Transcendental Meditation

Thank you all for your replies. I believe the state of mind most benificial to me as a trader can be summed up in the word - Equanimity. Evenness of mind especially under stress.

Equanimity is a state of mental or emotional stability or composure arising from a deep awareness and acceptance of the present moment.

I am not sure if relaxation is enough, or something greater more spiritual is needed.

Kipling sums it up well, but I it is not easy to achieve. I believe all great traders have this, money just a way to keep score and not to be attached to it?

If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph(profitable trade) and Disaster(loss)
And treat those two impostors just the same;
 
Quote from DrPepper:

I took the TM course over 30 years ago and am certain it was much less than $100. I did not realize that it was still around. I practiced it daily for a couple of years and found it to be valuable. [/url]
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Just saw your reply. So did you show up at your initiation to TM with flowers, fruit and a handkerchief?

If you think appropriate could you please share the actual meditation technique? Even after an hour of persistence googling I am not sure I fully understand the technique, is it just a matter of repeating the given mantra for 20 minutes or is there more?

Thanks
 
Quote from DrPepper:

I took the TM course over 30 years ago and am certain it was much less than $100. I did not realize that it was still around. I practiced it daily for a couple of years and found it to be valuable. However, I did not like the mantra they gave me to chant silently. It was some Indian word and I did not know the meaning.

I have studied and practiced many forms of meditation since then and I promise you that it is not necessary to pay so much money to learn how to meditate. There are a lot of excellent books on the subject. My favorite introdutory book and CD is by Wayne Dyer. He also has a fabulous, though more advanced CD with the most powerful meditation techniques I have encountered. You can purchase them both through Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Gap-C...131X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290965657&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-M...315X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1290965657&sr=8-2
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You an learn meditation at most Zen center or Vedanta Centers for free, or for a small donation. I learned TM in the early 1980's when it was not so outrages. I later found that it is not any better than similar techniques available for free.
 
Quote from bearmountain:

Just saw your reply. So did you show up at your initiation to TM with flowers, fruit and a handkerchief?

If you think appropriate could you please share the actual meditation technique? Even after an hour of persistence googling I am not sure I fully understand the technique, is it just a matter of repeating the given mantra for 20 minutes or is there more?

Thanks
More...

I bought into the TM cult as an anxiety-ridden teenager.

The cost was ~600$ (20 years ago).

After the 4 session sales pitch, I brought my fruit and handkerchief (they provided the bouquet).

My mantra was "Om". Never bothered to look it up. I believe it's a Hindi god.

The process itself was structured:

~5 mins of stretching
~2-3 mins of mindful relaxation (sitting quietly, with eyes closed)
~20 mins of mantra reptition, quietly, in my head
~5 mins of cessation, relaxation with eyes closed

Did that everyday for a couple years.

It's alright. Nothing remarkable. It didn't do much for anxiety.

Although it did calm me down from a pretty wild hallucinogenic trip, if I recall.

TM is a pure cult and scam. Buy a book and learn how to do it for 20 bucks. There is no "secret sauce". TM is vanilla wrapped up as secret sauce.

As I progressed, the friendly people at TM wanted to sell me all sorts of books, gizmos and courses that would accelerate my spiritual walk on the path to enlightenment. While I was turned down for a chance to learn "Yogic flying" (google that; some weird shit) on the account I was too young or immature (can't remember), I did put down 800$ for a 3-day weekend retreat to some crusty old lodge with 30 other desperate souls looking for answers in the maharishi. The "group leaders" were nothing short of authoritarian in the way they interacted with pledges. During one of our theory sessions (which actually double as a long-winded sales pitch into an even longer retreat or "course"), any sort of skepticism was quickly shot down and the questioner singled out for bullying infront of the group. At meal time (our only time to converse with the other marks), most of us uttered only quiet reverences to the maharishi over our bowls of lukewarm chickpea soup, hoping to avoid the ire of the leaders who paced the floor, like a pack of wolves tending to their sheep.

It's actually hilarious. I'm laughing my ass off, writing this. TM is pathetic. It's a cult devoted to suckering-in and bullying desperate people for money. That's my opinion, of course. But it's pretty fucking obvious LOL

I'm a Type A personality. Mindful relaxation doesn't work for me. I can't do it.

I did have some great success with deep breathing. There's a decent guy I can point you to, if interested. Problem is, deep breathing requires an unobstructed nasal pathway. Mine is perpetually blocked from unknown allergies. But when it did work, the results were profound. A good workbook/CD set for deepbreathing might cost 50-100$. Well worth it, imo.
 
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