In This Episode
- How Benjamin Franklin solved problems
- Hypnosis downloads
- How to clear your mind and let solutions “float” into your mind
- Why it's very important to leave your history at the door
The Little Known Benefits of Meditation
Some people will tell you that there is only one way to meditate. Not true.
In this episode, we talk about the different methods of meditating and the different issues that meditation can solve. We also discuss how past programming or experiences can prevent traders from getting to the next level.
Read the Transcript:
Hugh: Hi, Walter. How do you use meditation in your trading? How have you seen other traders use it?
Walter: So I like to use meditation or what I call self-hypnosis. I like to use that in a couple of different ways. One is, before I look at the charts I like to get into a nice mindset. So where I live that is a morning-time thing. What usually happens around our house is, it is a frantic morning. Getting the kids ready for school and as soon as the kids and everyone leaves the house, and I have the place to myself then it is like, “Ahh!” Then I could kind of relax. I can plug into hypnosis.
Actually, I will give you guys a link if you are interested in Forex hypnosis. I work for a company called Hypnosis Downloads. We created one for Forex traders because the one they had for Forex traders is pretty crap. It is really cheap and you can check that out in the link if you want it.
So that is one way to do it. You can listen to binaural beats. What is it called? Hemi Sync or whatever. What are the ones that you are using?
Hugh: Hemi Sync.
Walter: Hemi Sync or binaural beats or whatever. They are quite similar. Also that is another way to get you into the right mindset. What I am trying to do with that is to use the meditative state so that when I look at the charts I do not have baggage. I want to see it as clearly as possible.
Hugh: Hey there! I hope you find this episode useful. I just want to let you know that Walter and I give away something valuable every month that helps traders improve their skills. You can enter to win by simply leaving an iTunes review and leaving a comment on our YouTube videos.
At the end of each month, we'll look at the comments and reviews from the month and we'll pick a winner at random. Each comment and each review counts for one entry during the month that it's pitted.
So, if you're interested in that, be sure to enter after this podcast is over. Alright, back to the episode.
Walter: The other way to do that is of course to go away from the charts and do not look at it for several days. That is another way to see it really clearly. Go on a holiday. That is how I use it. The other one way I use it is for solutions.
Let’s say that for example, you are trying to come up with, it does not have to be trading-related, it could be anything you like. It can be like, if you have this issue and you know that you can figure it out but you do not know what to do. You can do this, getting into a meditative state when you’re falling asleep. It is called a hypnagogic state.
One way to do it is to make a tight fist and as you are falling asleep, what you want to do is you telling yourself that you are going to find a solution. So what you are trying to do is almost like a mantra as you are falling asleep.
So you make a tight fist, you are in bed. You are falling asleep. It could even be just falling asleep for a nap. It does not have to be like night time or whatever when you go to sleep normally. You are telling yourself that when you wake you are going to have a solution to whatever the issue is.
“I am going to come up with the solution tonight and I will have it in the morning.” “I am going to come up with the solution tonight and I will have it in the morning”. As you are falling asleep, what will happen is your fist will relax a bit. That is when you know that you are in that hypnagogic state.
This is the spot where a lot of historically, lots of adventures like Benjamin Franklin. A lot of people that have been really good with the creative side of life. They’ve used this hypnagogic state to come up with a solution.
Sometimes what will happen is as your fist is relaxing, you will get the solution right then. Right then and there. You probably have the experience where in the morning, you are kind of waking up, kind of falling asleep sort of thing you know and it is kind of the same. But, it is when you are falling asleep.
Sometimes I keep a notepad next to my bed because when I am falling asleep and I am going in a hypnagogic sometimes I get the best ideas for trading during that time. So I would be able to record them but if you are trying to come up with a solution, you can definitely bag it then or possibly in the morning when you wake up. You are in a hypnopompic state as you are waking up, you can write it down.
So it is kind of like seeding your subconscious while you are in a meditative state to work on something and it kind of does it in a background for you. So that is something that I would definitely recommend if anyone or if you have not used that before.
Like I said I think Benjamin Franklin did the similar thing where you kind of fall asleep with a bowling ball or a cannonball in his hand. So he would tilt his chair back so kind of balancing on his chair on two legs and hold this cannonball. When he dropped it then he knew he was falling asleep. He dropped the cannonball and that would wake him up and then he would write down whatever the solution was he was working on.
Those are the two main areas. It’s sort of problem-solving/goal-setting and getting into the right mindset for my charts. I know other people have used it for other things like if you have anxiety about pulling the trigger or those sorts of things like trading-related mechanical issues. That is another thing where it can help specially something like the hypnosis download that I will put in the show notes for you guys.
So those sorts of things would be what I use it for. What about you? How do you approach it? You have used meditation, right?
Hugh: Yeah, I mean, it is kind of similar like you’ve said. Number one, to calm myself down before trading or making any decisions. And then number two, to help solve problems or just come up with creative ideas.
I think what works best for me is kind of get into that meditative state and then set an intention. Say, you want to like you said, figure out this problem. So you say the intention and you just let your mind go blank. You do not think about the idea or the solution you want to see and you will just like to listen to what comes in.
Many times you can start to get ideas. You will get like, situations in the past that will help you figure out what is going on now. If you have a problem that you are trying to fix, a lot of times you will find these little cords that goes back to the source. You can kind of trace it there and then you can figure out what the solution is based on where it came from.
I think that is another way to figure these things out and to get some creative ideas.
Walter: So how do you do that? How do you pull the cord or whatever? How does it work for you?
Hugh: It is hard to explain if you do not do it. One thing I have done is something called CAP. It is like a kumbalangi awakening process or something. It’s a piece of a landing ground and they play this really loud music and it is all different types of music. It is just a disc jock to your conscious mind.
So that allows you to let go and let everything else come in that wants to come in. It is kind of the same thing. You just want to put your conscious mind aside and then all these ideas and things will start coming in based on the intention that you’ve set in the beginning.
It is not really like pulling at it but it would kind of start to float into your consciousness and then you can kind of process it there.
Walter: Interesting, that is fascinating. Where do you learn it? Where did you hear about this?
Hugh: It was just kind of like trial and error. I’ve realized that all of these things are like meditation and breath work and these tranquil medicines like mushrooms in ayahuasca. They are all kind of the same thing. It just gets you into that state and then from there you have to start to do some work. You get these ideas and things coming in as long as you said the intention in the beginning.
Walter: It is interesting because I can imagine some people listening to this or watching on YouTube where they might be thinking that like some of the things like when you start talking about mushrooms or yoga or whatever, some of these things are like the emotions, they can be charged. We are bringing our experience into the equation.
There are certain words or things. I remember when I was a kid, I was a magician. I did magic tricks and magic shows. That is what I did every weekend. I was always working at a kid’s birthday even when I was a kid. A seven year old magician going around doing you know six year old birthdays or whatever. What I do is crazy. What I did was wild all the way until I was like nineteen. I did that.
Anyway, there was a kid that came over when I was a kid. When I was probably twelve, I wanted to show him some magic tricks because he was asking about it. I think he was a Seventh-day Adventist. He came over one day and said, “I cannot play with you anymore.” I am like, “What do you mean?” He said, “Because my parents said I cannot play with you anymore”.
I said, “But why?” He said, “Because you do magic”. I said, “Dude, these are like tricks. They are illusions bro. I am not doing like black magic or anything.” Do you know what I mean? It was like in their sort of culture that they grew up, magic meant something. And really it would better be called sleight of hand or illusions. It was not really magic. It was all just like the stuff that you talked about to make it look cool. It blew me away really but it is the same thing with yoga.
I remember when I first took yoga class in the nineties, early nineties or whatever it was all like women. For some people there was a spiritual attachment to it. Whereas now, yoga is no different like you know a triathlon. It is like half men, half women like everyone is doing it. Do you know what I mean?
I think when you say meditation or you say hypnosis or you say mushrooms or kumbalangi sometimes those things get a little bit charged. What I just want to make sure that people understand from my point of view, meditation and self-hypnosis are the same thing.
I just think that sometimes we can close doors to things that might help us out just because of the emotional charge, words that we used to describe them. Sometimes you can just describe them in a different way, especially if you are sharing it with somebody else.
Hugh: So it is more palatable and we really do bring in our past like programming our past culture or whatever, from our parents, from our friends. It is really important to be aware of that and the same thing goes with trading. I hear a lot of people bragging about the trading system before they even test it or try it. I am like, “Dude, really?” I mean. At least give it a try and see if it is working. It might work so it is the same thing.
Walter: Yeah, it is exactly the same thing. People say, “You can only make money if you trade the trend or did you notice that the only traders that make money are the ones that have gone through this course.
Hugh: Or trade like a banker.
Walter: That is so funny. It is true, there is a lot to that.
Hugh: Cool, alright. Thanks, Walter.
Walter: Thank you!
Hugh: All the information in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not trading or investment advice.
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