and I was doing yoga meditations at a studio and leading my own meditation that people were donating about $10 or $15 and that wasn't equating to a sustainable revenue.
I then got an opportunity to teach at a school where I made $2,
200 for four hours of actual in-person work.
Now there was a lot more in preparation before that,
But I could see how I could make that work.
I can make $2,
200 in four hours of work,
Work in a much better way than $35 for an hour.
If I only got two of those a month,
I would be good and it shift my mindset to look for those higher leveraged opportunities.
And it was much easier to make a lot of money in a short amount of time than schlep around teaching a lot of yoga classes,
Making a little bit of money over a long period of time.
And so those are just two examples from my own life.
And so I want to explore to see if you can take on this belief or see where maybe this has been true for you and you didn't even really notice it.
Alright,
I know this was a long intro,
But I wanted to set this up nicely.
Let's go ahead and get into our meditation.
Closing down your eyes.
And coming into your body.
And as you relax your shoulders and your jaw,
Start to notice how your breath is flowing in and out of your body.
Just as money comes in and out of our lives in this cycle.
Noticing how your breath is moving.
Is coming in.
And coming out.
And notice how useful it is to do that.
Not a lot of feelings around breathing.
It's normal.
And what if money was the same?
Not that it is breathing,
Or as important as breathing,
But what if money coming in and out was just normal?
And it was normal to let more in and to let more out.
To grow in your capacity.
And so with each cycle of breath,
See if you can slow down and root in deeper into your body to find that grounded,
Strong capacity in you to hold your own space.
Hold the energy in your body And then we're going to explore a visualization to work with this relationship to money.
So imagine that you are sitting by a river.
And the river is representing money.
Your money story or the way the money is in your life.
And so notice how wide the river is.
How much it's rushing.
Maybe your river is.
Trickling,
Maybe that's jammed and there's only a few spaces that the water is moving.
Maybe it's stagnant,
Almost looks like a little lake or pond.
Just feel what it's like to be next to it.
What comes up.
And asking yourself at this moment,
Is your relationship with money defining you?
Limiting you.
Or empowering you.
Doing this with compassion that there's not a wrong answer.
Just bringing awareness to what's here.
And whatever your answer is,
Imagine that it materializes as a boat.
That represents your relationship to money.
So go ahead and put that boat in the river.
And start to step into it.
You might notice the boat,
Depending on your relationship,
How aerodynamic it is.
How it has the proper sides,
Maybe it's either limiting the flow or empowering the flow.
Or maybe you have a very.
.
.
Cool-looking boat because you're defined by it.
It's part of your identity.
With compassion,
Start to allow yourself to float down.
This river in your boat.
And as you float,
You hit something that keeps you stuck.
Your boat stops.
And what this represents is a belief around money that is not empowering.
Maybe it's something like,
If I want more money,
I have to work much harder.
Or the more money I have,
The worse person I am.
See if you can identify a disempowering belief you have around money.
Notice how it shows up in your body.
And then see if you can honor this belief for where it may have came from.
You likely didn't have a choice.
Maybe it came from your parents.
Maybe it's a belief that's trying to keep you safe in some way.
And so just honoring it.
Knowing that it has a positive intention even though you might not see it.
Just notice how that feels to welcome it,
To honor it.
And just that sometimes is all we need to shift.
That whether you feel a shift or not,
Imagine that you do pull away that stick or stone that got you stuck in the river,
Representing that you are moving away from this belief and feeling the water flow a little bit more as you move down the river.
And as you're floating down,
Enjoying the ride,
I'm gonna ask you to try on that belief that I mentioned and just see how it lands.
It's easier to make a lot of money in a short amount of time.
Than a little money.
Over a long period of time.
Has that ever been true for you?
And if so,
Feel what that was like.
Do you feel the water beneath you moving a little bit faster as you do?
And if it hasn't been true for you,
Be curious about it.
Do you believe that it's possible or is there resistance to letting this in?
Maybe there's a hard,
Deep belief that you have to work harder to make more.
And this is not to say that you wouldn't work hard.
I've worked very hard over the years,
But it's about leverage,
It's about working on the right things that create even more disproportionate amount of energy that comes back in.
And so just can you open up to this possibility even if there's resistance?
And if there is resistance,
Again,
It might be another part,
Just trying to keep you safe.
And as you continue down the river,
You notice actually that you've been in a little stream the whole time.
And you get out of the river.
And a little further down,
There is a big rushing river going in the same direction.
And this river has been there all the time.
You barely even have to paddle and it'll get you to your destination much faster.
And so go out and go over to this larger river.
It might seem a little scarier,
But know that you can handle it.
And this river that's always here represents doing something where 10x is easier than 2x.
Because if you had paddled twice as hard in your stream,
You wouldn't even get as far as you would by just going on this river.
And so I hope you get the metaphor here.
And so where,
Go ahead and get into that river,
Feel that flow,
Feel the rush,
And ask yourself,
Where in your life can you think in that 10X mindset?
Where it might be easier to make a lot of money in a short amount of time.
And this is not to do anything schemey or scammy like that.
But just to open that maybe there is a truth in this for you.
Where can you think in 10 times?
Get in that river and just let this be a thought experiment and a body feeling experiment.
See if you can enjoy the flow and the rush.
And eventually this river comes into the ocean.
Where things slow down a little bit,
Where it's just you and this vast ocean.
And take in How small of a role you actually play.
Both the smallness and the magnificence of the resources that are all around you that you are blessed to participate in.
Something else has created and you did not create yourself and just see yourself in this vast wide expanse And just as the air is freely given,
The water is freely given,
Can you surrender to any attachment that money is different,
That money is not just another resource that is freely circulated and then you can receive just as easily as you receive breath or just as easily as you receive water.
And maybe you also,
If it resonates,
Connect to a higher power that may ultimately define you.
Surrendering any attachments to that power,
Staying humble.
And staying grateful for all the resources,
All that you have.
And then take one last breath together.
And letting that go.
Slowly starting to open your eyes,
Letting go of the river coming back into your day,
Into your room.
I'd love to hear if you'd like to share in the comments your relationship with money,
Whether it's defining,
Limiting,
Or empowering,
And if that belief of it being easier to make more resonates with you,
If it's been true for you,
I'd love to hear.
Feel free to share a story.
And if you like this,
I have some more practices around money that you can find on my profile.
And I look forward to continuing to support you in whatever ways that I can.
Thank you so much.
And we'll connect again soon.
