Wednesday, May 16th, 2007
Breathing techniques for relaxed stock market traders
Relaxation breathing may seem an obscure topic for a growth investing site. But I have found it to be extremely important.
Why? Well I’ve fallen into a bad habit recently when I’ve been doing my chart scans at night. I have actually not been breathing properly and taking shallow, quick breaths.
As a result I’ve been overly tense. The flow-on effect is that I’ve been really uncomfortable and therefore have rushed through my chart reading. When you’re not comfortable you just want it over and done with!
It is partly related to my set up at home, where I have a laptop on an old polished wood desk and a dining table chair with a pillow on top.
But the main cause of the discomfort was taking shallow breaths.
One of the best breathing techniques I’ve come across was outlined in Mary Pullig Schatz’s book Back Care Basics (If any of you have a bad back this is the best book on the market — trust me).
Schatz said her yoga teacher B.K.S Iyengar says most people exhale incompletely “without allowing the previous exhalation to come to its natural conclusion.” As a result “the mind jumps from one thought to another, the second thought arising before the first thought is ended, just as the inhalation begins before the exhalation is completed. If exhalation is allowed to conclude spontaneously and naturally, the mind does not have a chance to become agitated.”
Iyengar’s technique follows:
Step 1: Inhale naturally through your nose
Step 2: Exhale naturally through your nose
Step 3: Pause while counting to yourself, one thousand one, one thousand two
Step 4: Repeat steps 1,2 and 3. Continue breathing in this manner for several minutes.
I have focused on breathing techniques when reading charts for the past week or so. My concentration has improved and I’m picking up the tone of the market better as well as more trading opportunities. Try it!
Word Count: 307. This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 at 10:09 am and is filed under Psychology, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
