Jump to content

Welcome to the new Traders Laboratory! Please bear with us as we finish the migration over the next few days. If you find any issues, want to leave feedback, get in touch with us, or offer suggestions please post to the Support forum here.

  • Welcome Guests

    Welcome. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest which does not give you access to all the great features at Traders Laboratory such as interacting with members, access to all forums, downloading attachments, and eligibility to win free giveaways. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free. Create a FREE Traders Laboratory account here.

Soultrader

Do You Meditate?

Do you meditate?  

54 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you meditate?

    • Yes, frequently
      19
    • Sometimes when I feel like it
      20
    • No, never
      15


Recommended Posts

Curious to see traders methods of meditation. Been studying NLP for some time which led to hypnosis... eventually into self-hypnosis. For me I tend to relax my mind to eliminte all thoughts and create a moment of blankness.

 

What do you all do meditate or ease your mind? Thanks!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have done both hypnosis and NLP in the past. Both work well. You reminded me I should get back to them. In college, while I never took the formal course in TM, I read some books on it, and it worked well. If I was going to try TM again I would give these folks a try. http://www.natural-stress-relief.com/ No I am not affiliated in anyway. The TM course is just so expensive, last time I checked around $2k USD.

 

So much of trading is psychology IMO.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
  Soultrader said:
Curious to see traders methods of meditation. Been studying NLP for some time which led to hypnosis... eventually into self-hypnosis. For me I tend to relax my mind to eliminte all thoughts and create a moment of blankness.

 

What do you all do meditate or ease your mind? Thanks!

 

Mind is thoughts in motion, hence cannot be emptied of thoughts, however it can be made steady with a single thought. Even if say one succeeds in emptying the mind, there is still the thought of being aware of the blankness. Initially ofcourse this is preceded by the thought of the effort , "I am going to empty the mind" then "I am now aware of having emptied the mind". Real peace and calmness arises from focussing on the awareness, the silent witness , you the Real conciousness who is attempting to empty the mind and is aware of all that effort.

Get hold of "Enlightenment - The Path Through The Jungle" by Dennis Waite

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I meditate every day but use a few different ways. The most effective way I have found, which has been proven through a biofeedback device is sitting at my desk listening to a meditation song. I focus on one image in my mind and also on my breathing. Whenever I recognize that I am thinking something different I go back to that one image.

 

Another form of meditation I use is walking my dog. Sometimes I try not to think about anything and just try to take in as much information from the surrounding environment as possible. Looking at individual leaves on trees, noticing little things, trying to keep my mind as curious as possible. Other times when I walk my dog I deliberately spend the entire time thinking about what makes my trading plan have an edge.

 

The last form of meditation I use is Holosync. If you want to know what that is simply Google Holosync and you should get their site with all their information. I actually find it isn't a peaceful form of meditation and that it gets you thinking about things you don't want to. Usually the stuff that hurts that you deliberately buried in the back of your mind because you didn't want to think about it. It is good to clean out the cobwebs.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My mind races often, I can slow it down and seem to have good mental control. I can focus on one thing if I really try, it has to be something I really want to focus on like a chart. I try to feel the market participants and what they were thinking as the auction shifts its equilibrium.

 

The more I go down the road of psychology and it's role in the markets, the more in tune I'm getting with my own psychology. This has been quite the journey for me. :)

 

I'm gonna look into Holosync and some more on NLP as well since NLP has come up in my studies allot.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I agree meditation is critical - so is being self observant. Maybe this is a form of meditation, being outside yourself as an observer.

Quote on my board is:

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are - Anais Nin

 

MC- if you are currently, have you tried avoiding caffeine? I don't drink coffee while trading anymore. I will have green tea or yerba mate, but that is much mellower. Tea drinking is sort of a meditation in itself, as it places you in the current moment.

 

James, maybe you could do a poll about coffee drinking.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
  waveslider said:
I agree meditation is critical - so is being self observant. Maybe this is a form of meditation, being outside yourself as an observer.

Quote on my board is:

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are - Anais Nin

 

MC- if you are currently, have you tried avoiding caffeine? I don't drink coffee while trading anymore. I will have green tea or yerba mate, but that is much mellower. Tea drinking is sort of a meditation in itself, as it places you in the current moment.

 

James, maybe you could do a poll about coffee drinking.

 

I'm not a coffee drinker at all, tea daily but not till after the markets closed. I find after I ride the bike and get my heart rate up I actually get into a zone which is odd. I would think being slow and calm would be better for focus but I'm the opposite. I always thrived on pressure though, and I perform best when my back is to the wall.

 

I was a skateboarder so the pressure we put on ourselves can be immense. It's that individual sport mentality that I feel will help me succeed in something like the market where NOT fitting in is cool. :cool:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I know of a 3 part professional NLP recording that was specifically for trading of forex. It takes around 20 minutes a day which is manageable in my view if you feel that this sort of thing can help.

 

 

Paul

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
  Trader333 said:
I know of a 3 part professional NLP recording that was specifically for trading of forex.

 

sweet jesus, you gotta be kidding me right? :o

 

do they do one for the 1st 30 minutes of european play?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

i meditate everyhour of everyday, but its probably not what you are thinking. for me meditation is being in the here and now. and i try to stay that way throughout the day. it is not that i do not plan for the future or contemplate the past, i just want to be in the moment at hand as much as possible. there is no moment more important than the one you are currently in.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
  waveslider said:
I agree meditation is critical - so is being self observant. Maybe this is a form of meditation, being outside yourself as an observer.

Quote on my board is:

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are - Anais Nin

 

MC- if you are currently, have you tried avoiding caffeine? I don't drink coffee while trading anymore. I will have green tea or yerba mate, but that is much mellower. Tea drinking is sort of a meditation in itself, as it places you in the current moment.

 

James, maybe you could do a poll about coffee drinking.

 

Larry Pesavento had a paper weight or something on his desk that he used to pick up and examine before making hasty trade decisions. I tried making tea but I must say i found it hard to walk away from the screen at key junctures.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
  Tess said:
sweet jesus, you gotta be kidding me right? :o

 

do they do one for the 1st 30 minutes of european play?

 

 

:rofl: They must also have a flavor for trading the news too, right? Lol...

 

 

I used to meditate, when I first started trading. But then I discovered that it really wasn't doing me a ding-dang bit of good. Mental state may be important for some people, but sensible aggressiveness is just as valuable.

 

It's as simple as knowing what's going on in the world, be aware of the important market levels, and hitch the rides that are worth hitching. Nothing complicated. Nothing mysterious or requiring hypnosis (at least, not for me). Just tag'em and bag'em without remorse.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just had to chime in here. I haven't posted in a while, but I am familiar with this subject somewhat. I have been using Brainsync, which is Kelly Howell's work. She has tons of meditation cd's that you can purchase and download on her site.

 

http://www.brainsync.com/pilot.asp

 

 

I go to sleep every night with my Ipod listening to one of her meditations. I absolutley love it, as it puts me into a very calm place. I also listen sometimes during daytime to some of her other ones, some even during trading, as they are just music with different brain waves. I think it's worth checking it.

 

Also a few months ago, someone here posted an e-mail that was forwarded to him about how to be a succesful trader(talked about support and resistance being the key). The author of the e-mail wrote about Ryan Watts, as he is successful trader. Since I love to research, I decided to look him up and see if he has a website, and he does. He has a section where he talks about three products he uses himself and it includes NLP and brainwaive technology. I purchased two of the three items (as I could 't figure out how to use the 3rd one, and I am trying to get in touch with him about that), and I can say they have been pretty amazing for me. Here is the link to his site, where he talks about those products. They are not that expensive, and I think they are very valuable.

 

http://wattstrading.com/Mindgames.html

 

Hope this helps at least one person.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I agree with GammaJammer. Exercise is excellent for sorting out your bodies biochemistry and also for working out any emotional reactions to earlier trading sessions. Its also the only thing proven to keep the aged mentally alert (so, yeah, it helps :))

 

I do meditate but funnily enough find that it doesn't help my trading - it hinders it. I think its because I come out so relaxed. To trade well I have to be slightly on edge with my inhibitions finally tuned to balance my greed and fear. That means my patience, discipline and aggression all in line. So I psych up from time to time during the day rather than tuning out.

 

But that's just one persons style and experience.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I do. If I sit or lay down I tend to be asleep within a few minutes. So I enjoy a slow martial arts workout instead. Nice and focussed and works on your body and mind at the same time!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have the Holosync demo CD ... it does seem to work ... is there a way to make it trading specific?

 

  atto said:
The "new age" market is filled with snake oil salesmen. That being said, I have used Holosync, and do think it works.

 

  MC said:
My mind races often, I can slow it down and seem to have good mental control. I can focus on one thing if I really try, it has to be something I really want to focus on like a chart. I try to feel the market participants and what they were thinking as the auction shifts its equilibrium.

 

The more I go down the road of psychology and it's role in the markets, the more in tune I'm getting with my own psychology. This has been quite the journey for me. :)

 

I'm gonna look into Holosync and some more on NLP as well since NLP has come up in my studies allot.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
  jamieja83 said:
Psychology is the key to success in trading and hypnosis / meditation is the best way to get into the optimal state.

 

What is your definition of optimal state? Do you have any research you can point me to that hypnosis/mediation is the best way to get in the optimal state?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Thx for reminding us... I don't bang that drum often enough anymore Another part for consideration is who that money initially went to...
    • TDUP ThredUp stock, watch for a top of range breakout above 2.94 at https://stockconsultant.com/?TDUP
    • How long does it take to receive HFM's withdrawal via Skrill? less than 24H?
    • My wife Robin just wanted some groceries.   Simple enough.   She parked the car for fifteen minutes, and returned to find a huge scratch on the side.   Someone keyed her car.   To be clear, this isn’t just any car.   It’s a Cybertruck—Elon Musk's stainless-steel spaceship on wheels. She bought it back in 2021, before Musk became everyone's favorite villain or savior.   Someone saw it parked in a grocery lot and felt compelled to carve their hatred directly into the metal.   That's what happens when you stand out.   Nobody keys a beige minivan.   When you're polarizing, you're impossible to ignore. But the irony is: the more attention something has, the harder it is to find the truth about it.   What’s Elon Musk really thinking? What are his plans? What will happen with DOGE? Is he deserving of all of this adoration and hate? Hard to say.   Ideas work the same way.   Take tariffs, for example.   Tariffs have become the Cybertrucks of economic policy. People either love them or hate them. Even if they don’t understand what they are and how they work. (Most don’t.)   That’s why, in my latest podcast (link below), I wanted to explore the “in-between” truth about tariffs.   And like Cybertrucks, I guess my thoughts on tariffs are polarizing.   Greg Gutfield mentioned me on Fox News. Harvard professors hate me now. (I wonder if they also key Cybertrucks?)   But before I show you what I think about tariffs… I have to mention something.   We’re Headed to Austin, Texas This weekend, my team and I are headed to Austin. By now, you should probably know why.   Yes, SXSW is happening. But my team and I are doing something I think is even better.   We’re putting on a FREE event on “Tech’s Turning Point.”   AI, quantum, biotech, crypto, and more—it’s all on the table.   Just now, we posted a special webpage with the agenda.   Click here to check it out and add it to your calendar.   The Truth About Tariffs People love to panic about tariffs causing inflation.   They wave around the ghost of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff from the Great Depression like it’s Exhibit A proving tariffs equal economic collapse.   But let me pop this myth:   Tariffs don’t cause inflation. And no, I'm not crazy (despite what angry professors from Harvard or Stanford might tweet at me).   Here's the deal.   Inflation isn’t when just a couple of things become pricier. It’s when your entire shopping basket—eggs, shirts, Netflix subscriptions, bananas, everything—starts costing more because your money’s worth less.   Inflation means your dollars aren’t stretching as far as they used to.   Take the 1800s.   For nearly a century, 97% of America’s revenue came from tariffs. Income tax? Didn’t exist. And guess what inflation was? Basically zero. Maybe 1% a year.   The economy was booming, and tariffs funded nearly everything. So, why do people suddenly think tariffs cause inflation today?   Tariffs are taxes on imports, yes, but prices are set by supply and demand—not tariffs.   Let me give you a simple example.   Imagine fancy potato chips from Canada cost $10, and a 20% tariff pushes that to $12. Everyone panics—prices rose! Inflation!   Nope.   If I only have $100 to spend and the price of my favorite chips goes up, I either stop buying chips or I buy, say, fewer newspapers.   If everyone stops buying newspapers because they’re overspending on chips, newspapers lower their prices or go out of business.   Overall spending stays the same, and inflation doesn’t budge.   Three quick scenarios:   We buy pricier chips, but fewer other things: Inflation unchanged. Manufacturers shift to the U.S. to avoid tariffs: Inflation unchanged (and more jobs here). We stop buying fancy chips: Prices drop again. Inflation? Still unchanged. The only thing that actually causes inflation is printing money.   Between 2020 and 2022 alone, 40% of all money ever created in history appeared overnight.   That’s why inflation shot up afterward—not because of tariffs.   Back to tariffs today.   Still No Inflation Unlike the infamous Smoot-Hawley blanket tariff (imagine Oprah handing out tariffs: "You get a tariff, and you get a tariff!"), today's tariffs are strategic.   Trump slapped tariffs on chips from Taiwan because we shouldn’t rely on a single foreign supplier for vital tech components—especially if that supplier might get invaded.   Now Taiwan Semiconductor is investing $100 billion in American manufacturing.   Strategic win, no inflation.   Then there’s Canada and Mexico—our friendly neighbors with weirdly huge tariffs on things like milk and butter (299% tariff on butter—really, Canada?).   Trump’s not blanketing everything with tariffs; he’s pressuring trade partners to lower theirs.   If they do, everybody wins. If they don’t, well, then we have a strategic trade chess game—but still no inflation.   In short, tariffs are about strategy, security, and fairness—not inflation.   Yes, blanket tariffs from the Great Depression era were dumb. Obviously. Today's targeted tariffs? Smart.   Listen to the whole podcast to hear why I think this.   And by the way, if you see a Cybertruck, don’t key it. Robin doesn’t care about your politics; she just likes her weird truck.   Maybe read a good book, relax, and leave cars alone.   (And yes, nobody keys Volkswagens, even though they were basically created by Hitler. Strange world we live in.) Source: https://altucherconfidential.com/posts/the-truth-about-tariffs-busting-the-inflation-myth    Profits from free accurate cryptos signals: https://www.predictmag.com/       
    • No, not if you are comparing apples to apples. What we call “poor” is obviously a pretty high bar but if you’re talking about like a total homeless shambling skexie in like San Fran then, no. The U.S.A. in not particularly kind to you. It is not an abuse so much as it is a sad relatively minor consequence of our optimism and industriousness.   What you consider rich changes with circumstances obviously. If you are genuinely poor in the U.S.A., you experience a quirky hodgepodge of unhelpful and/or abstract extreme lavishnesses while also being alienated from your social support network. It’s about the same as being a refugee. For a fraction of the ‘kindness’ available to you in non bio-available form, you could have simply stayed closer to your people and been MUCH better off.   It’s just a quirk of how we run the place and our values; we are more worried about interfering with people’s liberty and natural inclination to do for themselves than we are about no bums left behind. It is a slightly hurtful position and we know it; we are just scared to death of socialism cancer and we’re willing to put our money where our mouth is.   So, if you’re a bum; you got 5G, the ER will spend like $1,000,000 on you over a hangnail but then kick you out as soon as you’re “stabilized”, the logistics are surpremely efficient, you have total unchecked freedom of speech, real-estate, motels, and jobs are all natural healthy markets in perfect competition, you got compulsory three ‘R’’s, your military owns the sky, sea, space, night, information-space, and has the best hairdos, you can fill out paper and get all the stuff up to and including a Ph.D. Pretty much everything a very generous, eager, flawless go-getter with five minutes to spare would think you might need.   It’s worse. Our whole society is competitive and we do NOT value or make any kumbaya exception. The last kumbaya types we had werr the Shakers and they literally went extinct. Pueblo peoples are still around but they kind of don’t count since they were here before us. So basically, if you’re poor in the U.S.A., you are automatically a loser and a deadbeat too. You will be treated as such by anybody not specifically either paid to deal with you or shysters selling bejesus, Amway, and drugs. Plus, it ain’t safe out there. Not everybody uses muhfreedoms to lift their truck, people be thugging and bums are very vulnerable here. The history of a large mobile workforce means nobody has a village to go home to. Source: https://askdaddy.quora.com/Are-the-poor-people-in-the-United-States-the-richest-poor-people-in-the-world-6   Profits from free accurate cryptos signals: https://www.predictmag.com/ 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.