Heller - Secular Meditation: 32 Practices for Cultivating Inner Peace, Compassion, and Joy

Praise for Secular Meditation

Meditation is as important for the mind as exercise is for the body and Rick Heller offers many simple, powerful ways to get the benefits of this profoundly useful practice. Grounded in solid research on the brain and physical and mental health and full of practical ideas and methods this friendly, down-to-earth guide is a wonderful resource for both beginners and longtime meditators.

Rick Hanson, PhD, author of Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence

This straightforward yet comprehensive guide to meditation is an ideal introduction for those new to the practice as well as a valuable compendium that will offer fresh perspectives for seasoned meditators. In lucid, jargon-free language, Rick Heller offers a compelling case for a humanistic and secular spirituality that has its origins in Buddhism but speaks directly to the conditions of a post-creedal age.

Stephen Batchelor, author of Buddhism Without Beliefs and After Buddhism

I love that this book begins with kindness practice! Everyone, regardless of views or beliefs, can develop happiness and wisdom. In Secular Meditation, Rick Heller and the Humanist Community at Harvard offer a straightforward way for nonreligious people to connect with their inner capabilities for compassion and clarity.

Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness

This book at once simple and profound is a joy to read. Rick Heller manages to capture the essence of traditional Buddhist practices and translate them into a no-nonsense secular format. His suggestions for practice are straightforward and can be easily incorporated into daily life.

Kristin Neff, PhD, associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Self-Compassion

This book has the potential to benefit many people. Rick Heller has a light and yet substantial style that makes his writing lovely and approachable. He is clearly practicing what he is writing about, which makes for an authentic and sincere offering to this world.

Narayan Helen Liebenson, guiding teacher at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center and the Insight Meditation Society

Secular Meditation is a clear and generous adaptation of Buddhist and other practices for the humanist community. It is a great book for people who believe that the human mind can be trained just as the body can but who are uncomfortable with any supernatural claims. It is simple and accessible, opening doors to generosity, clarity, and joyfulness in this life.

James Ishmael Ford, author of If Youre Lucky, Your Heart Will Break

Rick Heller combines his secular humanist worldview with his expertise in guiding weekly meditation sessions, producing a unique reference work thats approachable, practical, and based firmly in the natural world. This book fills a gap in the current literature: a workable guide to meditation in theory and practice for a secular audience.

Ted Meissner, founder of the Secular Buddhist Association and host of the Secular Buddhist podcast

Rick Hellers book represents a milestone in the emergence of a truly naturalistic form of contemplative practice. It will do much to help more people find happiness in life.

Daniel Strain, executive director of the Spiritual Naturalist Society

I cant say for sure, but we may be seeing the beginning of a major revolution. This revolution is in some ways a natural next step from the Scientific Revolution that occurred about five hundred years ago and the Neolithic Revolution that occurred many millennia before that. Ever since the Neolithic, human spirituality has tended to center on a literal interpretation of organized myth. The Scientific Revolution decentered those myths. So is humanity now left without a source of deep meaning and moral compass? Perhaps not. The Mindfulness Revolution offers a totally new direction: industrial-strength psycho-spiritual growth based on industrial-strength attentional skills concentration power, sensory clarity, and equanimity. This book offers a rich banquet, inviting you to taste many flavors of mindfulness.

Shinzen Young, director of Vipassana Support International

Secular Meditation is a wonderfully practical book grounded in the latest neuroscience. Rick Heller shows readers how one can mindfully learn to love others and be loved by others. It provides a step-by-step guide for anyone who wants to live a happy life.

Paul J. Zak, PhD, author of The Moral Molecule

Secular Meditation by Rick Heller is a wonderful door-opener for people who are interested in the benefits and how-to of meditation and mindfulness practices but who are skeptical about the religious sources. Heller, the meditation teacher for the Humanist Community at Harvard, has collected thirty-two practices that will have something for every curious reader. His style is warm and engaging, with great stories sprinkled in, and he pulls the reader into trying out attention and kindness practices from all different angles to find their right fit.

Christiane Wolf, MD, PhD, coauthor of A Clinicians Guide to Teaching Mindfulness

In simple, accessible language, Secular Meditation introduces practices that profoundly transform our hearts and consciousness. Through a rich weave of stories, teachings, meditations, and inquiry, this book offers trustworthy guidance on the journey of awakening.

Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge

Copyright 2015 by Rick Heller

Foreword copyright 2015 by Greg Epstein

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

The material in this book is intended for education. It is not meant to take the place of diagnosis and treatment by a qualified medical practitioner or therapist. No expressed or implied guarantee of the effects of the use of the recommendations can be given or liability taken.

Portions of this book previously appeared in magazine articles in Buddhadharma, Faith Street, The Humanist, The New Humanism, Tikkun, UUWorld, and Wise Brain Bulletin.

Text design by Tona Pearce Myers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Heller, Rick, date.

Secular meditation: 32 practices for cultivating inner peace, compassion, and joy: a guide from the humanist community at Harvard / Rick Heller; foreword by Greg Epstein.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-60868-369-7 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-60868-370-3 (ebook) 1. MeditationPsychological aspects. 2. Happiness. 3. Relaxation. 4. Secularism21st century. I. Title.

BF637.M4H45 2015

158. 1'2dc23 2015027201

First printing, November 2015

ISBN 978-1-60868-369-7

Printed in Canada on 100% postconsumer-waste recycled paper