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Markets and Mindset · Practice

The Observer.

We are here to observe the market and ourselves. A gentle yet powerful tool, in trading and in our lives. Stepping into the role of the Observer offers a way to come to our screens with non attachment, non judgement, and a neutral space to execute.

Today

You arrive present.

Before any analysis, something in you is already reaching. A breakout. A reversal. A range. A pullback. Better long, or better short. One of them is where your eye goes first, and it goes there ahead of what the market is offering.

That reach is your innate response. It is worth knowing well, because a response you have equipped becomes an edge, and one you have left alone tends to run the day for you.

Today we find yours, and we ask whether you have the tools to support it.

Why I teach this

Where I learned neutrality.

I was emotional on the floor. I went upstairs because I knew I was under regulated, and that environment had no use for regulation. So I learned to communicate efficiently. I still swear a little.

Then I went on to teach yoga, where I learned contentment, non attachment, and non judgement. Then as a CranioSacral Therapy practitioner, I learned the tremendous effect of neutrality on both the practitioner and the client.

I am sharing this with you because these skills make life and trading a little bit easier. It is a practice and a progression, and it applies to your day to day, your trading, and your strategy.

One · Movement

Move first.

The body holds the day in it. Movement gives that somewhere to go, so the stillness that follows has room to land. We work from the toes up.

The sequence
01
Toes. Expand and contract.
02
Ankles. Rotate, then pedal.
03
Lower leg. Kick outs.
04
Upper leg. Figure four, or knee hugs.
05
Torso. Twist, then side body.
06
Chest. Hands by the ears, open and close the elbows.
07
Shoulders. Shrug, then circles.
08
Arms. Swing, then circles.
09
Forearms and wrists. Stretch, then wrist circles.
10
Fingers. Expand and contract.
11
Neck. Gentle stretch, opposite hand to the side of the head. Then turn the head.

All of it works from the chair. Follow along live, or move at whatever pace your body asks for.

01
Come into a forward fold. Hang heavy.
02
Roll up slowly, one vertebra at a time.
03
If prayer pose feels right, take it. Otherwise place one hand on your heart and the other on top.
04
Set your intention for the session.

Your hands are an extension of your heart. The heart carries a frequency measured far greater than the brain, and you are innately executing from there. The aligned plan is what puts the brain to work. Alignment with the heart comes first.

Two · Breath work

Counting the cycle.

One full cycle is an inhale and an exhale. Four counts in, four counts out. Inhale, exhale, one. Inhale, exhale, two. Onward.

If you keep the count, great. If you lose the count, great. Simply begin again at one.

Ready

The count left me at

Three · Body scan

Ground into body and mind combined.

Scan through the body from head to toe. Notice where your stress is held this week.

Then witness what thoughts arise in between the quiet moments.

Before you go inward

Here is mine.

I go short easily, and I love a breakout. A breakout asks for momentum. Without it, what I am holding is a wish.

Time in Polaris grew me into an equally capable trader on the buy side and taught me the value of a pullback, rather than reaching for the breakout every time.

Worth sitting with as well: an opening range is a breakout strategy and a range at once. The market loves its range, and more often than it admits, it returns to it.

I offer mine. Yours may look different.

We personify the market, and in truth it is a room full of people. Algorithms exist because people created them with their ideas and research.

Four · Meditation

Be curious in the quiet.

Stay settled and let these move through you. There is no answering required, and the ones that land will make themselves known.

All of this is law of attraction. If what arrives is FOMO rather than joy, there is more work here, and that is welcome information.

If you feel there is more to learn, ask for insight while you are here. Your intuition may answer or the teacher will cross your path. When the student is ready the teacher appears, and when the teacher is ready the student appears.

Presence is the requirement. You have to be here. Willing to observe in a connected way in order to ask a question and receive an answer.

Five · Free journal

Five minutes, pen moving.

Set the timer and write. The pen stays on the paper until it sounds. Whatever arrives is what belongs on the page.

5:00

Observe and listen to what your body, mind, spirit, and soul are collectively craving. Learn where you are, without judgement, with acceptance, and move from there.

The market does the same thing. So do we.

We close eclipse season with a full moon around the corner. A good week to let go of what no longer serves and invite more of what does.

For the practice

Movement, breath work, and meditation are among the greatest tools we have. Music can be one as well. Here is a playlist I curated years ago while I was teaching yoga. Enjoy!

Open the playlist

Markets and Mindset runs free every Wednesday in the Pitbull Traders Pit. Come sit in it.

Join the Pit

You are the anchor.
Everything else is the trade.