This week on the Money Made Easy Podcast we have on Bari Tessler, author of the book, “The Art of Money”. We get to find out all about how she went from wanting to be a solid gold dancer to becoming a financial therapist.

Bari started therapy when she was 16 but other than going from wanting to be a dancer to a business woman and being interested in psychology, she started undergrad not really knowing what she wanted to be and do.

While spending a year in Israel, she put dance and psychology together and she briefly thought she made up Dance Movement Therapy. She went to graduate school for somatic psychotherapy.

At the age of 28, her student loan came through and that was a real wake up call. At the time she was making $11 an hour in the mental health field with a masters degree in psychology.

She realized in graduate school, money was never discussed. Nothing was said about how to get clients and run a business. And she also realized money wasn’t the issue, it was not being able to have conversations about money.

She considered running away, but instead decided she would face her student debt by learning everything she could learn about money. She started by learning bookkeeping and starting a bookkeeping business.

Growing up in a middle class family, she received mixed messages about money. There was a spirit of generosity and there was a lot of control around money.

We talk about money stories we get from our family - good and bad. Tetia shares about how her father getting gas for her taught her how to receive.

Now Bari is 20 years in to starting her practice of financial therapy. And she is still learning new things and she still has emotions around money.

It’s important to Bari that financial literacy and emotional literacy have to be together. There are lots of ways and she thinks it’s important to get creative and find what works for you.

In "The Art of Money", Bari writes about how there are 3 phases - Money Healing, Money Practices and Money Maps. She credits her somatic psychotherapy tools for getting her through her money issues and on to what she’s doing now.

One of the people Bari was doing bookkeeping for encouraged Bari to do a speech about combining her healing and practical aspects of how she handled money. This is what led to the work and the book for Bari.

The way Bari addresses shame around money and healing around that and other emotions is so important. She talks about how most of us didn’t receive any type of education around money.

One of Bari’s favorite tools she shares in "The Art of Money" is the body check in. Simply stopping for 5 seconds, 30 seconds, a minute, and just checking in with your body on a physical level. Are you standing or sitting? Are your shoulders up?

The next level is on a sensation level. What sensations are moving or still in your body? The next level is emotions or feelings. What e...

The Art Of Money with Bari Tessler

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