Secular Meditation

[Stephen]

Can anyone give me some pointers on meditation technique for those who live free of mysticism and religion.

I would post this in another forum (perhaps spirituality etc) but I would prefer to see this a method to increase personal effectiveness free from what I would describe as the mumbo-jumbo baggage.

Any atheists out there who practice meditation?

[Angela]

I love to take time to just be -- that is, to practice having a quiet mind, noticing thoughts as they come up an allowing them to float away. I love this "meditation" time because I emerge from it quite refreshed and supple.

I also love to listen to (non-whooo-whooo and non-religious) relaxation meditations. www.stateofthehearthfitness.com has one I particularly enjoy.

And I REALLY, REALLY love Paul McKenna's hypnosis/NLP meditations -- he's got all kinds of subjects and I have enjoyed every one I've tried. Some are CD's that come with his books (like "I Can Make You Confident") and others are audio downloads from his website, like the water phobia one that has helped me tremendously to feel confident and powerful in the ocean. I feel like a whole different person out there these days -- you should see me on my boogie board! Listening to these meditations feels very good.

[Brutha]

Take a book like Amazon.com: Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness: Jon Kabat-Zinn: Books.
It's the meditation that was used in this study on whether mindfullness meditation can help people with HIV.

I think if something is good enough for scientific studies it should be good enough for people who want to meditate for non religious reasons.

[JustinPopovic]

Hey Stephen,

Not sure if you have looked at the work of Jose Silva but I have received great benefit from the meditations and relaxation techniques. Very much geared towards focusing your mind for maximum performance

The Silva Method

Hope this helps
cheers
justin