Websites

General Sites

Free online meditation course from the Australian Meditation Society. This 6-week course teaches various meditation methods and offers free meditation music that you can download. The site also has some articles on meditation, inspiring quotes, and books and music for sale.

Beliefnet.com offers guided audio meditations and prayers from various traditions, including the Lord's prayer, a meditation on peace by Thich Nhat Han, a 10-minute mindfulness meditation, hindu chanting, and psalms.

Meditation Society of America offers descriptions and online instructions for different types of meditation.

The Self healing expressions website offers some tools to help calm the mind. You can select a soothing image to contemplate and choose to listen to music or read a scrolling text that offers instructions on meditation and questions to contemplate.

WebMD offers some short guided meditation as well.

Worldwide Online Meditation Center. Offers descriptions and online instructions for different types of meditation.

Spiritual Emergency Resource Center offers support and resources for individuals experiencing difficulties with their spiritual growth.

Mindfulness Meditation

Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Healthcare, and Society at the University of Massachusetts explains the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program, the teacher training classes and intensives and offers a bibliography of research done on MBSR and information on how to order books and tapes.

Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, also offers courses and retreats by teachers such as Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein.

Life Balance Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting individuals in achieving harmony in their lives so that in return each individual will provide more harmony to society as a whole.

Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Located in Woodacre, CA, has numerous courses and retreats by recognized teachers in the vipassana tradition. At the bottom of the column on the right are short descriptions of insight meditation, and the tradition from which it comes.

Transcendental Meditation

The Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation website explains Transcendental Meditation, including a video and gives information on how to contact a qualified teacher to learn TM.

Samatha Meditation

The Samatha Association explains this type of meditation (which focuses on the breath).

Centering Prayers

The Centering Organization explains Thomas Keating's method of centering prayer.

The Contemplative Outreach group explains how to do contemplative and centering prayer.

Local Courses

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction workshops are offered by the Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota.