If you're interested in Buddhist meditation but in a more laid back environment, I highly recommend the retreats at the Thich Nhat Hanh affiliated monasteries i

If you're interested in Buddhist meditation but in a more laid back environment, I highly recommend the retreats at the Thich Nhat Hanh affiliated monasteries in the US (Deer Park in San Diego, Blue Cliff in NY). It's only a couple hours per day of sitting, interspersed with talks, small group discussions, and various other calm activities. Everything is basically optional since they don't take attendance, you could sit in your room all day if you wanted, but I found all of it rewarding. At the end they stressed that the purpose of all this mindfulness and sitting is to increase awareness and compassion within oneself, so that you can deepen relationships with everyone, Buddhist or not. The days usually started at 5:30 but they warned us not to try to recreate this schedule at home, "because it would just cause suffering." So they're totally not humorless ascetics. They also served some amazing vegan food.