Gary Weber is an American spiritual teacher and author from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania who offers talks, online videos, and a blog on non-duality. As a retired scientist, executive and military officer, Weber has become known for combining a scientific approach to non-duality with traditional techniques of meditation, yoga, and chanting. He is a frequent speaker at the Science and Nonduality Conference and has participated in several high-profile studies on neuroscience and meditation. He is the author of three books, has given numerous talks and interviews, and, with Richard Doyle, has produced a series of online video dialogues on questions related to spirituality, science, and non-duality.

While a Ph.D

student at Penn State University, Weber first noted that his brain was producing thoughts that were harmful and irrelevant to his work and his life. As a scientist, he decided to examine these thoughts in a systematic and secular manner, in order to see if he could clear his brain of these useless thoughts. As he states in a talk at the 2015 Science and Nonduality Conference, his one condition was that he would do this inquiry outside of religion, as a form of experimenting with his own brain. ^[1] Shortly thereafter he experienced a temporary “kensho” after coming across a buddhist poem, which provided him with a glimpse of a non-dual state. ^[2]

For the next 25 years, Weber explored a number of techniques for examining his thoughts, eventually using various forms of yoga, zen buddhism, and chanting, as well as “self-enquiry’ technique of Ramana Maharshi.

One morning, “He got into a yoga pose – a pose he had done thousands of times before – and when he moved out of it his thoughts stopped.

Permanently.”

Shortly after this experience, he retired from his position as a scientist at Penn State University and began writing and giving talks on his experience.

Weber has been involved in a number of significant neuroscience studies including studies at Yale, NYU, IONS, Baumann Institute, and CSNSC. ^[3]

Many of his blog posts and videos focus on studies in neuroscience, explaining and examining the methodologies of these studies, providing updates on new studies, and applying them to nondual practice.

^[4]

Despite his involvement in and use of yoga, Buddhism, chanting, and Advaita Vedanta, Weber does not ascribe to any religious tradition nor has he formed any formal organization for his teachings. Instead, he emphasizes a “Do-it-yourself” approach, individual experimentation, and small group teaching. Weber emphasizes meditation and self inquiry (Atma vichara) to wither and eventually extinguish the activity of self referential thought in the default mode network. All of his teachings are available free of charge. ^{[5] [6]}