Why Nervous System Healing Is at the Heart of My Money Work
Let’s begin with a collective breath.
What I’m about to share isn’t just a story about money — it’s a story about shame, agency, and what it means to find safety in places that once felt overwhelming. For years, I believed knowledge alone would be enough to “fix” my money problems. I was a CPA. I knew the strategies. But behind the spreadsheets and grand plans, my nervous system was in a state of quiet chaos — frozen, anxious, avoiding. And no amount of logic could override the fear that lived in my body.
This is the story of how I came to understand that true, sustainable change with money doesn’t begin in the mind. It begins in the body.
I was in my twenties, and I was drowning in debt.
As an accountant, I was leading the finance department for a publicly traded company, responsible for budgets, forecasts, and decisions involving millions of dollars. But privately, I was drowning in personal debt.
I knew how money worked. I understood strategy: I could explain interest rates, payment schedules, depreciation, and the difference between a balance sheet and a cash flow statement. But none of that knowledge touched the fear that clutched my chest every night when I tried to sleep. I’d lie there doing mental gymnastics to figure out how to avoid a late fee, how to stretch the little I had to cover what I needed — and all the while, telling no one.
I was moving through the world with a nervous system shaped by early wounding — often dissociated, frequently in flight — and my money told the truth of that unprocessed pain. I spent when I was overwhelmed, avoided when I felt shame, and gave away more than I had when I longed to feel safe or worthy. From the outside, it looked like I had things under control. But really, my relationship with money was tangled in survival — and I didn’t know there was another way.
Eventually, I did all the right things. I consolidated my debt. Made a plan. Paid it off.
But the relief didn’t last, because the anxiety was never about the numbers. I had treated the symptom, not the cause. And, at the core, it was never about money. It was about nervous system dysregulation, trauma, and patterns that were rooted in family legacy.
Then I happily gave away my financial agency
Fast forward, and I left corporate finance, burned out and craving something softer. I got married, became a yoga teacher, and without even realizing it at the time, handed over my financial agency completely. I told myself it made sense — my husband was better with money, more consistent, more focused. I could finally rest.
But what felt like relief eventually became something else. I avoided our bank accounts. I didn’t know what we had or what we could spend. I spent money we didn’t have, and he began hiding money from me.
I told myself stories that sounded true: I’m not good with money. He can’t trust me. I don’t need to be involved. But the truth is, I had opted out.
And I started to feel like a child in my own life.
Then the Mercedes showed up
We had just moved back from Italy. I was building my coaching practice, reclaiming my voice and my worth. I felt like I was finally stepping into power again — until one day, a brand-new $60,000 Mercedes appeared in our driveway.
I hadn’t known it was coming. We hadn’t talked about it. It wasn’t a discussion. It was a done deal.
That moment wasn’t about the car. It was about what it revealed: I had removed myself so fully from our shared financial life that a decision of that size didn’t even require my input. I wasn’t angry at him. I was furious with myself. And I couldn’t unsee it.
I looked at our numbers, and we were in debt
This time, the shame was compounded — not just because we were in debt, but because I had been here before. I had done the work. Paid it off. Gotten it “right.” How could I have let it happen again?
But something was different this time. I had spent years building a foundation of nervous system tools: yoga, coaching, and therapeutic work. So instead of shutting down or blaming or spiraling, I got curious. I stayed present. I brought my full self to the experience.
And that’s when things began to shift — not just financially, but energetically, emotionally, spiritually.
This time, I used everything I had & knew
I started tracking money not as a form of control, but as a devotional act of presence. I used breathwork to move through anxiety, Yoga Nidra to calm the fear, and compassion to hold the shame. I allowed myself to move through emotions I could sense were caught in my body, associated with the narratives I internalized about my worth. I worked with the cause, not just the outcome.
In nine months (while my husband was deployed in Afghanistan), I paid it all off.
And when that final payment cleared, I didn’t feel triumphant. I felt… flat. Because it was never really about the money. The drama of debt had created a cycle of intensity and adrenaline I was unconsciously addicted to. I had to learn to live without the crisis — to feel a sense of well-being in stability, peace, and sufficiency.
Get Right with Money® came from that healing
Not from a formula or a framework. But from my own integration — of practical skills, energetic healing, nervous system work, and years of trial and error.
I know what it’s like to be a deeply capable woman who still feels overwhelmed by money. I know what it’s like to hide purchases, avoid bank accounts, or wait for someone else to take the lead. I know the shame of being out of integrity with your own values. And I also know what becomes possible when you heal from the inside out.
Because the truth is, strategy isn’t enough. Mindset isn’t enough. You can’t think your way out of a trauma response. You can’t budget your way out of freeze state. The work has to be embodied. It has to be slow, safe, and real.
This is what we do in Get Right with Money®
It’s a 9-week healing container for women who are ready to experience money differently. We don’t chase results, we build relationship. We don’t force habits, we work with the nervous system. We don’t push for more, we practice enoughness.
Inside the program, I teach live each week, guide somatic and energetic practices that support regulation and healing, and offer space for reflection and integration. You’ll have access to pre-recorded teachings and a private community space where you can connect, share, and receive support.
It’s a space to come home to yourself around money — gently, intentionally, and in your own timing.
Here’s what clients have said
“I’ve addressed long-held legacy beliefs that kept me playing small, explored my cash flow with compassionate curiosity, and finally felt empowered to talk about money in my marriage.”
“This program gave me what no other money work ever has — a safe, holistic space to look at what’s really there, without judgment.”
“I finally paid myself. I’ve had this goal for years, and now it’s happening — and I feel good about it.”
I want a financially empowered future for all of us
Especially for women and non-binary folks doing sacred work.
I want to live in a world where prosperity isn’t measured by how much you’ve accumulated, but by how well-resourced you feel — financially, emotionally, and spiritually. I want us to stop pretending that wanting money and wanting meaning are mutually exclusive. I want us to stop believing that we have to earn our worth through suffering or sacrifice.
Because excess, for many of us, is just the shadow side of scarcity — a trauma response in disguise.
Peaceful prosperity isn’t created through hustle - it’s created through healing.
If this speaks to you, you’re not alone.
If you recognize yourself in this story — the hiding, the shame, the deep longing for something more stable and self-honoring — I want you to know there’s nothing wrong with you. There’s just a wound that’s asking to be tended.
Get Right With Money® is one way to begin.
If you’d like to have a conversation about where you are, what you want to be different, and whether this work might be the right next step—I’d love to hear from you.
