Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen made a big decision last week. Instead of a new interest rate hike, she changed course, delaying the increase and instead extending the Fed’s stimulus campaign.

Yellen described her choice as “slightly more accommodative,” but soon afterwards the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index soared and closed up 0.56 percent for the day.

For investors, Yellen’s decision and its impact were a big relief.

Exciting as it was – and hugely stressful too –  the upshot of Yellen’s choice registered as nothing more than a blip in the market’s long-term path.

But if your living depends on the gyrations of the stock market, how do you keep cool?

Many prominent investors and business schools have begun regular meditation programs.

One study found 16% of CFA Institute investment professionals practice meditation. That’s about one of every six investors.

Investor Jason Voss lists four obstacles that meditation helps investors manage: stress, over-ambition, behavioral biases, and ethical dilemmas. “Science demonstrates that meditation is a potent antidote to each of these obstacles,” he says.

Even in times of lower stress, meditation offers tremendous benefits. For investors and other key decision-makers, it helps develop the patience, awareness, and emotional regulation needed to make clear-eyed choices, less clouded by ego. In the face of volatile and unpredictable market swings, such clarity could be a precious commodity.

Of course, there is a catch: Nobody who took the survey knew that any of their peers meditate. Most investors simply do not talk about their meditation practice.

Yet in the face of constant stress and high stakes decisions, they don’t dare abandon it either.

Interested in mindfulness? Contact Furthr now.

Posted in: Infographic of the day, Mindfulness