The Body Keeps the Financial Score

When your body says "no" to abundance—and what to do about it

Two weeks ago, I went into a complete financial failure spiral. It was entirely in my head.

The beginning of the month rolled around with its parade of "big" bills—mortgage, health insurance, car payment—and even though we always have enough money and an emergency savings account, I freaked out because several clients weren't paying their bills on time.

Most obviously, one long-term client who'd agreed to an auto-pay structure had to cancel due to their own financial disaster. This has happened before, and I know how to write this off in taxes at the end of the year. And I know it will all be okay. But there is always the hiccup. This time the hiccup led to a wind-knocked-out-of-me-gut-punch because coincidentally other clients were noticeably late with their payments too.

Rather than feeling grateful that I have an emergency fund that I knew I could replenish in a few weeks, my body went into failure flutters.

I had an extreme allergic reaction to second-hand THC vape that closed up my lungs and caused significant brain fog. I over-lifted during weight training and had extremely sore shoulders pull me from productivity for several days. I started feeling bloated every time I ate. My body was yelling at me from every direction.

My 3am money spiral turned into a self-loathing session. Am I causing money problems by hyper-focusing on money problems? Am I somehow blocking abundance?

Oh shit, I’m sinking into the scarcity quicksand pit!

Your Body Keeps the Financial Score

What I've learned through years of untangling my own money patterns is that financial trauma affects both the bank account and the nervous system. And when that system gets activated, your body responds as if you're under physical threat.

Here's what financial stress looks like when it moves through your body:

Throat and Voice Issues: Every time I have to discuss rates or chase late payments, my throat constricts. I go into coughing fits, trip on my words, or lose my voice altogether. Your throat chakra governs speaking your truth and claiming your value. When it closes down, your body is saying: "I'm not safe to ask for what I'm worth."

Breathing and Chest Problems: That THC reaction that closed my lungs wasn't a random timing. Financial anxiety often shows up as shallow breathing, chest tightness, or unexplained respiratory issues. Your body literally can't breathe in abundance when your nervous system is in survival mode. The message: "There's not enough air/money/safety to go around."

Digestive Disruption: My sudden bloating with every meal was my digestive system saying it couldn't process what was happening. Digestive issues during financial uncertainty—your gut is trying to tell you: "I can't digest this reality."

Muscle Tension and Pain: When we're financially stressed, we carry tension differently. Shoulders hold the weight of responsibility. Back pain emerges from feeling unsupported. Neck issues come from constantly looking over your shoulder, waiting for the next financial shoe to drop. Was it an unconscious “accident” that I increased my weights the same week as my income didn’t match my output?

Sleep and Nervous System Chaos: Those 3am insomnia spirals where you calculate and recalculate the same numbers? Your nervous system is saying: "I can't rest while we're under threat." Chronic fatigue follows because hypervigilance is exhausting.

The Inherited Component

These are inherited patterns. Your nervous system absorbed generations of scarcity programming. Your grandmother's Depression-era anxiety, your parents' fights about money, the cultural messaging that you have to suffer to be worthy of abundance—it all lives in your body.

When financial stress hits, you're not just responding to the current situation. You're responding to every financial threat your lineage ever faced.

Most money advice focuses on external strategies: budgeting, investing, manifestation techniques. However, if your nervous system can't hold peace around money, you'll sabotage every gain.

You can have the perfect financial plan, but if your body treats abundance as dangerous, you'll unconsciously push it away. You'll undercharge and overspend during stress, or make panic-driven decisions that keep you stuck in familial scarcity patterns.

The Community Solution

I'm sharing this because I can't figure out financial healing alone. I’ve done a lot of the deep work to recognize the patterns in myself, and I’ve done even more deep work of small mindfulness practice to create new patterns. Yet, every time I think I've resolved my money patterns, another layer surfaces—usually triggered by external circumstances like late-paying clients or unexpected expenses.

That's why I'm creating Abundant Money Mindset this fall with Dr. Axel Meierhoefer. We don’t have all the answers, and we're committed to figuring this out together. We're combining nervous system regulation with practical financial strategy, trauma-informed healing with real wealth-building tools.

These patterns are too deep, too entangled with family histories and cultural programming to heal in isolation. We need community to witness our financial wounds, mirror back our worth, and practice new patterns together.

If your body has been trying to tell you something about your relationship with money—through tension, illness, insomnia, or mysterious symptoms that flare during financial stress—you're not imagining it. Your nervous system is doing exactly what it was designed to do: protect you from perceived threats.

Abundant Money Mindset

A 9-Week Journey to Financial Empowerment

Tuesdays October 21 - December 9 2025
12pm Eastern Timezone

Applications are open for people ready to explore this intersection of body wisdom and financial healing. Not because we promise quick fixes, but because some healing happens best in community—where your nervous system can slowly learn that it's safe to receive, safe to ask for what you're worth, and safe to let your financial guard down.