| Meditation and Stock Market Investing |
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| Palmer Owyoung | |||
| Wednesday, 04 February 2009 | |||
  Twenty years ago meditation was just something that new-agey, hippie types did to get in touch with the flow of the universe. Most people derided the practice as flakey and it was looked upon as being rather silly. However with the advent of MRI and more importantly fMRI brain scans we can now see the actual changes that are taking place in the brain. We now know the meditation leads to lower stress, lower blood pressure, increases in memory, and cognitive development and a whole host of other benefits.According to Buddhist belief, meditation is the path to enlightenment and happiness, but can it help us to make money too? Well yes and no. Obviously money isn't going to come pouring down from the heavens just because you spend 15 hours a day meditating, otherwise monks would be wearing Armani rather than saffron colored robes. However it can give you better clarity of mind, lower your stress levels, increase your degree of concentration, reduce your level of attachment to an outcome and overall help you to make better decisions about your investments. It may also help increase your confidence and give you the push needed to buy a stock, exchange-traded fund or mutual fund to begin with. With that said here is a quick and simple method to meditate: 1. Start by stretching out and relaxing your body and a few deep breaths to clear your mind. 2. Sit in a comfortable position on a yoga mat or a pillow with your legs crossed and your back straight. You can also lie down on the floor, but be careful that you do not become too relaxed and fall asleep. 3. Breath deeply and slowly in through your nose, hold it for a second when your lungs are filled and then exhale through your mouth, giving one final push to completely clear the air out of your lungs. Do this over and over until five minutes have lapsed. You should focus on nothing but counting your breaths. Your mind will have a tendency to wander and when it does so gently bring it back to focusing on your breathing. Once you can do this for five minutes, work your way up to 10 then 20 minutes. A healthy amount is 20 minutes twice a day. You will begin to see amazing changes in your life and benefits from meditation. Again doing this alone won't make you rich, but it should at the very least make you a less emotional and more rational investor, who doesn't buy stocks based off of the recommendations of a "sure thing" by some guy he just met at a party.
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