Not sure if this is the right sub-forum but I didn't want to post this in the religion forum for reasons which will be become apparent.

I am wondering if someone could recommend a source for secular mediation. I am interested in reading about it and maybe trying it. The catch is I am a strict materialist and atheist so anything with a tinge of "spirituality" or any kind of pseudoscience or supernatural element is not interesting to me.

Thanks in advance

Just pretend.

You're probably looking for "mindfulness."

When you treat science as a religion, I suppose it frees you to say all sorts of closed-minded things.

exactly why I posted this here and not the religion forum.

Then it's a really good thing you didn't post this in a history forum.

Many martial arts programs use mediation techniques and indeed are integral to various forms of these arts. Do a Google search or see below for a starter list of techniques, mostly secular in nature, though spiritual influences from Taoist, Zen etc., traditions are incorporated in some styles and techniques.

Kung fu meditation

This.

It works, there's science behind it.

Also look into the 'Wim Hof' method, that works too.

Books:

Waking Up by Sam Harris

The Mindful Way Through Depression by Mark Williams and John Teasdale
(don't let the title put you off this is a great book even if you don't suffer from depression)

Nothing to Grasp by Joan Tollifson

Guided Meditations:

Audio Dharma guided meditations

Dharma.org guided meditations

Article:

Step by step meditation instructions


Meditation can be separated from it's woo woo eastern mysticism roots. The stuff I have listed is just the tip of the iceberg so do some googling on your own.

I second the recommendation for Waking Up.

Some other books worth checking out:
Mindfulness in Plain English
8 Minute Meditation

Writings on Zen/Chan Buddhism are worth looking into, you might enjoy Alan Watts.

I recommend Tara Brach's guided meditations, freely available on her site.

Do you guys meditate?

Was into karate at some point, and now and then we sat in uncomfortable positions with eyes closed. Could that have been it?

Often thinking about stuff long times. Think it can have meditative aspects in it.

"Thinking about stuff" is basically the opposite of meditation.

Meditation is being out of your mind?


PairTheBoard

It depends on whose meditation you're talking about.

Or completely within it.

Meditation Secrets for Women - Honor Your Instincts by Camille Maurine





PairTheBoard

Thanks for the sources everyone. It's much appreciated. I just picked up 10% happier which also looks interesting.

I have practiced a few different forms of meditation. Breathing focus exercises, creative visualization, acceptance of presence, mindfulness, dancing, drums.

Humans like me clearly don't require ritual to be satisfied, as I have only gotten into a daily routine of mindfulness and haven't mediated while drumming in years. I found creative visualization reading spiritually type books many moons ago, and while much of the fluff from those books didn't stick, I find some of practices of creative visualization to be quite satisfying and worthwhile. Like taking a shower with the imagination.

[my bold]

Expunge this claptrap from your mind. And most of the following also. Trendy and trite is just that and dressing it up in fashionable wording to make it sound like something new is a ubiquitous pitfall of the young, the middle aged, and likewise, the supposed old and wise.

Fantasy is useful. See Foldndark and his posts on masturbation. True mediation indeed.

Worst song ever?

Surely, you must be kidding to be arguing against simple, effective exercises of the mind.

Zeno's not big on eastern-thought in general. I hereby refer to it as 'westernism'.


I can't quite put a neat definition on it yet, but it has to do with the preference, in circumstances where they're seemingly incompatible, to substitute meaning that comes from the inside of one's own subjective experience with meaning that comes from the outside.

Just call it "bias" and be done with it.

Perhaps this will be of interest (from Scientific American):

Is Meditation Overrated?

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It is easy to meditate and to concoct a style that is as useful as any other. For example, sit in a comfortable lazy-boy chair or couch on upon cushions in your living room. Now stare at the apex of a corner of the room and, like Euclid, see the lines as projecting to a point and also as lines going into infinity outward. Gentle relax, placing a blue cloth (6 x 6 inches) on your head and two small beans in your nose to facilitate only breathing through the mouth. Stare at the apex, chanting slowly and methodically: Hound Dog Taylor, Hound Dog Taylor, Hound Dog Taylor………..Repeat for fifteen minutes when the chant should be changed to: Pope Alexander the Sixth, Pope Alexander the Sixth………sustain this for an additional fifteen minutes, maintaining a slow breathing pattern through the mouth only.

At the end of the additional fifteen minutes remove the beans from your nose and blue cloth from your head. Place the blue cloth in your lap. The two beans, recently extracted from your nose, should then be place on the blue cloth approximately four inches apart. Focus your eyes on the two beans. Repeat in a staccato and forceful fashion out loud: Jack Sprat could eat no fat; His wife could eat no lean………..continue repeating this mantra - staring at the two beans until the two beans become one bean. At that point nirvana (or extinction) will be attained and the session ended. Repeat daily or as often as necessary.

____________________

If the above is not fruitful send $1,200 to Zeno's World Peace Mediation Mission School, Box 666, Lhasa, Tibet, for your first in a series of helpful and easy to follow guide booklets. Satisfaction is guaranteed or your money back.