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Hi, I’m Sara Intonato. Thank you so much for joining me today on a juicy, juicy episode of the podcast. We are diving into the topic of abundance, aka money. And it’s very common for yoga teachers and healers and people in helping professions to, kind of, clench up and start to feel icky when the word money is mentioned and there’s no need to.
in fact, we have to flush this topic out today because if you don’t get clear on your money stuff, you’re going to repel it. And I’m guessing that you’re in this line of work and you’re listening to this podcast because you want more of it. Unless you’re living under a rock, you need money. So let’s get clear on the mindset shifts that we need to make, the beliefs we want to trash, and the new ones we want to welcome in, in order to click into our gear of receiving, shall we?
When I mentor healing professionals, but specifically yoga teachers, I love to remind them that when they’re teaching a room full of students in a class, there’s enough breath for everybody in the room. You never have to worry that your deep breathing will compromise somebody else’s. You never have to worry that there will be enough. It’s something you don’t even have to think about. You’re simply receiving all the time.
Money is energy. We give it, we receive it.
And money and abundance are the same. Money is energy. We give it, we receive it. It’s very much like the tides, they come in, they go out, and yet it’s such a loaded topic for many. It’s very common to hear people in the yoga industry talk with a lack mentality. They talk about rich people as being bad in some way. Meanwhile, if you ever heard a rich person talking about a poor person like that, it would be completely unacceptable and they’d probably be ostracized. So why is it okay to do the opposite?
We have to operate from that mindset of there’s enough for everyone. Just like there’s enough breath in the room for everyone to breathe and have an enjoyable practice without any shortchanging, without any compromising, there is enough for you and for everyone else to thrive. There are enough clients out there who want your gifts. There’s enough money for you to be successful and care for all your wants and needs. If you see someone else who is successful achieving their financial goals, packing their classes, filling up their one on one client docket, guess what? It just shows you that it’s possible. It doesn’t mean there’s not enough for you leftover.
So rule number one, let go of that feeling of “it’s not enough.”
And when you need to, really remind yourself of that breath analogy, there’s enough breath in the room, there’s enough for everyone here to be successful.
A mantra I often use, and I encourage you to use too, which I heard from one of my financial mentors, Denise Duffield Thomas, is that there’s always more money. So often we have to pay a bill, we act like the money’s gonna run out and we’re not gonna have any more come in, and this is the last we’re ever going to see. Paying that bill is so painful. What if instead we paid that bill from a place of abundance and said, thank you as we paid it? How would our energy around money be different? It would certainly be less stressful, that’s for sure. If you take on that mindset of “there’s always more money,” ask yourself what your life would be like if you operated from this concept. How different would you act if you knew, beyond a shadow of the doubt, that you always get what you need when you need it. That you don’t have to stress.
In fact, it’s often the stress, and the clenching, and the worry, which repels money in the first place.
So one of my biggest money tips for you, and for all my clients that I work with, is to get clear on your money. Track it, actually make a note of what’s coming in and acknowledge it. Here’s why. So many people say things like, “Oh, you know, I wish I just had a thousand more dollars” and then they pick up a penny on the street or probably don’t even pick it up. Or if they pick it up, they just toss it aside. The universe is thinking during that interaction, you know, Sarah is not acknowledging or even grateful for a penny, why would I send her a thousand dollars?
So think about that. Have you acknowledged the abundance that’s already in your life? If you haven’t, I encourage you to. Just for one day, I want you to track. Write down on a piece of paper. Use a spreadsheet. There’s some great money apps out there in the app store. Track everything that comes in.
Notice how abundant you feel. Notice how much you find it in unexpected ways. Notice how as you acknowledge what you’re already receiving, you’re receiving is dialed up big time and more and more comes your way. There’s always more money, but first you have to acknowledge what you already have. If you’re feeling ungrateful, you’re probably going to have a difficult time receiving. So shift that energy pronto.
A great exercise I recommend you do every single day, after you’ve had some time in quiet or silence by yourself, is to check in and ask yourself: how much trust do I have today in the universe, in life, whatever you want to call it, in God? Do I trust that things will really work out for me financially in my business? In my life? It’s always shocking to me how many yoga teachers, people who teach spirituality, supposedly, at least the good ones do, have very little faith. You’ll hear them complain a lot about the money they make or don’t make. You’ll hear them talk about how they can’t really make a living earning yoga and where’s the faith in that? If you don’t believe in it, why are you doing it?
So get really clear on the messages you’re sending to the universe, to people around you, and to yourself. On a scale of one to 10 how much trust do you have today? When we get into a state of trust we can receive, when we’re in a state of worry or scarcity, it’s kind of like that girl on a date who’s really needy and overly excited and fearful that if she doesn’t do everything right that the guy’s not going to call her again. So what happens? The guy doesn’t call her again because she was too needy, she was too clingy, she wanted it too hard.
I heard a saying once that the things you want lightly come easily, and I think that’s completely true with money. So how can you be more trusting and release your fears? I think one of the best ways to release your fears is to actually write them down. I think in personal growth and self help and spirituality, people feel like they have to be positive all the time. And so they don’t, they don’t even acknowledge when they’re feeling scared. Just because you don’t acknowledge it doesn’t mean that it goes away. What you’re doing is manifesting all of that just beneath the surface instead of out loud. So you’re walking around with anxiety, stress all the time, so you’re attracting more anxiety and stress.
What if you can let that go? Write down all your fears when you wake up in the morning or before you go to bed at night, read them out loud one by one. Acknowledge them, reframe them if you need to. If you’re about to launch a new course and you have no idea where all these new clients are going to come from, and that’s one of your fears, you can reframe it by saying, “the universe always brings me tons of ideal clients” or whatever you want, but it’s up to you to do that reframing work. No one else is going to do it for you.
Are you empowered around your money?
The last place I want you to check in today around your own abundance is are you empowered around your money? Have you put boundaries around the minimum salary you’re willing to receive or do you just take whatever’s offered? If you’ve decided in your mind what your bottom line is, do you really uphold it, or do you say that you’ll only take x amount of money and instead receive less, which then makes you feel like garbage? You are the only one who can uphold those boundaries. Only you can truly value yourself.
Once you do, other people will start to value you, but if you don’t, nobody else is going to do that work for you. So get really clear on what you need. What do you need to make something a hell yes for you? Teaching a class, taking on a one on one client, hosting a retreat, and then go claim it. No more letting everyone else dictate what you’re willing to receive. You get to decide. But once you decide, go and act that way and really put those principles into practice, because if you’re waiting for the studio to acknowledge you and give you that raise, or your private clients say, “Hey, I want to pay more money now,” guess what? It’s not going to happen. You have to decide what you’re worth and then go enforce those boundaries.
Thank you so much for joining me today and remember that listening is just the first step. Now it’s time to take action. Choose something from today’s episode that you want to implement in your own practice and business. I’d love to hear what action you’re taking, so follow me over on Instagram at Sarah Intonato and let me know. If the show is helpful, please take a moment to leave a rating or review on your favorite podcast provider. It’s an important part of helping new listeners find this show.