Financial Therapy

Kendall Higgins

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Bari Tessler fuses financial management with somatic counseling in The Art of Money

Bari Tessler is a pioneer in the financial therapy field and redefining how it looks to cultivate a healthy relationship with money. Fusing her financial management experience with the tools she learned in Naropa’s Master’s in Somatic Psychology program (‘98), Tessler developed her own money methodology, The Art of Money.

Upon graduating from Naropa, Tessler thought her areas of expertise would be intimacy, sexuality, food, the body, grief, and death, “and we get to all of these topics,” says Tessler. “Our relationship to money is the doorway I’m going through.”

Her methodology navigates the practical through the sacred. Tessler invites her clients to practice a body check-in and notice what emotions arise in money situations. “They are the same set of emotions that come up in every other area of our life,” Tessler observes, spanning from guilt, shame, anxiety, and sadness to pleasure, excitement, and joy.

“I use the body check-in as a way to help bring more awareness and understanding to ourselves through our money moments. This helps us understand our money story more and what our patterns are,” Tessler shares. “This awareness leads to understanding” which opens an opportunity for change.

She teaches clients to approach financial planning as a self-care practice, encouraging them to set “money dates,” and make it a sacred ritual. When Tessler sets her own money dates, she lights candles, plays music, and brings a feeling of playfulness.

Tessler was featured on the cover of Mindful Magazine after publishing her first book, The Art of Money (2016). It weaves together personal finance practices, couples money teachings, and creative entrepreneurship training. In May of 2022, she will be releasing her second book—a workbook—that guides readers through a self-paced personal money journey. It is based on the curriculum she teaches in her year-long program, “Art of Money.”

Last year, Tessler’s “Art of Money” program had over 500 participants. To make the program more accessible, Tessler extended a couples discount to include many iterations of couples—from best friends, parents and child, siblings, etc.

She also offers numerous free resources available online, including two recently published blogs, “10 Things Your Financial Therapist Just Wants You to Know” and “A Beginner’s Guide to Financial Therapy.”

Learn more at baritessler.com

https://www.instagram.com/baritessler/

https://baritessler.com/art-of-money-book-2/

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