To the average, high-strung go-getter, meditation has long been associated with low-key religious fanatics, introspective soul searchers and people who have nothing better to do than sit around, think and hum all day. In contrast, meditation is simply a form of training the mind to create a self-induced state of consciousness with an intended benefit. It can be utilized in many aspects of life, including poker.
The whole idea behind meditation is to achieve a particular state of calm and emotional wellbeing. In reality, using meditation to improve your poker game isn’t as far-fetched as you may think.
Let’s take a look at the basic benefits of meditation. It is used to clear the mind, producing a more fluent thought process. It has calming properties, generating a more stable state of emotions and respective awareness of one’s self. Meditation also falls in line with the concept of the power of positive thinking.
A successful poker player should always exude calm under pressure. If you finally get a great hand, or decide to make the big bluff, and beads of sweat suddenly appear on your upper lip or forehead, this is a clear tell that something is up. Clearing your mind through introspective meditation before a big game, and even during breaks in a lengthy tournament, can be the key to preventing unintended poker tells on your part.
In order to calculate pot odds and expected values, as all professional poker players do, your mind needs to be sharp and free of distraction. Meditation is known to be a great way to strengthen the thought process towards a direct focal point.
The power of positive thinking, as documented over the last century as a phenomena known as the New Thought Movement, can be monumentally beneficial to a poker player, if one believes in such things. The Law of Attraction has been theorized by countless pseudo-scientific philosophers since the dawn of the 20th century, and actually dates back many centuries beyond that to some of the most famous philosophers of all time.
The New Thought Movement is based on law of attraction which states “like attracts like”, essentially meaning that having a positive thought process and focusing on the desired goal will often result in that goal coming to fruition. You can read more on this subject in our previous article, Using the Law of Attraction at the Poker Table.
Meditation is not difficult. You need a quiet, calm place, preferably alone. There is no real need to sit cross-legged, hands raised palm up to each side, incessantly humming “ohmmmmm”, but if it helps you clear your mind, by all means do it. Not everyone who meditates requires ritual objects around them, such as holding onto prayer beads, but some prefer to use them. A session takes only as long as necessary to feel tranquil, at peace.
Since it’s not easy to stay in a meditative mode during a long poker tournament, it might be a good idea to create a mantra, some short phrase to repeat quietly to yourself whenever you feel stressed or anxious. This can help remind you to return to that place of equanimity. Jerry Stiller’s Seinfeld character, Frank Costanza, comes to mind: “Serenity now!”