from Whamo: Do you meditate? If so, can you describe the process you go through? Was there a noticeable change in your trading performance when you started mediating?
Apart from boomer rites of spiritual passage in 60s/70s (what a haze!), I have regularly (albeit not consistently, lol) meditated since 1991, before I took up trading as a livelihood in 1998. The basic method I use is 3-fold: "anapanna", focus on the breath; "vipassana", focus on sensation; and "metta", compassion. I simply sit comfortably for 40m to 60m daily, twice when possible, and carry that breath/sensation/body awareness around with me through my day. I don't claim perfection, not at all, but I am persistent.
As to change in performance, I would say that meditation, or more properly, the insights it lead me to about living (through the guidance of someone to whom I am forever grateful), did change how I worked and live. It also played a role in my leaving a 25 year career almost 8 years ago to pursue independence. Not that I'm "there". It's a process that doesn't end and the chapter is never finished.
Of late I've made a commitment to be more consistent in my practice as my experience has shown that only through persistence and consistency does awareness and insight ripple throughout all I do, which of course, includes my work in trading. Trading is ripe for practice as each trade is an opportunity for emotions/thoughts/sensations to creep in, watch them ebb and flow, and be aware that they have absolutely nothing to do with the present! That alone can change your trading. If you read Mark Douglas' book, his primary tenet is that you must approach the market with the idea that
anything can happen, and that your techniques serve to give you a probabilistic edge. All else is clutter. Meditation practice is just that-- practice at seeing clutter and letting it pass on.
from Zuizo: If you "use" meditation to achieve goals... you have totally missed.
Agree. Meditation is a pivot point for learning to recognize wisdom and acheiving the confidence to live actively in whatever is present, which while trading, means "using" it to trade, or while eating, "using" it to eat, etc.
from chessman: However Meditation, Hypnosis etc pales in comparison to Ed Seykota's trading tribe process. ... Unless the blocks are cleared
I am interested in this trading tribe process, which I've recently noticed mentioned here at ET. However, I don't believe one need preclude the other and if anything, might complement. As an aside, vipassana is a method that through conscientious use specifically clears blocks. It may interest you.
ChaosNSX - a wonderful melding of insights. Making any method practice-able, practical, is vital. A method needs to transcend being purely mental or mechanical. While there are as many ways to experience reality as there are humans, just as there are as many trading methods out there as ther are traders (probably more!), one's
direct experience is what transforms.
from harrytrader Positive thinking is the new opium of New Age
Sometimes there are more than two sides: Positive thinking, Negative thinking, and Reality thinking, which doesn't view things as good or bad, simply as-is... but then acts to work to improve the situation.
from Girlpower: This was suggested to me a few days ago by a dear friend, and I am going to look into it. What a coincidence that this thread should come along now.
Sounds like serendipity!
Last comment: I am not a teacher, evangelist, or adept. Nor do I represent any one's interest other than my own. In working to improve my own practice (trading or meditation) writing helps to clarify my thoughts, but sharing it with others amplifies the goodwill all around.
Ana Maria
RS
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