Money and Spiritual Direction: Yikes!
Money is one of the most charged topics in our culture—and how we think about charging for spiritual direction adds on layers of complication. The way we “do money” in this society is often so unhealthy—driven by scarcity, competition, and the illusion that our worth can be measured in dollars.
So it’s no surprise that as spiritual directors we feel uneasy when it comes to setting our prices—even when we love our work and do it really well.
Here’s a subtle reality that’s important for us to be aware of: Our discomfort with money communicates more than we realize. When we feel apologetic about what we charge, we can unintentionally send signals of insecurity—an energy of caution that may cause someone who would truly benefit from our work to shy away.
The Key: Aligning Money with Your Deep Knowing and Values
Here’s the good news: your relationship with money can become healthier and stronger when it’s aligned with your spiritual knowing—your deeper why for doing this work.
When your pricing reflects your authentic values and purpose, it feels different in your body. It carries integrity. It becomes an extension of your spiritual practice.
Listening for the Right Number
Too often, we set prices based on what we “should” charge or what others are doing. But sometimes those numbers simply don’t sit right with our bodies or hearts.
Spiritual direction invites us into deep listening in our relationship to everything—and money is no exception. Intuitive pricing begins by tuning in to your heart and body for guidance.
For some, that might mean choosing a price that’s a little lower than others charge, but feels solid and natural to speak aloud. For others, it might mean setting a price slightly higher, to counter a lifelong habit of undervaluing your gifts.
Either way, the key is the same: listen for the number that feels honest, grounded, and aligned.
When you do, you’ll find yourself speaking your price with calm confidence—and you’ll attract clients who resonate with your integrity and clarity. Over time, that embodied ease naturally allows your rate to evolve when the moment feels right.
A Practice for Pricing
Mark Silver of Heart of Business offers a simple but powerful exercise:
Take a quiet moment and feel into a range of prices—from one that feels painfully low to one that feels uncomfortably high.
Notice where your body softens, where your breath deepens, where you sense ease.
That’s your intuitive price point—the sweet spot between over-giving and under-valuing, where generosity meets sustainability.
Owning Your Worth
When you name your price from this place of alignment, potential clients feel your steadiness. They sense your honesty and assurance—and often respond with a simple, “Okay!” They know you’re worth it.
And you are. It can take practice to remind ourselves of our own worth. But when we do we feel confident and dignified, like we’re doing justice to the art of being spiritual director and our own reasons for being one.
You can do this. You can name your price with strength, integrity, and peace.
When your pricing is rooted in your heart and aligned with your calling, money becomes not a source of stress—but a sacred expression of your work in the world.
Reflect & Practice
How does your body respond when you speak your current rate aloud?
What price point feels spacious and aligned with your values and the flow of your life?
What would it mean to treat your relationship with money as part of your spiritual practice?