Resource
Learning nondual meditation
By the makers of Sat-chit-ananda · Checked 6 November 2026
Most meditation starts with something to pay attention to: the breath, the body, a sound. Some practices turn toward attention itself. One way asks, who is noticing this? That’s self-inquiry. Others explore experience without dividing it into someone who notices and something noticed. Traditions use words like “nondual” and “awareness” for these practices, and they don’t all mean the same thing by them.
On this page
A quick answer
| If you want… | Try |
|---|---|
| A teacher’s talks, free, twice a week | Michael Singer’s podcast |
| Patient, precise conversations about awareness | Rupert Spira |
| A structured app with lessons, and a free route if you need it | Waking Up |
| Warmth and self-compassion first | Tara Brach |
| Short guided practice with room to look, and nothing to sign up for | Our Awareness playlist |
Our guide to self-inquiry meditation explains the practice itself, step by step.
Talks and practice
A teacher’s talks give you a way of seeing, and words for what you notice. Guided practice gives you time to look for yourself. Many people find the two work well together: a talk in the evening, a few minutes of practice in the morning.
These teachers offer their own accounts of what awareness is. They’re ways of understanding, not findings that research has settled. You can explore the practice without accepting any of them first.
Two free talks a week
Michael Singer is the author of The Untethered Soul and The Surrender Experiment. His own site frames his teaching around inner surrender and being “untethered”: free of inner limitation.
- How to hear him: the free Michael Singer Podcast publishes two talks a week. They’re recorded at the Temple of the Universe and produced with Sounds True. Each runs about 50 minutes.
- In person: the Temple in Alachua, Florida, holds a Sunday service and talks on Monday and Thursday evenings. It says its programmes are free and need no registration.
- Paid: courses through Sounds True.
His talks are a teacher speaking, warmly and plainly, about the mind and the heart.
Our site’s name uses his words for sat-chit-ānanda, “eternal, conscious, ecstasy”, and his teaching shaped the people who made our meditations. If it moves you, go to the source. His talks are free.
The Direct Path
Rupert Spira teaches non-duality. His site describes it as “the recognition that underlying the multiplicity and diversity of experience there is a single, infinite and indivisible reality”. He calls his way in the Direct Path, and teaches self-enquiry alongside it.
- Free: a complimentary section on his site, a podcast with occasional long episodes, and twelve introductory meditations in his Luminous app.
- Paid: his full archive of meetings and meditations is a subscription (£16 a month or £160 a year), with a free trial. He also leads retreats in the UK, US and Italy, some streamed online.
His meetings are patient, precise conversations with listeners, and his meditations are often long.
An app with a free route
Waking Up, created by Sam Harris, combines a daily guided meditation with lessons on the nature of mind. Its teachers come from Vipassana, Zen, Dzogchen and Advaita Vedanta. Its tone is secular, with a clear path through the app.
It’s a subscription, but anyone who can’t afford it can ask for a free or reduced membership, “no questions asked”.
Warmth first
Tara Brach teaches in the Insight (Vipassana) tradition, with a strong emphasis on self-compassion. Her RAIN practice (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture) is a short tool for meeting a hard feeling with mindfulness and compassion. Many people come to awareness practice through her. She publishes a free weekly talk and guided meditation on her podcast, YouTube channel and site. Her guided meditations mostly run about 20 minutes.
She’s a good place to start if self-inquiry feels too cool or too abstract.
Our Awareness meditations
The Awareness playlist gathers ten guided meditations, 12 to 26 minutes long, for noticing what comes and goes, and looking for the one who notices. The voice speaks in short lines and leaves long spaces for the looking.
- The One Who Notices (17 minutes): turning attention back toward the one who’s aware.
- Who Is Watching? (20 minutes): a gentle self-inquiry.
- Being, Awareness, Joy (26 minutes): the three words of sat-chit-ānanda, as practice.
It’s recorded guidance, without personal feedback: there’s no one to ask questions, and no retreat. It’s free, with nothing to sign up for.
A note of care
Looking closely at experience can sometimes unsettle more than it soothes. A sense of unreality, or old feelings coming up, is a known effect of intensive practice. If that happens, stop, move around, and talk to someone you trust. If it continues, a teacher or a professional can help.
Try one now
Choose one way in and give it a week: a Singer talk, a Spira meditation, or The One Who Notices each morning. Notice what stays with you.
Further reading
- Michael Singer, his biography, and the Temple’s schedule.
- Rupert Spira, complimentary talks and meditations, and the Luminous app.
- Waking Up, scholarships.
- Tara Brach, RAIN.
- Our guides to self-inquiry meditation, what sat-chit-ānanda means and deconstructive meditation.