Vipassana Meditation And Investing

VIPASSANA MEDITATION AND ITS INFLUENCE ON INVESTING

Vipassana Meditation Centre in Chiba near Tokyo, Japan. The location of my second Meditation Retreat.

This is far from a vacation retreat. Wall Street and Vipassana have close to no things in common. Except one, there is no free lunch.

WHY EXPLORE An EXTREME MEDITATION TECHNIQUE

How Bankers Deal With Stress

Around 2017, and after having spent a number of years working for one of the most emblematic Wall Street firms I started exploring ways to deal with everyday life. And the stress and high intensity of living in London and travelling throughout Europe on short notice. With not much sleep.

We all try to escape reality, somehow. In the city, lots of boosting substances are common, including the legal ones – antidepressants. 

Believe it or not but their repeat prescription is now one of the most popular choices on the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) App called Dr IQ. 

After having escaped the western realities and started cycling the world, I observed that outside banking, the most common way remains the historically most effective one, religion. 

But I must recognize that while other fields like medicine still heavily rely on various explorative substances, microdosing etc., Banking did, to some extent, improve over the past decade. 

A healthy lifestyle is now trendy and preparing for an Ironman is another way to empty your brain. 

But it’s not a full escape. You still compete. 

It's hard to resist the impression that Physics, and in particular quantum mechanics converges in a lot of ways with the Stoics and even more so with Buddhism.

Flirting With CBT, a Western shortcut to Buddhism

Popular as the above ways are, they didn’t do the trick for me.

Stoic philosophy intrigued me and was, on paper, an ideal toolkit to explore. 

Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations or Epictetus’ Discourses were a great starting point. 

After having read The Monk and the Philosopher: A Father and Son Discuss the Meaning of Life or The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet it’s hard to resist the impression that Physics, and quantum mechanics, in particular, converges in a lot of ways with the Stoics and even more with Buddhism.  

I have done a fair amount of courses on relativity and quantum mechanics but this didn’t give much help in everyday life. But maybe Stoics could.

That’s when I learned that there is even a western way of implementing this philosophy.

It’s called Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (‘CBT’). The set of exercises is based on practical implementation of Buddhism, Stoicism or Taoism. 

And it’s even covered by UK’s NHS. 

While the Greek and Roman philosophers thought about Philosophy as a practical way of life, we have to a great extent, discontinued this tradition as only some practical aspects have been absorbed with the emergence of Christianity.

The Problem With Stoicism

But the CBT sessions ended up being more of an intellectual and theoretical exchange rather than implementing a proper technique. 

That’s when a friend of mine mentioned Vipassana to me for the first time. What he mentioned resonated strongly with me. Nice as it is, the theoretical background doesn’t help in daily life. 

An exercise can be helpful as a shortcut, but the practice is key. Through meditation.

And Eastern traditions have better continuity than the West. While the Greek and Roman philosophers thought of Philosophy as a way of life, it has been to a great degree discontinued since then with the emergence of Christianity. Since then, Philosophy remained a theoretical field.

Buddhism, on the other hand, is probably superior to its European cousin as its methods persevered throughout centuries. 

This was my main take-away from my theoretical exchanges during CBT.

Vipassana seemed like a good candidate for a trial with centres popping up like mushrooms after rain throughout the globe.

As an adventure cyclist, this seemed like a great option. And an opportunity to take a break from cycling. 

10 days with no expenses getting into something that I was keen to explore. The course is completely free of charge. A donation is encouraged at the end of the course allowing future students to benefit from the same infrastructure.

Here is what I wrote after the 10 days.

Vipassana Centre Near Vancouver, Canada. The location of my first Meditation Retreat.

When the Vipassana founder implemented this concept for the first time in the West, some countries have been suspicious. With a large population of homeless people, how can you offer food and accommodation for free? Where is the catch?

Day 1. AN Intriguing Start.

I signed up for a meditation retreat after flying from Asia to North America. The exact location is c. 250 km from Vancouver in a fairly mountainous area. 

The setting is perfect for a meditation retreat. 

There are people are across the social spectrum. I’m quite impressed by the quality of the first conversations. 

It seems like a natural selection has operated based on emotional maturity and awareness. 

The average age is probably mid-30s. I expected it to be higher. It’s quite promising. 

Maybe religions are bound for some serious disruption in the next decades.

The diet is simple, yet relatively good. That’s quite an achievement given that I’m in North America and just came from Japan. It’s fully vegetarian.

After Day ‘11’ and a visit to a local Wall-Mart I realised that the Vipassana Center did an outstanding job given the quality of the ingredients that can be found in the region.

Facilities are simple and similar to a Western Hostel. I got lucky to get my room but a dorm seems to be the norm. 

When the Vipassana founder implemented this concept for the first time in the West, some countries have initially been suspicious.

With a large population of homeless people in North America, how can you offer food and accommodation for free? Where is the catch?

No external and internal communication is permitted. Not even exchanging a single glance. No reading or writing materials. No sports activity. Gender segregation is strictly enforced.

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As of 29/03/2024, Interactive Brokers offers rates up to 4.738% (GBP), 3.445% (EUR) and 4.83% (USD) on cash. 

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As of 29/03/2024, Interactive Brokers offers rates up to 4.738% (GBP), 3.445% (EUR) and 4.83% (USD) on cash. 

Day 2. 8 AM. WTF I am doing Here moment.

Before signing up I knew the rules of the retreat.

No external and internal communication with anyone.  Not even exchanging a single glance. No reading or writing materials. No sports activity. Gender segregation is strictly enforced. 

You also give up your phone on Day 1.

I enjoy the morning. The gong is rung at 4 AM for a first, 2-hour meditation session. I find it challenging but doable. 

The breakfast is delicious and I have a walk in the forest on a beautiful sunny day. 

Marmots and squirrels are running outside the building. The centre is ringfenced to avoid getting some unexpected bear visitors.

But now the good part of the day is over. And it’s only 8 AM. Here we go for another 9 hours of meditations and discourses with a few breaks, all finishing by 9 PM. 

The last meal is served at 11 AM. I am starting to question my decision. 

A few fruits will be made available at 5 pm for new students, to smooth out the transition to the new diet and schedule. This framework combined with the fact that you need to mentally work 10 days in a row is enough to put off most of society. 

This is far from a vacation retreat. Wall Street and Vipassana have close to no things in common. Except one, there is no free lunch.

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Day 4. The strong determination sessions.

The ‘induction’ phase, also called the Anapana breathing technique, ends on Day 3. The proper meditation sessions start from now on. At least three one-hour sessions per day will be without changing your posture. 

After the first one, I exchange glances with my neighbour breaking the rules.

We both smile. F*&k. This is hard. 

After the course, my neighbour told me he was convinced I was going to leave after this first session. Before the following session, everyone around me builts seats with cushions to avoid pain. I realise that’s only delaying the moment pain will hit you. 

The idea must be to learn how to face the pain.

I recalled the image of Buddhist monks burning themselves. I test a few very simple configurations and face a choice. Do I ‘destroy’ my butt or my knees? As a cyclist the answer is straightforward.

Rewiring your brain is actual work that is equal in terms of importance to other aspects of life such as learning or physical activity

Days 5 to 9. THE very individual part where experiences differ.

While I heard different feedback about what people got out of the course a fairly objective takeaway list comes to my mind :

  • Vipassana teaches you a technique that has worked for centuries. You learn a tool that may be very beneficial. There is no upfront cost involved. You can start Vipassana with no prior meditation experience.
  • You learn about yourself. You connect to your body like nothing you’ve experienced so far and understand how sensations interact with emotions.
  • You learn a lot about Buddhism from a purely empirical perspective. The theory, especially behind stoicism, was something I was fairly familiar with yet I never managed to use it in daily life.
  • Detachment doesn’t mean not carrying about others.
  • Meditational rewiring of the brain is actual work that is equal in terms of importance to other aspects of life such as learning or physical activity.
  • The Vegetarian diet works. But I probably won’t be able to drop fish, or even meat, completely. You can live on two meals per day with last the one at 11 AM.

Advertisement

As of 29/03/2024, Interactive Brokers offers rates up to 4.738% (GBP), 3.445% (EUR) and 4.83% (USD) on cash. 

Advertisement

As of 29/03/2024, Interactive Brokers offers rates up to 4.738% (GBP), 3.445% (EUR) and 4.83% (USD) on cash. 

Day 10. Re-integration with society.

This is a strange feeling. 

The ‘Noble Silence’ is lifted and you can share experiences and talk to people you have been walking and sleeping by for 9 days. 

You knew certain of their habits. It is very strange but sometimes you were sure you’d get to like them without ever having a conversation. 

Day 11: Re-integration with external world

You get your phone back. 

There is an overflow of information. Things that just distract us daily seem less important once you gain a certain perspective. Nevertheless, it’s impossible to shut them off.

Humility is usually associated with poverty, for example as it relates to Buddhist Monks. It may sound counterintuitive that humility makes you richer, but it does

Meditation and Investing

But you may rightly ask, what does this all have to do with investing?

It wasn’t even a consideration initially, but it turned out quite beneficial.

One of the most unexpected outcomes of my Vipassana experience was the impact it had on my approach to investing. 

Before 2018, my approach was extremely conservative and despite all the knowledge I had it didn’t change the fact that I was looking at my Investment Portfolio daily. 

Since then things have changed considerably:

  • I have delineated what’s outside of my control. I cannot predict the market moves in the short term, nor its magnitudes. There are more factors that come into play that I can model or have information about. I know that very much from my professional experience but keep in mind all the time. 
  • I only focus on things in my control. Some of them include my savings rate, asset allocation or reducing taxes and fees. 
  • The market doesn’t always make sense nor does it have to.
  • The wiser the people the more they are aware of the limitations of their knowledge.
  • Losses are part of the game when investing in stocks.  How I react to those losses is one of the biggest determinants of investment performance.
  • I have a long term perspective. I became much more patient. I understand what are realistic objectives and how to achieve them.
  • My aim is also to spend more time sharing my knowledge that can help others.

Interestingly, humility which is usually associated with poverty makes you richer. There are at least 9 reasons why it does.

That’s also why Wise Money Investing is quite powerful. 

Apart from Meditation, cycling the world also influenced my thinking about investing.

 
Thank you for reading.
From Bankeronwheels.com
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Audiobooks I listened to during my rides

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