Question on the effects of mindfulness when combined with psychadelics

[ArcticJoy]

Hello again.

I'm bombarding this forum with questions but I have a lot to learn - thanks for answering my questions previously Jon.

I heard stories before on monks who took LSD and because they were so present, they barely felt the effects.

Could mindfulness reduce the effects of psychedelics because of the reduced thinking and additionally, could it reduce the effects of alcohol and help become more sober?

Interested in any opinions on this. Thanks.

[JonW]

I guess it would depend on the individual.
Regarding alcohol, I found that my drinking substantially reduced when I took up meditation. I became less and less interested in opening a bottle. I hardly ever drink at all now.
On a general point, what I encourage the people I teach to do is drop all their ideas about mindfulness and their concepts about how they may benefit from sitting - and just meditate, see what happens. Goals tend to get in the way. Striving towards specific goals definitely gets in the way. Mindfulness is about being with what is arising. The concepts underpinning mindfulness are very simple and they are important to understand. Once we have understood them, we can begin to embody those concepts in our everyday lives.
It's all about practice, the actual doing it. Not trying to anticipate what we can get out of it. We don't meditate for future gain. We meditate to be with what is, as it arises. We can only be mindful right now.
Jon

[barbs55]

When I first started meditating I had loads of questions too, like Arctic Joy, and was always reading up about it. Jon is so right - it is our thinking minds trying to make sense of something thinking will never help us with. Just meditate - see what happens. The experience of meditating has answered my questions - mainly by showing me that they didn't need answering usually! Mindfulness is about the present moment and accepting it as it is. It is SO simple and yet so hard to remember to do every moment.

[Meadow]

I've been meditating off and on since I was a child, but I didn't know that's what it was. I stared at water. I stared at campfires. It was peaceful, but I always thought I had to be somewhere else doing something else and was restless. Those days are long gone now, and so many life-shattering events have happened. I returned to "staring" sometime ago, but depending on what was going on in my life, I was still often restless. Now I seek to be present in the moment and dissolve all the restlessness. I'm hoping being part of this community can help me better release things.

[ArcticJoy]

Yep, I definitely had the wrong initial approach going in with so many questions and will take on board what you gents have said Jon and Barbs - just meditate and simply be.

Also likewise Meadow, it's nice having a community to have conversations and share experiences of the present. I can definitely relate to your experiences of staring out there and feeling at peace. Definitely interested to see how your journey progresses.