Hi Pierre.
Thanks for submitting your business for inclusion in the XXXXXXXXX.com directory.
I would be glad to include your listing, but I don’t list businesses that promote the use of religious-oriented techniques (like Ayurveda, which has roots in Hinduism, or meditation, which has roots in Buddhism and similar faiths).
If you can adjust your description to only mention anything non-religious, I’d be happy to include your business.
Thanks, XXXXXX
Hi XXXXXX,
1. I teach Ayurvedic techniques and Meditation to my clients without religion. I work primarily within a non-theist, secular spirituality framework, not a religious one. I teach a scientific and parallelist approach to distilling ancient spiritual techniques into useful modern day behaviors, all of which have a scientific basis.
2. Ayurveda in it’s modern form is an herbal, dietary, and bodywork system similar to Chinese Medicine or Naturopathy. 
Ayurveda is no more linked to Hinduism, than Traditional Chinese Medicine is linked to Buddhism & Daoism, or Naturopathy is linked to Paganism; or Greek medicine, the root of modern biomedicine, is linked to the pantheon of ancient Greek mythology. (I’m curious if you also exclude yoga from your directory since it is originally part of Ayurveda and therefore Hinduism, by your standards?) See more on the history and current state or Ayurveda HERE.
3. Meditation, by definition, has nothing to do with a particular religion, and I specifically avoid teaching it in the context of religion, or even in any strict form. Additionally it’s effects and benefits are scientifically measurable, and also much better documented that those of many other systems you include on the site, like homeopathy for example. These facts are confirmed and expanded upon HERE.
Thanks in advance for your time and consideration,
Pierre Black
PierreBlack.com
Unfortunately my response did not change the rejection of my listing.
What do you think? Are Ayurveda and Meditation are religious practices? Leave a comment…
Jen MacIntyre
September 4, 2011
Wow. that was pretty silly that he rejected your business listing. I thought your explanation was clear. BTW – hello!
Eran Plonski
November 18, 2011
I think that meditation is necessarily religious in its essence in that the conscious experience (regardless of imperceptable benefits such as better regulated heart beat, blood flow, lung capacity, etc) requires a leap of faith toward the benefits of exploring “nothingness” and requiring a daily commitment to its practice while potentially experiencing a variety of sources of discomfort and obstacles to attaining the place of “nothingness” … so in meditation one aims toward an impossible goal knowing that one will not attain it and to persist is to only deepen the sense of paradox and therefore requires a leap of faith in its practice … this is small “r” religious and what I believe to be amongst the more important paradoxes of practice needed to experience the beauty that is about being human …the debate you reference really highlights capital “R” religiosity which always denotes a deity or hypervalue and series of practices that must be performed to please the divine nature of the pinnacle being or value at the top of its chain – this is a top down ethic and excludes other capital “Rs” and secularism … meditation as an ethic is “R”eligious while meditation as a practice is “r”eligious – I would venture to add that I believe that all practices toward good health of spirit/mind/body are necessarily religious in this very same context and that the website which refused you seems caught in the confusion of the chiasm between religious and Religious …
Pierre Black
December 6, 2011
Most meditative practices and what I call skilled relaxation have a measurable effect on the brain and our physiology. Faith, then, is entirely optional. Just as are the associations with religion or the particular meditative style of seeking “nothingness” that you mention. I think one can meditate without traditional form, symbolism, intent, or even belief, and achieve the same benefits – except perhaps the heightening of faith. Some may think however that faith is not a desirable attribute, since it is a suspension of rational thought. I think that meditation can be entirely rational and still entirely effective. (Although in my personal practice I allow ample space for the irrational, simply because it’s more fun that way!)