Updated April 24, 2023

This page contains current information for the online Secular Meditation Group. It is a private webpage, and not linked from other pages on this site. You must know it is here and know the URL to access; please help us keep it private by only sharing with those you know personally who are interested in secular meditation, not posting this URL on social media, etc.

I have revived the old secularmeditation@icloud.com email for correspondence related to secular meditation and our group’s non-activities.

Secular Meditation was founded in January 2017 as Nashville Secular Meditation by Walter Bitner, Christopher Farrell, and John Orzechowski to provide a group meditation experience free from religious content. Our group discontinued meeting in the summer of 2018, and revived as an online meditation support group in March 2020.

Silent meditation has many benefits, and this group was founded to provide an opportunity to sit with others, without practicing or endorsing any particular creed or religion, spirituality, philosophy, psychology, or belief system.

Since 2020, we have met via the Whereby app and sat silently together for 25-minute periods, and since late 2021 we have met six days a week. On weekdays we sit one period, and on Friday we have a slightly longer, 40 minute sit. On Saturdays we sit two 25 minute periods, separated by a few minutes of quiet or silent rest in which one may stretch, walk around, use the rest room or drink some water, etc. You may say goodbyes and log off if you are not staying for the second period, or log in to join us for the second period, if you like. After the second sit on Saturday say goodbye and log off, or stay for come casual conversation.

Participants are welcome to join or leave at any time. If while you join us there is ambient noise within range of your microphone that might be distracting to others (e.g. conversations nearby, coffee grinders, dogs barking, vacuuming, earth moving equipment, sirens, etc.), please mute yourself. The sounds of your own breathing, soft rustling as you adjust your posture on the cushion, birds chirping occasionally, and other quiet noises one might hear in a quiet group meditation experience are all ok!

Participation is absolutely free.

All are welcome to participate: atheists or agnostics, as well as those with religious affiliation of any kind. Those with religious affiliation are kindly asked to refrain from wearing robes or vestments.

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DAILY SCHEDULE

Weekly sits occur on:

Weekdays (Monday – Thursday), 8:15 am Eastern/7:15 am Central – one 25 minute period

Fridays, 8:15 am Eastern/7:15 am Central – one 40 minute period

Saturdays, 9:00 am Eastern/8:00 am Central – two 25 minute periods

Sundays: no group sit (sit on your own!)

If you are interested in participating in any of our non-activities, please email secularmeditation@icloud.com to join the mailing list.

NEWS:

We are currently studying the Tao Te Ching in a casual but comprehensive series of weekly discussions. Once a week (usually) we stay after the sit for a half hour to read and discuss a verse in multiple translations – there are 81 chapters. We began this project in the fall of 2022 and expect to finish sometime in 2024!

There is currently very little news. We continue to sit together almost every day! ~ looking forward to seeing you soon!

OLD NEWS (but still cool)

Our One Day Sit No Dogmas Aloud, on Monday, April 13, 2020 was a grand success, with a total of nine participants. Nothing was accomplished!

No Dogmas Aloud participants celebrate during the final period of the retreat