8 Resources for the Trading Mindset, Meditation & the Brain

About a fortnight ago I did a trading seminar in Toronto.
I spoke about Neuroscience, the self-image, comfort zone and the trading mindset which had a strong impression on the attendees.
One of them emailed me the following question shortly after:
“Could you point me towards some resources on the trading mindset, buddhist meditation and personal growth?”
I really appreciated this question because part of my work here is to have a positive impact upon people.
Changing someone’s brain and mindset is no small thing.
Most people repeat the same mistakes in trading (and life) because it takes effort and hard work to re-wire the brain.
But doing so in a positive and meaningful way can impact someone for life, just like many people along the way have impacted mine – sometimes from meeting them just once.
And such an impact and change will undoubtedly improve our trading mindset.
In answer to this individual (David), I decided to share 8 powerful resources for buddhist meditation, mindset and personal growth.

#1: Calm.com

What is it? A website that plays calming background music and imagery.
Sounds can have an effect on our brainwaves, breathing and heart-rate. Mozart and Beethoven are notorious for helping to create alpha waves within our brain (~4-10hz helping to keep our minds relaxed but attentive).
I personally use this first thing in the morning to start my day off right and create a calm environment for trading.
You can select from a suite of background images and sounds whichever appease you best.
Click here to check out what they have.

#2: Lion’s Roar

A great website for learning about meditation, buddhism, perspectives on culture and life where you don’t have to be a buddhist to benefit from (nor become one).
The website’s tagline is ‘Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time‘ and I often find some great articles or books in here which reflect a great perspective on an every day challenge we all encounter.

#3: Change Your Brain, Change Your Life (Book) by Daniel Amen

Dr. Amen is one of the pioneers that has done SPECT analysis on the human brain (over 80,000+ brain scans) and has helped us see the brain (and it’s health) in a completely new perspective.
His book Change Your Brain, Change Your Life really demonstrates how the brain impacts our behavior (more than we likely imagine).
He also offers some really good tips on how to improve brain health and has a fantastic ted talk sharing a few key points from the book.

#4: Lumosity

Plenty of gym’s out there to train your body and muscles, but what about your brain?
Enter lumosity.com. Developed by a team of Neuroscientists who made brain entrainment fun and enjoyable.
A ton of my students use this every day and have shown not only better scores in their testing (via lumosity), but continually report a sharper memory, increased focus, and quicker response times.
Your brain needs training, and this program gives you specific tasks to work on memory, speed, problem solving, and more.
Want to train your brain? This is one of my recommendations.

#5: Wheat Belly

Wheat what?
Belly.
As you might have guessed, this book is about wheat and how gluten affects your gut and brain.
This one was an eye opener for me as I LUV’D my bread (part italian) and pretty much ate it (or some form of gluten) every day for decades.
I cannot tell you how much I enjoy sinking my teeth into a good slice of freshly cooked bread.
BUT…I want a healthy brain and gut, and my desire to have those is stronger than my desire to be without them.
I know bread lovers, this one is trodding upon diet which is generally the ‘out of bounds’ area for traders, likely to incite a ‘what the F do you know, don’t tell me what to eat’ type response.
So I’ll just say read it, decide for yourself and I’ll support whatever decision you make.

#6: How to Meditate by Pema Chodron

Pema Chodron is a Western Buddhist teacher who has an amazing ability to teach meditation and buddhism for the every day person in our every day language and experience.
The subtitle to this book (How to Meditate) is ‘A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind‘.
And that is what we have to do when trading – make friends with our mind.
We cannot beat ourselves down, we must build ourselves up (and our self-image).
We have to learn how to relate to our minds beyond the western psychology and ‘talking about our feelings‘ method.
Western psychology is being replaced by modern day neuroscience and eastern meditation/school’s of thought.
This book takes the latter path but does so in a way that anyone today can relate to.
If you want to become more friendly with your mind and have it start working for you, meditation for trading is one powerful method available .
So check out this book which offers some great insights on the process.

#7: Through the Wormhole by Morgan Freeman

Yes – that same Morgan Freeman (the actor) has a great show called ‘Through the Wormhole‘.
It’s available via iTunes and covers some fascinating topics while asking the hard and provocative questions, such as:
-What Makes Us Who We Are?
-Mysteries of the Sub-conscious
-Is Luck Real? (traders will love this one 😉
-Can Our Minds Be Hacked?
I think you’ll find this show interesting because many of the minds, scientists and thinkers will without a doubt challenge the way you see yourself, your mind and your experience in the world.

#8: The Advanced Traders Mindset Course

Wait…you can’t mention your own course.
Yes…I can.
I’ve spent the last two decades studying Neuroscience, particularly focusing on improving cognitive performance.
Over the last 15 years, I’ve been meditating every day, completed a 1 year meditation retreat, and used this for my trading process and mindset.
I’ve worked with a teacher who constantly challenges me beyond my comfort zone and help me continually grow.
In 2014, I spent over 700+ hours building this course for one purpose – to change the way you think, trade and perform.
Students in the course are no longer seeing their trading and mindset the same.
They are having the ‘aha‘ moments and finally understanding the how, what and why they have performed the way they do.
Many have completely changed their performance numbers around with one student up +12R for the month of May.
I’ve even had many students wanting to teach this to their kids.
This training is that powerful.
For those wanting to achieve peak performance in their trading, visit my ATM Course page and reserve your seat for the next release (only available for a short time).
Did you find these 8 resources useful?
Also what resources do you use to help with your trading mindset and personal growth?
Please share this article with anyone you think would benefit from this as we all need better brains and minds for trading and life.