A Trader Journal

Change yourself, change your trading.

Meditation and Trading - Part 5

Developing Concentration
First step in practicing meditation is developing our ability to concentrate and focus our mind. This will enable us to reduce the inevitable distractability that occurs when we practice. This is useful skill to develop especially for day trading. The forms of meditation that require continuous focus on a particular object are called structure meditation. The two most common types are - mantra and counting breaths. 

Counting Breaths:
  1. As you sit quietly, focus on the inflow and outflow of the breath. Let your self breathe slowly and evenly. Each time you breathe out, silently count the breath. You can count up to ten and start over again or keep counting as high as you like.
  2. Each time your focus wanders, bring it back to your breathing and counting. If you get caught in an internal monologue or fantasy (which will happen), don't worry about it or judge. Just relax and return to count again.
  3. When you lose track of the count, start over at one or at a round number like fifty or hundred.
  4. After practicing breath counting meditation for a while, you may want to let go of the counting and just focus on the inflow and outflow of your breathing.
  5. Continue this process for a minimum of ten minutes.
In structured meditation, it is important to concentrate on whatever was chosen as our object of meditation (i.e., breath) but not force or strain ourselves to do so. When thoughts, day dreams or external stimuli distract, attempt neither to hold onto them or reject them too vigorously. Just allow them to come and go. Right attitude comes into play here.

Breath counting exercises are useful to practice meditation because they will help develop concentration. Often people use them at the outset of each meditation for 5-10 minutes as a way to increase focus.


--------------------
Note: I am not an expert on meditation. So the contents of this series is a summary of my readings and understanding. Part of the reason I am writing this series is for myself to learn better the concepts and improve my own practice. This post is NOT an advice or recommendation. 

1 comments:

Elizabeth J. Neal said...

To release all our thoughts, plans, worries and concerns so that we can have a deep and restful sleep. lifeandpeople.com/sleep-guided-meditation/

Post a Comment

Share