Hedge funds and Transcendental Meditation seem to live in opposite realms. But not for Ray Dalio.
"Transcendental Meditation has probably been the single most important reason for whatever success I've had," says Dalio, the founder, co-chief investment officer and co-chairman of Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world with more than $160 billion in assets under management.
"It is certainly the greatest gift I can give anyone," Dalio, 68, writes on Facebook.
Dalio says in his book "Principles" that he learned the practice after the Beatles famously studied Transcendental Meditation in India in 1968. It allows him to think more clearly and creatively, he says.
"It helps slow things down so that I can act calmly, even in the face of chaos, just like a ninja in a street fight," Dalio writes.