The power of meditation when investing in volatile markets

{Note from mods - this thread split from here: Corona virus opportunities into the stockmarket}

Why must you always be so calm and level headed? I demand you start participating in this hysteria and give us wild guesses of where the market is going.

 

Simple, just overwhelm yourself with so much bad news that you become numb to it all.

As a retiree, with no more human capital left, and me being a nervous nelly by nature I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s a case of live by the sword, die by the sword. For sure calm by nature is not natural for me. Having been through some horrible times during my lifetime I believe one must have some hope in the future and retain one’s sense of humour. To do otherwise would result in a repeat of those horrible times in my past.

Others might laugh but a minimum of 20 minutes meditation each morning helps keep me sane no matter what the world throws at me.

As long as I’m alive there’s always hope.

 

Been meditating on and off for a couple of decades, but for the last 13 years, never missed a day. It's like brushing your teeth. Not doing it would be totally unnatural.

Meditating turns down the volume on a whole number of levels.

 

Been really into it now for about 6 months and it's amazing the impact it's had.

 

How do you both meditate? Do you use an app, or read a book etc?

 

Been meditating for 27 years now. Definitely recommend it.

As for how....I practice a few different techniques such as breathing, visualisation and mantra meditation. Practice for 15-30 mins each morning and then again whenever I have a few minutes throughout the day.

The real benefit comes from integrating it into your daily life by being mindful as often and as intensely as you can.

 

For the most part, mindfulness. Search online for free beginners resources. There are apps such as calm and headspace that I haven't looked at, however to me that would be a beginning. Don't just rely on those and call it meditation. Eventually you should be doing this off your own bat. I have used audio guided meditations in the beginning via cassette tapes and cd's and mp3 audio.

I did attend one course on primordial sound meditation which was something branded by Deepak Chopra where they give you a special mantra. It was okay and I use it occasionally.

Just start and don't judge the session. A good initial aim would be 10 minutes. Do what works and make it regular. Commit for at least 3 months EVERY DAY and around the same time if possible. You will notice a difference.

Ohmmmmm

 

This one will take you there..

 

The Smiling Mind is a great project and a gentle starting point for beginners.

Smiling Mind

 

Where’s @truong (the turtle), would love to hear his suggestions.

 

after meditation, can I start to pray then?

 

Well praying is what our evangelical PM has encouraged Australian's to do. I'm not sure how effective it is though, he asked us to prey for rain back in September and look at how well that worked out for everyone...

I think he'd get a much better result if he asked the masses to meditate.

 

The approach I use is the simplest in essence but potentially more difficult to do. No concentration techniques, visualisation, focusing on breathing etc. It was first taught decades ago by Dr Ainsle Meares (taught Ian Gawler early on when he had cancer) and those that continue to teach it sometimes call it Stillness Meditation. Just relaxation of body, feel this relaxation flow into the mind, relaxed body / relaxed mind become one, when thoughts intrude repeat the above over and over. Overtime thoughts intrude less and less.

It important to perform the meditation in a position of slight discomfort. That is sitting upright in a firm chair or cross legged on the floor etc. NO LYING IN BED OR VERY COMFORTABLE POSITION. This helps the relaxation come from the mind rather from simply feeling comfortable.

Very important is to bring this into daily life. At first whilst doing simple daily tasks briefly feel the relaxation of the body / face then recall that felling of calm from the daily sitting meditation. These few second micro-meditations throughout the day reduce accumulation of stress and it’s negative effects.

My biggest problem over decades of doing this has been consistency. After practising meditation for awhile the physical / mental health benefits are amazing. But because I’d feel so good I’d start getting slack with regular practice. Then sure enough over time the benefits would slowly disappear. My wife always notices the changes in me long before I do. She often says that I’m a completely different person (for the better) when meditating regularly.

Here’s a recent e-book of a collection of Ainslie Meares works and meditation instruction:

https://www.amazon.com.au/Ainslie-Meares-Meditation-Dissolve-tension-ebook/dp/B075FZYVB6

It also includes a copy of his popular book when first released called “Relief without Drugs”. Amongst other things It teaches those with chronic / severe pain how to cope and significantly reduce the level of pain.

Those most likely to benefit from meditation are typically nervous types like me who seem to be more prone to stress, worry, type A’s etc.

 

I did attend a one day event around 15 years ago run by Ian Gawler himself from the Gawler Institute when we still lived in Melbourne. I have read the book by Ainslie Meares as I had an interest due to chronic pain. The prelude to the technique of body scanning and tensing/relaxing working through major muscle groups was useful.

I think people new to this and investigating different styles and modalities should compile their own tool box of techniques to call upon.

 

Good to hear everyone’s experience . I’m not very familiar with the authors mentioned as it looks like I’m coming from a different angle. Many years ago when I was a lad in Vietnam, I had this calling to find “my true nature” (or God or whatever name you call it) and began to meditate. Mindfulness was an integral part of the religious discipline I tried to follow then, in contrast to what was later introduced in the West, mostly detached from its Buddhist roots.

For this reason I’ve always thought there is much more to mindfulness than just a mental health technique to help you relax and de-stress. At its core mindfulness isn’t a means to avoid negative experiences of life or enhance positive ones, but to fully live them as they are. As you do this, you’re bound to explore the underlying cause for things to appear negative or positive, or even to exist at all, and that leads you to uncover the being that you truly are. We’re right in the domain of religion here.

Mindfulness could mean at first that you savour, say, each bite that you eat. But go further and you’ll find yourself savouring the act of tasting every bite whatever that taste may be. The mind frees itself from objects of perception and there is inner peace. This I understand is the “beyond” that many religions teach about.

But I digress. I very much enjoy the posts by our PC meditators here, especially when @Nodrog says not to concentrate, which reminds me of my past failures. Surely others could use these suggestions to help them cope with our turbulent times. Cheers to all.

 

Meditation is something I knew I should have been doing daily 10+ years ago. Always did it infrequently until about six months ago. Now I do it 30-45 minutes in one sitting 5-7 days a week.

Learning positive reinforcement (rather than self-sabotage) was one of the main reasons that got me to do it regularly. It's actually possible to be nice to yourself and still be really good at something instead of mentally torturing yourself every time you make a small 'mistake'. I learnt this after reading The Illuminated Mind. It gave me a framework and guide to meditating and how to get yourself to do it regularly.

The benefits.. The obvious is increased self-awareness which is probably one of the key things for personal growth (and trading). If you meditate regularly and for long enough (30min+), over time you will start to realise many pre-programmed thoughts, thought processes and habits that you have are self-destructive, and from there you have a better chance of either changing that behaviour or being aware of those thoughts and not being reactive to them. Not sure if I described that properly.

In my opinion, we are human, therefore we are all emotional and somewhat ****ed up. Meditation helps self-awareness and many other things like happiness, decision-making, concentration when you need it etc. All lead to living a more happier life and better investment decisions.

 

A few years ago I did a 10 day silent retreat called vipassana. A difficult technique as it doesn't involve any visualisation etc. I hadn't been meditating for the past couple of years but with all the bad new recently, I've had to switch off from reading the news, social media and even property chat. Instead I've been meditating for 30 mins every morning. I do feel a bit more focused and at peace.