So you want to meditate, but afraid of the esoteric stuff
First of all: if you have any believes, it is totally ok, but personally I am a fedora tipping materialist. I am fascinated by religion on an aesthetic/cultural level though. I am also fascinated by the human mind, I go to psychoanalysis1, and for a while now I really wanted to try meditation.
But I am super sceptical of the third-eye opening chakra stuff, and also of the watered down Westernised Buddhist stuff. I wanted something authentic, real, but the same time something that won't make cringe constantly.
After a little research (and yeah some consultation with the Devil's robot, sorry anti-LLM purists) I have found Satipatthana meditation. Sati is translated as "mindfulness" to English, but be not afraid, it has nothing to do with that "5 tips how to be more productive as a cog in the late stage capitalist machine" type of mindfulness.
Satipatthana meditation is primarily practiced by Theravada Buddhists, a very conservative branch of Buddhism. There this German guy who became a monk2, Analayo, who wrote a pretty good book about the practical side of Satipatthana meditation: Satipatthana Meditation: A Practice Guide.
Analayo is a philologist -- I was studying classical philology myself at the university -- so I was like, ok he sounds like a man of science, not your usual snake oil vendor shaman guru. (I even tried dig up dirt on him, looking for the "Controversies" tab under his Wiki page, but nothing, he seems to be just a smart and chill guy.)
So if you are anything like me I can really recommend his book and/or free audio guide: https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/resources/satipatthana-audio/
He is as real of a Buddhist as it gets, but reading his guide I have not even once though ok I am reading something supernatural/esoterical/religious.