Our traditional understanding of a “Budget” is flawed. It lacks the flexibility life demands and tends to knock people down when things don’t go as planned.We need a new approach. We need to connect our cash flow with the flow of our lives.
To do this, we must first get away from the numbers and shift our focus to value. Numbers are simply representations of value, and if we want to truly look at money in our lives, we must get to the underlying forces at play. As my yoga teacher says, “Let’s get out of our heads”, and get into what it feels like to create and to use money.
What do you feel when you tune into the sensations of creating and using your money? When there is alignment between your valuable Self and the value you create for the world, you both become more of yourself and connect more powerfully with the world beyond. When the money you create is in balance with your efforts, what you produce and your life, there is ease in the sweet spot. When your money use is effective, balanced across the breadth of your life, and aligned to bring value back in that honors your true self, money can be a powerful way of meeting your needs while satisfying and expanding your life. Within this new paradigm, connecting with your money is a process of self-actualization.
When there are mal-alignments and imbalances anywhere along this flow, it deflates your power and creates inauthentic and potentially harmful efforts to rebalance in other areas. One feels undervalued at work, for example, and finds himself spending more indulgently to recoup a sense of internal value. Invariably, these actions will have further repercussions and cause further misalignment.
In yoga we use our breath to connect with ourselves and with the present. We feel balance and alignment within, while engaging our flexibility to move with the flow of our breath in the present. This process teaches us to bring in balance and alignment, while empowering our connection with ourselves and the world.
When we tune into the rhythm of our money, we notice a Breath as it flows in and out. Opening to our senses, we can feel if there is Balance in the value of our money creation, and in the value that comes back to us when using it. Noticing the quality of the connection from ourselves to our money and back again, we feel our financial Alignment. This practice between yourself and the world is where we discover self-actualization and Empowerment.
Last, yoga teaches us Compassion and to let go of judgement. When we fall down or make a mistake, we simply notice, gently forgive our imperfections, learn where we can, and use our breath to come back to the practice. Imagine treating financial mistakes this way.
Let’s recreate our definition of “Budget”, and work our money in flow. Breath, Balance, Alignment, Empowerment, Compassion. Yoga for your Budget.