Building a Sustainable Meditation Practice, with Andy Puddicombe

(whooshing sound) (mouse clicking) (lively music) Headspace Studios. (lively music) (chimes ringing) Hi, it's Andy here, and welcome to Radio Headspace and a Wednesday morning. So I don't know what gets you in the sort of right frame of mind for meditation. It's an interesting one, not everyone, and it doesn't have to be meditation, it can even be sort of relaxation or reflection but that time of day when you're able to sit down and sort of let go, I'd say switch off but more sort of be more aware of your thoughts, the mind, consciousness for want of a better word. It's interesting. I think sometimes we can not necessarily set ourselves up in the best way or we might even set ourselves up in a way that is kind of difficult to replicate in everyday life. I was talking to a friend a few days ago and he was telling me about the practice, I don't know a lot about this by the way, but he was telling me about the practice of using various sort of psychedelic drugs in the process of meditation. And having not taken any, I'm not really in a position to comment, but I do know and I've heard from many people over time that whilst undoubtedly these types of substances can open the mind to different types of experiences, whichever way we look at it, it creates a dependency. And that's true of everything. What we are looking to do through training the mind, we're looking to be free from everything, from anything. Being able to have a healthy and happy mind in every moment, no matter how difficult, no matter whether we're able to be in a safe environment or a challenging environment, a quiet environment or a noisy environment, and to recognize that the experiences of the mind, even if they come about through some altered state, it becomes a memory. It's an interesting insight in that moment but it's still ultimately a memory. It's an experience and it's not stable. It's repeatable, yes, but in order to repeat it, we have to go back to that thing we're dependent on. It's a bigger topic than psychedelic drugs themselves. It's how do we create an environment where we can maintain a sustainable practice, where we have access, if you like, in our own mind, in our own ability to be present, free from distraction in every moment of every day, no matter what's going on. And over time, sure, sometimes maybe we do have an experience of some kind, an insight of some kind, but far more valuable is that steady, slow build-up, the stability of awareness and compassion over time. There's always this desire in the mind I think, this idea, wondering if there could be something more, maybe something somewhere else, but that's the thinking mind. It's still desire, even if it's desire around consciousness or spiritual evolution or kind of however we might think about it, define...