Lord Andrew Stone

Lord Andrew Stone of Blackheath

I had a difficult childhood – I was dyslexic and thought I was stupid. Several caring people helped me and in particular taught me how to lift myself to a higher consciousness and so eventually I became a Managing Director of Marks & Spencer and subsequently entered the House of Lords.

I am a practitioner and advocate of mindfulness and yoga. I practice these, and want others to join, not just for health but to change the way I think and act. When one is at the normal, everyday, lower level of consciousness—at one’s amygdala—where we have a “fight or flight” response, one thinks only of me and my family, and now and next week. When one is able to experience mindfully a higher consciousness, one starts to think of the wider good of all beings, and the longer perspective of all time. People are waking up to the realisation that we need to think and act in this long term, selfless, compassionate way.