In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing how traders can use meditation to improve their trading and their lives!
You often hear us talking about how important mindset is for trading success and one of the best ways that you can build and maintain a positive mindset is by meditating regularly.
Just like our bodies require an ample amount of rest through sleep, our minds also require a “rest” from the thousands of thoughts we have on a daily basis and meditation gives your mind that rest so that you can remain more calm, focused and productive throughout your day!
What is Meditation?
- A tool to manage stress and control reactions to stressful situations
- “A practice where an individual uses a technique, such as focusing their mind on a particular object, thought or activity, to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state”
- You observe your thoughts, release them and then return your awareness to a focal point
- The act and practice of focusing your awareness on the present moment
What Meditation is not?
- It’s not sitting at a pool and relaxing
- It’s not going to the gym or getting in the zone
- Meditation is not relaxing but it IS relaxing
What are the benefits of meditation?
- Builds mental health
- Prevents mental decline
- Increases awareness
- Increases alpha wave activity
- Increases happiness while reducing negative emotions (helps with depression)
- Improves focus, attention, and the ability to work under stress
- Improves information processing and decision-making
- Improves mental strength, resilience, and emotional intelligence
Why Should Traders Consider Meditation?
- Lots of emotional strain as a result of monetary gains and losses
- Emotions live on thoughts
- The cycle traders often fall into is feeling anxious or happy which gets you thinking about money and your emotional state interferes with market analysis as a result
- Helps to become more relaxed and to bring yourself back to the present when the brain is distracted by emotions
- The chief benefit of meditation for traders may be to ground us in the now, allowing us to make decisions based upon present-centered awareness, rather than past and future concerns over profits and losses
How to get started with meditation?
- Choose a time of day when you will be able to meditate; the best times for traders are shortly after waking up and/or pre-market!
- Choose a quiet and comfortable place that you can meditate safely without any noisy distractions
- Start off with guided meditations to get more comfortable with meditating; you can download apps such as Calm, Headspace or Insight Timer for free to start or use Youtube to find solid choices.
- Start with a 5-minute meditation and build this up as you get more comfortable with the practice; ideally, you will get up to 15-20 minutes+ on a daily basis
- When you are first starting it is common for your mind to wander; if this occurs, notice your mind wandering and then gently guide yourself back to focusing on your breathing
- Some of my favs include Peak Performance visualization by Rebecca Smith & Empowered Performance by Shannon Reinard Demko
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