While some OU students rise early every Sunday morning to attend
a traditional church service, others are searching for something
else. For those who do not desire a set religious path, new-age
spirituality provides an alternative.

“There are very legitimate outlets for people who
don’t practice a given religion or associate themselves with
a specific church, mosque or temple,” said Barbara Boyd,
director of outreach for religious studies.

Some of these outlets include meditation, prayer life, yoga
sutra, group contemplation and personal spiritual directors.

Boyd said in today’s world there are many ways to go about
exploring spirituality and some people choose not to be affiliated
with a specific religion.

“A lot of people have been hurt by religion in the past,
and then there’s people who know nothing about a given
path,” Boyd said. “They just want to be in an
environment where they’re allowed to be spiritual and not
evangelized to or judged.”

Emilie Steele, linguistics senior and vice president of the
Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, 1309 W. Boyd St., said the
fellowship provides such an environment.

“We are all about tolerance and people being free to
explore their own paths and supporting each other,” Steele
said.

Steele said the fellowship is comprised of different groups such
as atheists, Buddhists and religious humanists.

“We provide a spiritual community without having to be
religious,” Steele said. “We provide support, a
gathering place and also a sounding board where we can have new
ideas about anything and a wonderful place to discuss
them.”

When it comes to new ideas, Boyd said the new-age movement is
what started many of these outlets by offering different
things.

One of the more popular spiritual practices is yoga.

“Since I do yoga, I find it incredibly important to my
life because it’s about balance of the mind, body and
spirit,” Boyd said.

After taking introductory meditation and yoga classes in high
school, Caitlin McArthur, University College freshman, said she was
fascinated by the subject.

“We didn’t really go in-depth, but I think the age
group we’re in right now is questioning things and venturing
onward from what they were brought up to be,” McArthur
said.

On the other hand, Whitney McCoy, business management junior,
said she thinks students simply do not have time to contemplate
spirituality at this stage in their lives.

“People are too busy to think about it,” McCoy said.
“Everyone has too many things to concentrate on to think
about stuff that’s not here and now.”

Some students said they find themselves in deep thought or
meditation at random times throughout the day.

“I’ve never done it in an organized, formal setting,
but I will go to sit in thought occasionally, or I’ll
meditate as a way to fall asleep at night,” said Windeon
McDowell, journalism sophomore.

Lauren Titus, University College freshman, agreed. She said even
though she doesn’t always think of it as meditating she will
sit in silence every now and then to marvel at a beautiful day.
hello there & you too