Mind Over Money: This CEO explains how meditation makes you an effective trader
Mind Over Money: Why a healthy mind is important for a trader
Synopsis
The reason trading is so glamorous is not just because there is a possibility of making a lot of money but also it is the place where one has to face their worst fears which is emotions, says Ashish Kyal.
Ashish who has an experience of more than 15 years has trained more than 10,000 students. In an interview with ETMarkets, Ashish Kyal, CMT, Founder, and CEO at Waves Strategy Advisors, said: “Traders who can survive and flourish are the ones that have been able to overcome their weakness, become disciplined and do not pay attention to the immediate outcome but continue to follow the process as long as their methods have an Edge.” Edited excerpts:
Markers are complicated and to outsmart the beast one needs to remain calm to tackle volatility. One of the best ways to combat stress is meditation. What are your views?
Markets and meditation should go hand in hand. To understand the importance of meditation let us first understand a little more in-depth about trading and investments.
reason trading is so glamorous is not only the fact that there is a possibility of making a lot of money but also it is the place where one must face their worst fears which is emotions.
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Markers are complicated and to outsmart the beast one needs to remain calm to tackle volatility. One of the best ways to combat stress is meditation. What are your views?
Markets and meditation should go hand in hand. To understand the importance of meditation let us first understand a little more in-depth about trading and investments.
Trading and Investments keep the person on the edge. But, to be successful it is important to be extremely disciplined. The person should have perseverance, and emotional strength to withstand when things do not go the way it is expected.
The best or the worst part is that the results are instantaneous – whether you made money or you lost. This is not the case in any other business.
In other businesses, if one takes a wrong decision, it can be corrected eventually or the same will be reflected in the P&L after a quarter.
There is a clearly defined gestation period. Unlike this, traders must face the outcome of their decisions immediately. So, this can simply be both financially and emotionally challenging.
This brings us to the most important aspect “Renunciation of fruits” mentioned in all of the major Puranas across religions. But it is easy said than done. There are various ways to get there and one such way is Meditation.
The function of the mind is to generate thoughts and one cannot control it but only be aware of it. If one tries to stop the thoughts, they will get more intense.
Meditation is a way of making oneself aware of the circus going on in the mind. This opens the possibility of creating a distance from the mind by way of self-realizing this is just an accumulation of information.
By doing this the person is slowly moving towards the truth which is conscious action. In the process, the ability to think gets enhanced sharply. This will also calm down the mind which will reduce the number of thoughts getting generated randomly and our emotions will be under check.
So, meditation is only about getting aligned towards conscious activity rather than doing things unconsciously.
As a trader, there are many decisions that we take during the spur of the moment but only later to realize how stupid it was to even have taken that decisions.
But, understanding the mind functions differently under stress, anxiety when emotions are running high and our decision-making ability gets highly compromised.
So, meditation is a way to enhance our perceptions take conscious decisions as per our ability when it is most needed rather than regretting after seeing markets in hindsight.
You have trained more than 10,000 students in a span of 15 years. I know that for a fact that you make sure to equip your students in meditation – why is it important especially when they are in early stages?
During the early stages of a trading career our mind is like a river. It can be molded easily into the right direction.
Slowly and steadily as time passes there are strong concrete opinions one starts creating about everything – this works, that does not work.
Now, during that scenario trying to put in meditation becomes all the more difficult because even before a person starts putting this into practice there is already a pre-conceived assumption that it will not work.
So, making mind to meditate will be all the more difficult as long as strong opinions are not shattered. This means redefining the entire process of trading again and then putting meditation as an important part of that process is required.
So, it requires a lot of unlearning and then only new learnings will happen. It is therefore important to put meditation as an important part of the trading program early on in the career, rather in any field or business.
Is there any specific technique you teach them?
Most simplest technique that I teach to my Mentees is being aware about breath. This is known to majority but seldom put to practice. Many if asked to be aware of breath will try to do breath. This is not the way.
One needs to understand that the breath is anyways happening whether we want to do it or not do it. Awareness is already there. What is required is to align our awareness to our breath.
Initially, there is a tendency to get deflected and lost among the thoughts. It is required to get the awareness aligned to the breath again.
By practicing this simple way of meditation, one is moving away from untruth of mind which is accumulation of information towards truth of life which is breath that is binding us to this body. This will automatically bring down anxiety, tension, stress which is most important for a trader.
What is the kind of difference you see in students who go on becoming a full-time trader doing meditation and a person who is just a trader?
One very notable difference is the outcome. Many traders practice some form of Yoga or sports to divert their mind. They might be doing it without being conscious that it is a way of moving awareness away from the mind to the conscious reality.
So, I would not say that if a person is not practicing mediation cannot be successful because playing a sport itself can be a way of meditation. For that matter being completely involved in the activity at hand is meditation.
So, to be successful in any field this is the most basic premise and there are multiple ways to achieve it.
Meditation help you not just manage stress, but it also helps you becoming an effective trader. What are your views?
Absolutely, Mediation helps to not only become an effective trader but a successful person because what we define as success is also very relative.
Making money is only one aspect to measure success in trading but the other aspect is how disciplined, calm, joyful you are during the process that defines it.
Any case study which you remember that cemented your faith in meditation?
There are many instances that can be beyond the logical science explanation that has cemented my faith in meditation. But given the restriction of words or without much digressing from the topic one such instance had been during the period of March 2021.
Covid-19 had been widespread during 2021 and I was detected with Pneumonia which went unnoticed as Covid since this was the new variant. I was hospitalized for 12 days and the symptoms were getting worst during the first 2 days.
Later, I decided to not give up on a few of my meditative practice and sitting in hospital I stick to my process. Post the 3rd day the symptoms of high fever, shivering vanished just like that but the reports still showed deteriorating conditions.
Doctors were surprised or rather shocked that the reports and symptoms were exactly opposite which looked impossible as per medical science. In fact, from the 4th day I was taking trades on Options from hospital bed.
Now, the ability to do that during such scenario is possible only if you are either high or strongly grounded. As I was in hospital the first one was not possible so it has to be the second one to be able to trade from 3rd day itself during a 12 day hospitalization period.
Any 5 reasons why people should do meditation to become an effective trader?
Here are few reasons -
The best or the worst part is that the results are instantaneous – whether you made money or you lost. This is not the case in any other business.
In other businesses, if one takes a wrong decision, it can be corrected eventually or the same will be reflected in the P&L after a quarter.
There is a clearly defined gestation period. Unlike this, traders must face the outcome of their decisions immediately. So, this can simply be both financially and emotionally challenging.
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Traders who can survive and flourish are the ones that have been able to overcome their weakness, become disciplined and do not pay attention to the immediate outcome but continue to follow the process as long as their methods have an Edge.This brings us to the most important aspect “Renunciation of fruits” mentioned in all of the major Puranas across religions. But it is easy said than done. There are various ways to get there and one such way is Meditation.
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Meditation is a process where we try to be aware about ourselves may be with thoughts, emotions, or energy. It is misleading when many says that by way of meditation one can control the mind.The function of the mind is to generate thoughts and one cannot control it but only be aware of it. If one tries to stop the thoughts, they will get more intense.
Meditation is a way of making oneself aware of the circus going on in the mind. This opens the possibility of creating a distance from the mind by way of self-realizing this is just an accumulation of information.
ADVERTISEMENT
By doing this the person is slowly moving towards the truth which is conscious action. In the process, the ability to think gets enhanced sharply. This will also calm down the mind which will reduce the number of thoughts getting generated randomly and our emotions will be under check.
So, meditation is only about getting aligned towards conscious activity rather than doing things unconsciously.
As a trader, there are many decisions that we take during the spur of the moment but only later to realize how stupid it was to even have taken that decisions.
But, understanding the mind functions differently under stress, anxiety when emotions are running high and our decision-making ability gets highly compromised.
So, meditation is a way to enhance our perceptions take conscious decisions as per our ability when it is most needed rather than regretting after seeing markets in hindsight.
You have trained more than 10,000 students in a span of 15 years. I know that for a fact that you make sure to equip your students in meditation – why is it important especially when they are in early stages?
During the early stages of a trading career our mind is like a river. It can be molded easily into the right direction.
Slowly and steadily as time passes there are strong concrete opinions one starts creating about everything – this works, that does not work.
Now, during that scenario trying to put in meditation becomes all the more difficult because even before a person starts putting this into practice there is already a pre-conceived assumption that it will not work.
So, making mind to meditate will be all the more difficult as long as strong opinions are not shattered. This means redefining the entire process of trading again and then putting meditation as an important part of that process is required.
So, it requires a lot of unlearning and then only new learnings will happen. It is therefore important to put meditation as an important part of the trading program early on in the career, rather in any field or business.
Is there any specific technique you teach them?
Most simplest technique that I teach to my Mentees is being aware about breath. This is known to majority but seldom put to practice. Many if asked to be aware of breath will try to do breath. This is not the way.
One needs to understand that the breath is anyways happening whether we want to do it or not do it. Awareness is already there. What is required is to align our awareness to our breath.
Initially, there is a tendency to get deflected and lost among the thoughts. It is required to get the awareness aligned to the breath again.
By practicing this simple way of meditation, one is moving away from untruth of mind which is accumulation of information towards truth of life which is breath that is binding us to this body. This will automatically bring down anxiety, tension, stress which is most important for a trader.
What is the kind of difference you see in students who go on becoming a full-time trader doing meditation and a person who is just a trader?
One very notable difference is the outcome. Many traders practice some form of Yoga or sports to divert their mind. They might be doing it without being conscious that it is a way of moving awareness away from the mind to the conscious reality.
So, I would not say that if a person is not practicing mediation cannot be successful because playing a sport itself can be a way of meditation. For that matter being completely involved in the activity at hand is meditation.
So, to be successful in any field this is the most basic premise and there are multiple ways to achieve it.
Meditation help you not just manage stress, but it also helps you becoming an effective trader. What are your views?
Absolutely, Mediation helps to not only become an effective trader but a successful person because what we define as success is also very relative.
Making money is only one aspect to measure success in trading but the other aspect is how disciplined, calm, joyful you are during the process that defines it.
Any case study which you remember that cemented your faith in meditation?
There are many instances that can be beyond the logical science explanation that has cemented my faith in meditation. But given the restriction of words or without much digressing from the topic one such instance had been during the period of March 2021.
Covid-19 had been widespread during 2021 and I was detected with Pneumonia which went unnoticed as Covid since this was the new variant. I was hospitalized for 12 days and the symptoms were getting worst during the first 2 days.
Later, I decided to not give up on a few of my meditative practice and sitting in hospital I stick to my process. Post the 3rd day the symptoms of high fever, shivering vanished just like that but the reports still showed deteriorating conditions.
Doctors were surprised or rather shocked that the reports and symptoms were exactly opposite which looked impossible as per medical science. In fact, from the 4th day I was taking trades on Options from hospital bed.
Now, the ability to do that during such scenario is possible only if you are either high or strongly grounded. As I was in hospital the first one was not possible so it has to be the second one to be able to trade from 3rd day itself during a 12 day hospitalization period.
Any 5 reasons why people should do meditation to become an effective trader?
Here are few reasons -
- To trade effectively without getting into the emotional flux
- Enhancing decision-making process
- Perceive things that majority are missing out
- Never get carried away or have FOMO feelings but to be strongly grounded and disciplined
- Most importantly to be joyful in every aspect of trade outcome
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