There are a variety of the exercises we can do to stay focused on our breathing and improve our self-control. This is essential to good trading. In my e-book Scalping the E-mini Futures and Forex I describe one such breathing technique. Here I will describe another that is easy to implement and will have an immediate effect.

Sit back in your chair and relax. It is not important that you sit up perfectly straight. In fact relaxing back into a soft chair is better, just don't get so cozy that you may fall asleep. Drop your shoulders so your arms and shoulders are just sort of hanging there. Relax your jaw, close your eyes and place the tip of your tongue slightly behind your upper front teeth just barely touching the top of your mouth. Your tongue will be your focal point. While doing that breathe in through your nose and imagine and feel the air going down your back and into the lower part of your abdomen. You should feel your stomach rise while doing this and you should not feel your chest or shoulders rise. Once the initial breath is complete take two more quick sharp breaths. You may feel your chest expand here as the upper part of your lungs get full. That is how we will do all our inhalations.

We need to count the pace of our initial inhalations. I am talking about the first part before the last two little breaths we take. After doing them for a while they should grow longer in duration. For now when you are first starting they may be 3, 4 , 6 or even 10 seconds. It doesn't really matter at the starting point. After the inhalation hold your breath for half the amount of time that it took you to inhale. So if you inhale for six seconds hold your breath for three seconds. Do not do this to the point where you are turning red in the face. It should not be a painful or stressful experience just a steady flow.

Next we exhale through the mouth. Let your tongue drop off from behind your upper teeth but stay conscious of it. The exhalation should be equal in duration to the initial inhalation. If you inhale for six seconds you exhale for six seconds. Following the exhale you should force out the two breaths you took in at the end of the inhale. This will likely tighten your abdomen and in fact it will help build that muscle so there are some nice side-effects to this. Before you begin the next inhale you should pause for a few brief moments. Half the duration of the inhale and exhale is a good pause.

This is a simple to learn breathing pattern to calm you down and help to refocus on what you're doing. By focusing on your tongue you limit the ability of outside thoughts to slip into your mind and enhance your ability to stay in the now moment. The destructive emotions of fear and greed only exist in the past and future so staying in the now moment is key to reducing their negative effects on your trading. I begin all of my trade setups with a breathing pattern just like this one or similar to this and I encourage you to do the same.

Don't limit the use of this technique only to your trading. Since self-control will be the key factor in deciding whether you will make it as a trader or not, it is important that you build that skill in all areas of your life. Children, traffic and lines are great ways to practice this breathing skill and develop the patience and self-control you need to master the mental side of trading...... use them. If your default to a breathing pattern like this during stressful situations you will lower your heart-rate, increase the level of oxygen to your brain and maintain higher levels of energy for longer periods of the day. Over time you will begin to do them unconsciously. Let me know how this works for you.

For other suggestions on how to breathe while trading or for the whole mental routine I follow in my daily preparations check out the homework section of the scalping system. In the next segment of this series I will talk about how to combine your breathing technique with our imagination to enhance your trading.

God Bless~

Ryan Watts

Ryan Watts is a full-time technical trader, money manager, and trading coach with over twelve years experience in short-term trading. For more information on his trading system and live trading room visit http://www.wattstrading.com