There’s a reason why idioms like “I need to catch my breath” exist. According to the Oxford Dictionary, we often need to catch our breath in moments of surprise or fear. Breathing in oxygen into our bodies helps us to release feelings of fear, settle our heart rate and bring calmness and balance into our bodies again. When you’re stressed or anxious, your breath is fast and shallow, which limits the flow of oxygen to the bloodstream and your brain tells you to go into fight, flight, freeze or fawn mode.
According to the author of “What’s Your Money Personality?” and “Heart, Mind and Money”, Vangile Makwakwa, the secret to success with money is through emotional intelligence and breathwork.
So what is breathwork and how do we use it to become financially abundant?
What is Breathwork?
Breathwork is the conscious and purposeful focus on breath. By slowing down the breath, the brain communicates to the body that you are safe and takes you out of the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn mode. The focus on the breath allows your body to reset. This recovery time is important when making decisions about money and spending as many of us (me included!) are emotional spenders. Taking time to come down from these intense emotions might be the answer we were looking for making better decisions.
Financial expert, Vangile Makwakwa’s tips on how you can use breathwork to make better money choices
At Momentum’s 6th Science of Success Festival, Vangile Makwakwa shared some valuable insight and tips on how we can heal intergenerational money trauma and use emotional intelligence to generate wealth.
- Look at your bank account for 5 minutes, set a timer and observe your breath for 5 minutes – just observe your breath and do a body scan to notice what your bodily responses are to connect with your nervous system related to money.
- Write a letter to money – start with “Dear Money. I looked at my bank account today and this is what I felt. This is where my body responded to you and this is how it made me feel. This is what came up in terms of my breath, these are the thoughts that came up for me”, etc.
- Keep track of your behavioural changes day by day as you keep writing these letters.
- Set monthly money goals – establish what you would like to achieve. Are your goals to pay off debt? To start saving? To invest?
- Draw up a plan of your monthly money goals and notice how that makes you feel – are you frustrated that you have not yet reached the goal? Are you fearful?
The point that Vangile Makwakwa drove home was that by observing the emotions linked to money, we allow our sub-personalities (or inner child) that reside within our nervous systems space to express our emotions, without giving them the power to override better judgement from our adult selves.
Once you’ve identified the emotions holding you back from achieving your financial goals, work with a financial advisor to create a tailored plan for you.
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