What is Secular Meditation? A Guide to Mindfulness Without Spirituality
My meditation journey started with a visit to my guru Google.com and an earnest search for the truth about “how to meditate”.
It wasn’t a spiritual quest. I was driven by an insatiable curiosity about the nature and limits of my mind.
Meditation is mainstream today and its religious roots have been watered down for Western practitioners.
But if you scratch the surface of the meditation scene, you’ll soon find religious remnants.
I’m talking about the overly soft, delicate voices. The Buddha statues and incense. The pretence of spirituality. “Namaste” and other such buzzwords. The light, loose-fitting clothing. A disconcerting, cult-like gentleness. Pretty much everything that JP Sears makes fun of in his Youtube videos.
I don’t have a problem with that stuff, it’s just not for me.
Meditation appeals to me because it doesn’t need a god. It doesn’t need ritual. It doesn’t need sacred texts or leaders. It doesn’t promise salvation.
It’s simply me connecting with myself through the most natural thing I know how to do – breathing.
It can be an entirely secular experience.
Mindfulness is the practice of bringing one’s attention to the present moment.
That’s what makes it powerful. That’s what makes it radical. And that’s also what makes it deeply challenging.
In the modern world, we’re not very good at being present.
We distract ourselves with devices. We numb our senses. We’re so busy doing stuff that life passes by without us really noticing it.
Meditation helps me – and can help you – to notice.
Through noticing our thoughts and feelings, and anchoring ourselves in the breath, we can quiet the mind, reduce stress, and cultivate awareness.
The benefits of this – which will vary depending on how deep you go with self-observation and self-inquiry – can be profound.
And you don’t have to say any magic words or perform any rituals for it to work.
What is secular meditation?
Secular meditation is a term used to describe modern mindfulness.
It emerged as a way to define meditation practice that is detached from Buddhism or any other religion or tradition.
Secular meditation has its roots in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, an evidence-based practice developed by professor of medicine Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979.
Kabat-Zinn took the teachings of Buddhism and merged them with modern medicine to develop a secular approach to mindfulness meditation.
In his book Wherever You Go There You Are, Kabat-Zinn provides a more thorough definition of what has come to be known as secular mindfulness:
“… mindfulness has little to do with religion, except in the most fundamental meaning of the word, as an attempt to appreciate the deep mystery of being alive and to acknowledge being vitally connected to all that exists…
I like to think of mindfulness simply as the art of conscious living. You don’t have to be a Buddhist or a yogi to practice it. In fact, if you know anything about Buddhism, you will know that the most important point is to be yourself and not try to become anything that you are not already.
Buddhism is fundamentally about being in touch with your own deepest nature and letting it flow out of you unimpeded. It has to do with waking up and seeing things as they are. In fact, the word “Buddha” simply means one who has awakened to his or her own true nature. So, mindfulness will not conflict with any beliefs or traditions—religious or for that matter scientific— nor is it trying to sell you anything, especially not a new belief system or ideology. It is simply a practical way to be more in touch with the fullness of your being through a systematic process of self-observation, self-inquiry, and mindful action.”
Kabat-Zinn has said that he avoids using the word “secular” as it abstracts the “sacred” out of mindfulness, but there’s no doubt that he has helped lead way in secularising mindfulness meditation.
Neuroscientist, author and meditation advocate Sam Harris says that core truths contained within Buddhism and the depths of mindfulness can be arrived at without having to subscribe to the religion.
In his view, mindfulness meditation is entirely secular.
“Whatever is true about mindfulness and meditation and any introspective methodology that will deliver truths about the nature of consciousness is non-sectarian. It’s no more Buddhist than physics is Christian. The Christians discovered physics, but anyone talking about Christian physics clearly doesn’t understand the significance of what we’ve understood through that means. It’s the same with meditation. There’s going to come a time when we’re no longer tempted to talk about Buddhist meditation as opposed to any other form. We’re just talking about turning consciousness upon itself and what can be discovered by that process.”
Secular mindfulness is just a label that may not mean much to you.
But for me, coming from a religious background that resulted in a lot of disillusionment and skepticism, secular mindfulness has allowed me to access the many benefits of meditation free from religious sectarianism.
There are more than a billion nonreligious people on this planet. If just a handful of them experience the benefits of meditation after realising that it can be practiced in a secular way then, in my opinion, the label is worthwhile.
How to practice secular mindfulness meditation
The number one obstacle to practicing mindfulness meditation is overthinking. You don’t need to worry about whether you’re doing it “right”. You simply need a few minutes and a quiet space.
- Get yourself comfortable. Sit on a cushion, on the grass outside, on your bed, in a chair. Lay down. You can even be standing, walking, or driving the car. You can meditate anywhere, but I recommend choosing a quiet place where you won’t be distracted.
- Tune in to your body. This is usually called a body scan. Take a few moments to focus on each part of your body. Notice how you feel. If you feel tense anywhere, try to relax. It’s common for us to hold tension in our brow and eyes(frowning), jaw (clenching) and shoulders (hunching), but tension can show up anywhere in the body. Start with your head and work your way down your body, gently willing yourself to relax as you go. Tip: Try smiling subtly to relax your face and your body will surely follow.
- Pay attention to your breathing. Maybe even take a couple of nice deep breaths in and out your nose (this will help you to relax). Then, settle into your natural breathing rhythm.
- Focus on where you feel the breath most noticeably. Most people find it’s in the nasal passage or in the rising and falling of the belly. Focus your attention on this rhythm. There’s nothing special about the breath per se, it just acts as an anchor for your consciousness. The breath is something that’s happening now, so by focussing your attention on it, you’re naturally grounded in the present moment.
- Notice your thoughts. When you’re trying to focus on your breath, you’ll naturally be bombarded by thoughts. What should I make for dinner? What’s the name of that song I heard on Spotify earlier? What’s that weird noise? Why can’t I focus? The practice of mindfulness is noting each thought as it arises. This might be the first time you’ve ever really noticed the constant chatter in your head. You can simply acknowledge it, say “Hey, I see you, you’re a thought”. Mindfulness teachers would advise you to simply name it “thinking”. Then, let each thought go and return to focussing on your breath. I sometimes imagine thoughts as red helium balloons that I set free over and over again.
- Repeat the process of noting thoughts as they come up and focussing on the breath for as long as you want.
That’s it. That’s mindfulness meditation.
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It can’t be that simple?..
No, it really is that simple.
You can make it more complicated by exploring the Buddhist teachings and practices. You can implement aspects of yoga. You can investigate other methods of meditation. You can introduce mantras, chants, and thought experiments.
But what I’ve described above is mindfulness meditation in its simplest form.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t pursue mindfulness further, but in order to experience the core benefits of meditation, you don’t have to.
You may find that as you begin to practice, you naturally want to explore the nature of the mind and consciousness more deeply.
Everyone’s journey will be different.
The best guided secular meditations
When you’re getting started with mindfulness meditation, you might find it helpful to use guided meditations. You don’t need to specifically use “secular” guided meditations. Many of the guided meditations from Buddhist teachers
Sam Harris – Mindfulness Meditation (9 minutes)
Jan Kabat-Zinn – Mindfulness Meditation (10 minutes)
The Mindful Movement – Mindfulness Meditation (20 minutes)
Headspace – Meditation for Stress (10 minutes)
Calm – Mindfulness Meditation (10 minutes)
The best books on secular meditation
If you want to learn more about secular mindfulness meditation, I can highly recommend these books.
Dan Harris and Sam Harris (unrelated, funnily enough) are particularly wary of the religious trappings of mindfulness meditation.
These books provided the gateway through which I started my meditation journey.
Dan Harris – 10% Happier
Dan Harris – Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics
Sam Harris – Waking Up
Eckhart Tolle – The Power of Now
A short note on The Power of Now. This was the book that introduced me to mindfulness. It is infused with spirituality, but as I understand it, Tolle is not identified with any religion. He takes ideas from various traditions, but presents them in a mostly secular way.
Jon Kabat-Zinn – Wherever You Go There You Are
Andy Puddicombe – The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness
I haven’t personally read these two books, but I’ve heard good things and Kabat-Zinn’s is currently on my Kindle (will update this once I’ve read it).
The best apps for secular meditation
I’ve ranked these meditation apps from the most basic/beginner-friendly to the most advanced and in-depth. Most of them are free to try so you can see which works for you. Apps are a great way to form a meditation habit, although I recommend that you don’t rely on them too heavily.
Stay skeptical
As a skeptic, you may encounter things along your mindfulness journey that raise alarm bells.
But be wary of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
It is possible to experience the benefits of mindfulness meditation without buying into religious doctrine or rituals.
You may even find that as you explore the depths of your mind you realise how little you know about the nature of existence.
You might even catch yourself uttering the occasional “namaste” at the end of a meditation session.
