The Daily First Receiving Practice S1E9

What if body awareness didn’t have to begin with a problem?

In this episode of The Rhythm of Money, I’m sharing The Daily First Receiving Practice, the simple morning embodiment practice I use to begin the day from awareness, receiving, and gratitude before effort begins.

We’ll cover:

1:45 Why Body Awareness Shouldn’t Begin With a Problem

4:15 Building a Habit of Receiving Before All Else

9:15 Guided Practice: The Daily First Receiving Practice

18:30 Weekly Practice: Build an Abundance Money Baseline 

This is not the practice you reach for when money has already triggered you. That’s what the Reset is for.

The Daily First Receiving Practice is different. It’s something you do when nothing is wrong, before the day starts pulling on you, so your body learns that embodiment isn’t only for crisis.

Through light, breath, ground, water, and gratitude, this practice helps you return to your body in an ordinary moment. Over time, that steadier baseline can help you hear your body’s guidance more clearly as you move through financial decisions, daily pressure, and the full rhythm of your life.

For midlife women navigating financial anxiety, money avoidance, overthinking, money mindset work, or the pressure to finally look at the full financial picture, this episode offers a simple way to begin from receiving instead of bracing.

Comment if you can: What does your body usually receive first in the morning? Dread, pressure, a mental list, quiet, light, or something else? 

In the next episode, we’ll sit down with your financial life as it is right now, the full picture. We’ll bring enough steadiness to see what’s there clearly, with everything we’ve built here supporting you as you do.

This is The Rhythm of Money. Living your true note.

No financial advice is offered or implied. For guidance specific to your situation, consult a licensed financial professional. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to the rhythm of money. In the past few weeks, I've leaned heavily into what I learned from working with women in midlife as an investment advisor. Today I'm leaning more into another part of my background. Before I worked in finance, I was trained in psychotherapy, and so much of what I learned there still shapes the way I understand money. Because our relationship with money doesn't just live in spreadsheets. It lives in the mind, in our ideas. It lives in the body. It lives in the tightening before you open the account, or choose not to open it. It lives in the way your breath changes before you make the call, or answer the call, or choose not to answer it. It lives in the flinch, the avoidance, the overanalyzing, the pressure to figure everything out before you feel ready. And over the last eight episodes we've been building tools for those moments. The reset for the five seconds before you react. The deeper focusing work we did last time for when an unopened letter, a balance, some financial reality has enough charge that you need to stay with what your body's carrying instead of pushing past it if you're to have freedom of choice. Those practices matter. But today I want to give you something different. Not a practice you reach for because something's wrong, or a practice you do because you're upset. This isn't a practice that begins with a problem. Today I want to share the practice I do every morning before the day asks anything of me. I call it the daily first receiving. And the reason I want to give it to you now is that everything we've been doing so far has been building your ability to come back into your body when something difficult happens. But there's another skill that matters just as much, maybe more. It's the skill of being in your body when nothing is wrong. Because if the only time you go inward is when something is hard, then your body can start to associate inward attention with trouble. It's as if the body learns, oh, we're paying attention now. Something must be wrong. And I don't want body awareness to become solely an emergency tool. I want it to become a way of living, a way of starting the day from inside yourself and in a way that feels good. We talked a lot about the power of practicing savoring in episode seven, and I told you then that we would build on that. This is the building, a way of building enough awareness in the body that as you move through your day, you can hear your body's guidance more clearly. Not perfectly, but more clearly, because your body is giving you information all day long. It tells you when something contracts, it tells you when something opens or softens. It tells you when something feels forced, when something feels clean and clear, when something feels like pressure, when something feels like truth or knowing. That doesn't mean everybody's sensation is an instruction. No, sometimes the body is reacting from old fears. Sometimes it's protecting you from something that isn't actually dangerous now. But the more familiar you become with being in your body when nothing is wrong, the easier it becomes to tell the difference. That's part of why this matters for money. Because eventually you're going to need to make decisions. You're going to need to look at accounts. You're going to need to choose what to pay attention to and what to filter out. You're going to need to decide when to act, when to pause, when to ask for help, when to learn something new, when to stop avoiding, when to stop forcing, and when to say no. And I don't want those decisions coming only from fear, pressure, or this mental spinning. I want you to be able to feel yourself while you make those decisions. That's what this practice builds. It's an embodiment practice. And it ends with gratitude as the seal. Now let me tell you what I actually do. Each morning, the first thing I do when I wake up is open my eyes and notice the light in the room. For me, that's generally light from a window. If you get up before the sun comes up, it might be a lamp light for you. Sometimes I even go to the window and stand there for a moment to let the sunlight hit my face. I notice the feeling of the light on my skin or entering my eyes. Then I notice the one who's aware of the light. I don't make it complicated, I don't turn it into a big spiritual experience. It's just the first hit of awareness, the first remembering. I'm here. I'm in a body and I'm aware of it. Then, usually without trying to do anything, I notice my breath. A deeper breath comes in on its own. I don't force it, I don't manage it, I just notice it. And as I notice the breath, I remember that oxygen is coming into my body. That breath is literally bringing life into me. It's the breath of life in the most literal sense. Then I notice the ground. I notice that I'm standing on the earth. Gravity is holding me here. The floor is holding me. The earth is holding the floor. I'm in a body, and my body is being held by something solid. And then I take a sip of water. I am almost always thirsty when I wake up. So I always make sure I have water nearby. And when I take that first sip, I notice how grateful I am to have clean water available to me when I wake up. That's the first hit of gratitude. Sometimes I also notice that this body is mostly water. Sometimes I think of another thing I'm grateful for. I don't try to make a list, I'm just seeding the day with gratitude before the demands of the day start pulling anything out of me. And that's the whole practice. Light with awareness, breath of life, ground of being, water of gratitude. It takes about 10 seconds. It took me much longer to describe it to you just now because I'm putting explanations around it. But in real life, it's just this: the light hits my face. I notice the feeling of the light. I notice the one who's aware of the light. I breathe in. I notice the oxygen bringing life into my body. I feel the ground. I notice my body being held by the earth. I take a sip of water. I remember how grateful I am for water, for this body, for this life, and for whatever else arises naturally in that moment. And then I get on with my day. That's the daily first receiving. I receive and I notice the receiving and seal it with gratitude. It's very simple. And I want you to notice the word receiving because nothing in this practice is about achieving. You're not making the sun rise. You're receiving the light. You're not manufacturing breath or oxygen. You're receiving breath and oxygen. You're not holding the planet in place. You're receiving the support of the ground. You're not creating water out of nothing. You're receiving water. There is nothing you can do to earn these things. You are receiving unearned blessings. And then you let gratitude seal it. That's the movement. You receive what's already arriving. Then you acknowledge it. Then you move into the day. And I think that order matters because so many women begin the day already braced. The mind starts before the body has even arrived. The list starts, the pressure, the phone, the money concerns, the obligations, the critical inner commentary starts. And then by the time you get to a financial decision, you're already 10 steps away from yourself. This practice brings you back before you leave. Not because something has gone wrong, because this is your life, because your body is here. Because the day is beginning and you get to decide what kind of day it's going to be. Because awareness is available before effort begins. So let's do it together now. We'll do a slightly extended version first and then the in-real-time one. So if you're driving, do keep your eyes on the road and let this be something you listen to lightly. But we're going to do this whole thing with eyes open anyway. For everyone, let your body just settle wherever you are. You don't have to be in any special position. You definitely don't have to close your eyes again. I suggest you leave your eyes open. Just let your full attention arrive right here and right now. Now, first, notice light. If you're near a window, turn toward it and let the light touch your face. If you're not near a window, just notice whatever light is there with you. The light in the room. The light behind your eyelids if you've closed your eyes. The simple fact that seeing is happening. And now notice that you're aware of it. You're aware of the light. You're aware of the body receiving it. You're aware that you're here. Just let that be simple. I'm here. I'm aware. I'm in my body. Now notice the breath. Don't force a big breath. Don't make your breath behave. Just notice the next breath that comes in. Notice that oxygen is entering your body. Notice that your body knows how to receive it. This breath is bringing life into you, into every cell. Not as an idea, as a physical fact of oxygen. Breath is moving, life is arriving throughout your body. Now notice the ground. Feel whatever is supporting your body. The chair, the bed, the seat of the car, the floor, the ground, and underneath all of that, the earth. Notice the weight of your body being held. Notice that you don't have to hold yourself to the planet with mental effort. Something is doing that for you. Your body is being held to the earth. And now water. If you have water nearby, you can take a sip. If you don't, just notice as you swallow, like you swallow without awareness every minute of your life. Water flowing into or through your body. The body receiving what it needs. And let gratitude rise in the simplest way. Not forced, not grand. Just a small recognition. Thank you for water. How wonderful it is to have access to clean water to drink when I'm thirsty. Thank you for breath. Thank you for this earth. Thank you for light. Thank you for this body. Thank you for this day. And now let that gratitude seal the practice, not as a way to deny that anything's hard in life, not as a way to pretend everything is easy, just as a way to begin from what is already supporting you. Now, the 10-second version in real time, do it with me in real time. So light, noticing it with awareness. Breath, noticing the life entering you. And water, taking a sip or swallowing, and savoring it with gratitude. And that's it. Come fully back to where you are. Now let me say again what this has to do with money in case you've forgotten. Because this is a money show. And I don't want to give you a practice unless it actually belongs here. The reset is what you use when the moment of friction with money has already arrived. The account is open in front of you and you feel some tension around it. The envelope is there to be opened, but you don't want to open it. The investment or saving or giving decision is pressing. The flinch is already there. The reset gives you a few seconds of space so you don't have to let that first reaction run the whole show. And that's important. But the daily receiving practice is different. This is what you do before the day brings you a financial decision, before the screen, before the numbers, before the task, the pressure, the story. And over time it gives your nervous system another place to start from. That matters, because if your body only meets money from emergency, then money starts to feel like emergency. If the only time you pay attention to your body is when it's tense, then body awareness starts to seem like tension. But if you begin the day by feeling light, breath, ground, water, and gratitude, your body starts to remember another baseline. A baseline that isn't about fixing. A baseline that isn't about bracing. A baseline that isn't about getting everything right. Just being here, receiving life, feeling the body, letting gratitude seal the beginning of the day. And from that place, the body's guidance becomes easier to hear. You may notice the difference between a true no and an old fear. You may notice the difference between a clean yes and a pressured yes. You may notice when you're about to make a money decision from panic or grasping. You may notice when you're avoiding something that would actually help you. You may notice when your body is tightening because something is wrong. And you may notice when your body is tightening because something old is being touched, but the present moment is asking you to stay. That's why embodiment matters. It's not just about calming down or not spacing out or not being full of anxiety. It's about becoming available to your own intelligence, the intelligence that lives below the level of thought, the intelligence that helps you navigate your day from more than just analysis, habit, fear, or pressure. And I want to be clear here that I'm not saying trust every sensation. That's not what I mean. The body can carry old fear, old conditioning. The body can carry patterns that protect you once but don't serve you now. So this isn't about making the body into a perfect oracle. It's about developing a relationship with your body so that you can listen and hear more clearly. That relationship gets built in ordinary moments, not only in crisis, not only when something is wrong, not only when money has already activated you. It gets built in the morning when the light hits your face. It gets built in the breath you notice before you do anything. It gets built in the simple feeling of gravity holding you to the earth. It gets built in the first sip of water. It gets built in that small moment of gratitude. Ten seconds. That's all. And I know ten seconds can sound too small to matter, but many of the things that shape a life are small. But repeat it. The first thought you feed in the morning, the first way you meet your body, the first nervous system state you rehearse, the first relationship you have with the day, you are always practicing something. The question is whether you're practicing bracing or practicing receiving. Whatever you've been practicing, you've been getting more of that throughout your days. This week, I want you to practice receiving first. Before you check your phone, before you look at the news, before you look at your emails, before you think through the day's tasks. Before you begin managing your life, let yourself receive life. And if you forget one morning, that's fine. Just do it at whatever point during the day you notice you forgot that morning. Then just begin again the next morning doing it first thing so that there's more of your day that it touches. Each morning is its own invitation. Each morning is the only one you have to meet. And as you do this, I want you to watch what changes. You're not looking for anything dramatic, but do notice. Do you feel your body a little more often during the day? Do you catch the tighten before it becomes a whole story? Do you have a clearer yes sometimes? A clearer no. A clearer not yet. That's the kind of guidance I'm talking about. Not a voice from outside yourself, not a mystical message, just the body becoming more available to you, and you becoming more available to your body. That's embodiment. Before we close, let me bring together what we did today. We named that the tools we've built so far, the reset and the deeper focusing work, are practices for the difficult moments, and they're important, but they're not the whole path, because body awareness can't only be something you do when there's a problem. It also needs to become something you do when nothing is wrong. So today I gave you the daily first receiving practice, the practice I do each morning, and this week that's what I want you to do too. Once a day, ideally first thing in the morning, but really whenever you think of it. Not because anything's wrong, because you're alive, because your body is here, living a new day, because receiving comes before effort. If you're watching on YouTube, I put a simple question in the comments. What's the first thing your body normally receives in the morning? You can answer with just one word if you want. And if a woman comes to mind who seems to be moving through her days from pressure, effort, or even emergency, send her this episode. Not as one more thing she has to do, just as a 10-second way she can learn to begin again and maybe create something different for herself. In the next episode, we arrive at the thing this whole season has been walking toward. With the reset available, with the deeper practice in your body, with receiving woven in, we're going to sit down and look at your financial life. The whole picture, just to engage with it from a place of competence and power. All of it. With everything we've built holding you while you do. Best next time. This is the rhythm of money, and you are living your true note in this very moment.