The origins of mindfulness as a concept and many of its practices are often traced back to Buddhism. Indeed, the word mindfulness is often considered to be a translation of the Pali word ‘sati’.  Pali is a Middle Indo-Aryan language of north Indian origin that is generally used in as the classical and liturgical language of the Theravada Buddhist canon.  There are many reflections of mindful practices in other religions also.  These include contemplative practices in Christianity and endurance feats in Hinduism. 

However, mindfulness is not about religion.  Indeed, practices to increase the odds of a better place in the afterlife or to attain assistance from an external power or a higher being often appear to be very much as odds with mindfulness.  That’s not to say it is anti-religious in any manner.  It is not.  But it is a secular practice.  It is concerned with the present, not with the afterlife.  It is concerned with developing the ability within the person to experience the external world in the present moment.  And there is absolutely no reliance on mystical forces, the supernatural, or claims of pseudoscientific forces or laws.  Neither are there promises that good things will just happen to you for no logical reason other than partaking in some ritual.  You will need to make things happen. 

But neither is mindfulness in contradiction with any of these religious practices.  If you are a spiritual person who adheres to a particular religion or philosophy then that is fine.  If you are neither religious nor spiritual than that is fine also. There is no reason whatever to change your beliefs or your practices. 

Mindfulness is not exclusive, nor is it evangelical.  The only thing it asks for is an open mind, that you prepare for the exercises and that you make the commitment and effort to follow through.  If good things happen and you want to assign them to the grace of your God then that is fine.  Indeed, if you assign the beauty of the natural worked to the goodness of God and mindfulness helps you to appreciate that better then there is a symbiotic, positive relationship.  But if things don’t go well, don’t blame mindfulness.  Instead, accept that it’s not working for you and try and find out why.

One further point: there is no end towards which you are working in a mindfulness course.  You do not pass through stages of higher achievement where you are assessed and move on to the next stage.  There is no black belt or graduation.  There should be no point towards which you are aiming where you can say ‘ well, there’s that done.  Now, what’s next?’   

But that does not mean there is no objective with mindfulness.  There is.  For the moment just think of it as becoming increasingly aware of the present – whatever the present may be.  Along the way there is an objective of increased contentment.  And given that this course is about mindfulness for traders, there is an objective of better trading performance.  So, making more money from trading is probably the ultimate objective.  But let’s not start thinking about that just yet because that is just an imagined future.

I think it is important to make sure these points are well understood because soon after you begin to learn about mindfulness you will encounter the word ‘meditation’.  This can be off-putting for some people as it can at first appear to introduce a concept that is often associated with particular religions or practices and which has been used in ways in recent decades that have seriously undermined its perceived value. 

What springs to your mind when you hear the work meditation?  Possibly someone promoting some evangelical adherence to an Eastern form of mysticism?  Perhaps someone promoting vegetarianism? Or maybe some hocus-pocus, hippy-dippy practice of sitting in uncomfortable positions and basically turning off from the world?  A way to drop out perhaps?  Or to rip off the gullible by dressing up snake-oil nonsense in a cloak of respectability by associating it with an ancient wisdom?  You can be forgiven for that.  Perhaps you are not so cynical and see it as a means to attain some form of insight or spirituality, but feel that it’s just not for you?

Put these thoughts aside.  In a sense, this is your first practice of mindfulness.  Meditation is a practice used in the exercises that accompany mindfulness courses.  See it as a tool.  If you do some DIY, you don’t need to understand how the internal mechanisms of your power tools work, or where they were made, or how they came to be developed.  Neither do you see any tool as having any inherent moral or ethical qualities.  A tool is just that: it either does the job as required, or does not.  Or perhaps the tool is fine but you just don’t know how to use it.  In summary, you are not assessing the tool, you are just using it.

It is a bit unfair to suggest that meditation is somehow equivalent to a power tool, but it’s actually not a bad analogy with which to start.  Meditation is not the end you desire.  You don’t want to learn all about meditation.  No, you want the benefits that can arise if you use it correctly to develop mindfulness.  It’s a means to an end.  Can you live with that?

Putting it another way, approach meditation with an open mind.  It is a pretty complex practice and you may never become a master of it.  But you don’t need to.  Meditation is used in many different contexts and to different ends.  You will learn it and use it in as far as it is useful to improve your ability to be mindful.  No more.  And if you think that the finer points of meditation, and its more extreme practices and objectives beyond what is required to develop mindfulness is nonsense, then that’s fine.  That can be a defendable position.  But that’s of no interest to you.  Just make sure you don’t allow any fears or negative associations that you may have about meditation to get in your way in achieving your objective here.  Do this by just accepting meditation for what it is.

Be aware, that what is written above is by no means universally accepted.  There are two main reasons.  The first, which is legitimate, is that meditation is used in different religions, cultural practices and for different purposes by people with different objectives.  So there is no universally accepted practice that is ‘meditation’ and certainly no universally accepted way to ‘do it correctly’.  That’s fair enough, each to his own, and it is very important that you meditate in the manner that best suits your own level of knowledge and your immediate objective.  You can always move on if these change. 

The second reason, which is a more direct criticism of the views I have expressed, is less legitimate in my mind at least.  It is claimed that meditation is a deep practice that requires a lot of time to learn and loses its meaning if ‘watered down’ in some way.  Rather than a tool, it is more akin to a link in a chain, or a step on a path, on the way to enlightenment.  A single link of a chain is not of much use and is certainly not a chain.  Furthermore, if you don’t master meditation then you will have a weak link in the chain.  And you know the old saying about the chain only being as strong as its weakest link.  In summary, the criticism is that this is a practice that is being taken out of context and used for purposes for which it is not designed and that meditation as a concept is therefore somehow defiled.

This is a big debate and you won’t have to look far on the internet to uncover lots of text and arguments.  We’re not going to find an resolution of this debate and, frankly, it does not interest me.  To my mind such a debate will inevitably generate far more heat than light.  Engaging in such a debate also somehow implies ownership of meditation by adherents to some set of greater practices or those with some alternative objectives.  I don’t accept this any more than any claim that public knowledge can only be used for specific purposes when alternative, legal and legitimate uses are also known to exist.  If mindfulness is useful – and it is – and meditation helps get us there – and it does – then we use it.   We’ll get where we want and let others expend hot air criticising us if they wish.

There is a very important point here.  You have an objective.  It’s not to find enlightenment.  It is not to become a master of meditation although you will wish to become somewhat skilled in this direction.  It’s not just to become more mindful.  It’s to become a better trader.  And you only want to do that, indeed the only reason anyone should want to trade at all, is to make more money.  So you are learning meditation to get better at making money.  That’s just about as far as you can get from the often portrayed purpose of meditation as a sort of ‘tune in, turn on and drop out’ activity. 

Make sure you are comfortable with that.  You are going to be putting in some effort on this course.  You are doing it to make money.  That’s your objective.  If there are other benefits, and you will find that there are, then so much the better.  But anything else is just a step towards being a better trader and the only way to assess if you are getting better is the bottom line.

So, having that out of the way, let’s get a slightly better understanding of what meditation is by summarising some things it is not.  Keeping these in mind will help you to assess how well you are doing when you start the exercises.

Meditation is not:

·        just a way to relax, although you will relax.  It is also about concentration.  And both of these contribute to the increasing awareness that is at the heart of mindfulness; 

·        about going into a trance or some higher state or ‘tuning out’ of the world around you.  You will not be aiming for some level of unconsciousness and you will certainly not be trying to suppress emotions.  Quite the opposite in fact;

·        about little known secrets or ancient mysteries.  You may not fully understand the psychological changes, but you don’t need to.  Good car drivers are not necessarily the best car mechanics.  You will learn it only by practice, and learning the practice is enough; 

·        concerned with the paranormal or any claim to external higher powers.  You are not tapping into some ‘cosmic energy flow’.  That’s just nonsense.  There is nothing in this course that confounds or contradicts the laws of physics in any way.  You just want to become more aware of the world around you; 

·        dangerous.  You will not be tuning out of the real world or trying to suppress real issues.  Nor will you get ‘high’, although you will begin to feel higher levels of contentment and happiness.  No, you are looking for a way to deal better with the real world.  But don’t push too hard at the start.  You are not looking to become a master;

·        about turning you into a better person.  How could it?  It is a tool for you to use.  But it can help you to be the best you can be;

·        a panacea for all problems or ills.  It will help you to deal with them and perhaps find solutions.  But the key figure is you.  However, meditation is not all about you and your ego.  It’s focus is how you understand and work with the world around you.  So while you are enhancing your skill, the skill is to work with the world outside you.

Although various meditation traditions and techniques exist around the world, they can be roughly divided into four broad categories: concentration meditation, reflective (or insight) meditation, mindfulness meditation and creative meditation.

Concentration meditation

The ability to concentrate your mind is essential for effective meditation.  Concentration allows you to overcome distractions and maintain mental focus.  If you just let your mind wander freely then you will have very limited mental capacity to address issues and challenges.  In contrast, a concentrated mind is a powerful means to realise our potential.  It’s a bit like if you pour water onto a flat surface.  It will simply disperse into a shallow wet area with some slighter deeper part randomly arranged according to where there are any depressions in the surface.   However, if you change the surface so that you channel the same water in one direction and keep it under pressure, it can become a source of great power.  This is what the pioneers of the industrial revolution realised.  Your mind works similarly.

But your mind is also infinitely more complex than the dynamics of liquids – complex an all as that area of study may be.  Having the ability to concentrate means your mind can acquire greater calm, stability and clarity so that problems such as confusion, anxiety and lack of attention are overcome.

Reflective Meditation

Reflective meditation, also described as contemplation, can be defined as disciplined thinking. You choose an idea, situation, or question and focus your contemplation on it. When your mind wanders, you bring it back to the subject of your reflection gently but firmly.

Reflective meditation is traditionally used for gaining greater insights into the nature of death, life, the meaning of life, or the question of your own mental quest, be it relationships, a scientific puzzle, or daily problems. The basic premise is that your ability to develop insights rests on your ability to direct your attention repeatedly to your chosen theme and to be  open to whatever arises in your mind from that experience.

While the objectives will differ, you will find that there are some reflections of this in the mindfulness approach.

Creative meditation

Creative meditation aims to transform and apply the habits of the mind with greater efficiency by developing and strengthening particular qualities of a person’s nature.  For example, creative visualization, one of the most used methods of creative meditation, can assist in fulfilling personal desires, such as succeeding in professional life or attracting happiness.

The premise is that our subconscious mind does not discern between imagined and real stimuli. As a result, while an imagined impression may last only seconds, the subconscious mind can trigger similar emotional, mental, and psychological reactions repeatedly. Thus, by bringing desirable emotionally charged images into our awareness a practitioner can exercise productive control over our imagination and influence the positive qualities of our mind.

In support of this approach it is argued that the mind can be trained in the same way that we can train our body to develop stamina and flexibility. There is certainly evidence that mental training can help to develop greater intelligence, creativity, and other mental capacities.  It is less clear that this practice can actually result in this enhanced potential being realised but the possibility is created.  However, such validity as there may be in this approach has been greatly undermined in recent times by the misapplication of creative meditation.  The most visible manifestations of this are in claims relating to the ‘law of attraction’.  The claim here is that by imaging a certain outcome you will bring it about in some manner by some strange forces. 

Be clear: there is no evidence to support this application of creative meditation as a coherent approach, despite its popularity.  This has an important implication.  There are no easy short cuts.  Meditation, simply thinking about something, is not going to achieve the outcomes you desire.  But it can help, if done properly  Your ability to perform is not infinite.  Outcomes are related to your starting capabilities and your ability to put your skills into practice.  In the context of trading, mindfulness and the meditation exercises that accompany it are about maximising your chances of using your skills.

Mindfulness Meditation

In line with the definitions above, mindfulness is a state of awareness in and of the present moment.  It requires that your mind is relaxed and conscious of your experience, including thoughts and feelings, along with sensations and breathing.  In this state you accept everything with an attitude of non-resistance and equanimity.  You accept what you find because it is.  No further analysis is required.  Thus, you can experience everything fully without self-criticism or clinging to your personal identity and importance.

Notice immediately that there is no concept here of getting away from reality, as could be said about reflective meditation.  Indeed, it is exactly the opposite.  And while relaxing, it is ‘certainly not a way to go into a trance or any sort of an ‘altered state’.  In contrast, someone practicing a mindful approach to life could reasonably content that a person who fails to live in this way is the one who is trying to escape from reality, albeit that they may be doing so inadvertently.  Above all else, this is a reason why mindfulness is so amenable to being integrated into modern lifestyles and being used to improve performance in work situations. 

The meditations you will encounter in the mindfulness course are not about sitting awkwardly for a painful length of time, or chanting, or changing your appearance.  Fa