COACHING
learning to regulate your breathing. A very simple technique that you can use, and as taught to US Navy Seals to maintain composure, is a centering breath as detailed in the box.
Centering Breath
This is a great technique that can be used prior to trading to settle yourself and get ready before you trade, or in the heat of the moment, perhaps whilst managing a trade, and also after a stress event such as a loss to help to get you back into a good state before trading again.
This version of the centering breath I have taken from the book ’10 Minute Toughness’ by Jason Selk as it is simple and easy to remember and perform. It takes just 3 steps and 15 seconds to shift how you are feeling. 1.
Take a deep breath in filling your diaphragm (belly) and
up through your lungs taking 6 seconds to do so 2.
seconds to do so.
Mental Training Target : Aim for 20-40 centering breaths per day to really flood the brain with oxygen and build your stress capacity.
Getting Into the Trading Zone
You can also practise highly effective concentration exercises that will enable you to sustain your focus for longer and becoming better at managing distractions and particularly any negative thoughts that you may encounter, the kind of doubts and worries that might get you out early from a trade or lead you to move your stop loss.
One of the key aspects of getting into the trading zone is an ability to be in the present, to be focussed in the now. By practising the specific concentration skills in this series not only will you improve your concentration and attentional skills, but you will also develop a greater awareness of being present, of being in the now, noticing and paying attention to the factors that are critical to your trading performance whilst being able to avoid the distractions and interference that typically lead to underperformance, frustration and ill-discipline.
Hold your breath for 2 seconds allowing the air (oxygen)
to circulate around your body and to get to the brain 3.
Breath out slowly (the relaxation response) taking 7
FX
Concentration Training For Getting Into The Trading Zone
1.
relax. 2.
Find a comfortable place to sit and allow yourself to Begin by developing an awareness of your breathing.
Noticing the in breath and the out breath. Just noticing how one breath follows another. 3.
Sustain this focus on your breathing for a pre-
determined amount of time – 10 minutes is a good target to aim for. 4.
You will probably find that your mind wanders away
from your breathing. This is natural and is what minds do. Simply notice your thoughts. Let them pass. And then refocus back on your breathing. 5.
Repeat until your allotted time is up.
This is a simple but very powerful exercise that helps to develop your ability to not only sustain your attention but also to be able to switch it. Two very important performance skills.
Mental Training Target : Perform the exercise for 10 minutes each day.
Visual Power
Perhaps one of the most powerful and beneficial aspects of mental training is the use of visualisation, also commonly referred to as mental rehearsal or imagery.
Every action, feeling and behaviour that you have is the result of the activation of a neural pathway in the brain. A neural pathway is a connection or series of connections between the neurons in the brain. Essentially each pathway is the mental pattern for the skill, feeling or behaviour. Tese neural pathways are created and then developed and strengthened through practise and repetition, developing a mental blueprint, and aſter time they become automatic – habitual. It is a bit like taking a walk through a field of wheat. Te more you walk down the same path the more down trodden the wheat becomes and the clearer and more visible the path is.
Neural pathways can be developed and strengthened through the actual activation of the physical feeling or behaviour or interestingly, and importantly through the visualization of
FX TRADER MAGAZINE January - March 2012 27
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97