In Drifting Through Samsara, Masoumeh Rahmani provides a fieldwork-based study of Goenka's Vipassana meditation movement in New Zealand. This group is distinguished by its refusal to identify as Buddhist and by a rich rhetorical repertoire for repackaging Theravada Buddhist teachings in pseudo-scientific and secular language. Drawing from qualitative research, the book examines the way the movement's discourse shapes unique processes and narratives of conversion and disengagement. Rahmani argues that conversion to this movement is tacit and paradoxically results in the members' rejection of religious labels and categories including conversion. Tracing the linguistic changes associated with the process of conversion and increased commitment, she outlines three main disengagement pathways: (1) pragmatic leaving, (2) disaffiliation, and (3) deconversion. Pragmatic leavers are individuals who were disengaged prior to developing a commitment. Rahmani argues that the language of these leavers is characterised by pragmatisms, dualistic discourse, and ambivalence, and their post-disengagement involves an active gravitation towards practices with easily accomplished goals. Disaffiliates and deconverts are individuals who disengaged after years of intense commitment to the movement. One of the distinguishing features of disaffiliation narratives is self-doubt resulting from the movement's ambiguous discourse regarding progress. For these people post-disengagement often involves the retrospective adoption of Buddhist identity.

Rahmani finds that as a consequence of its linguistic strategies, deconversion is a rare exit pattern from this movement. In general, however, the themes and characteristics of both disaffiliation and deconversion fit the contours of exit from other traditions, even though conversion was tacit in the first place. The book thus questions the normative participant recruitment approach in conversion studies and argues that a simple reliance on the informants' identification with or rejection of religious labels fails to encompass the tonalities of conversion in the contemporary spiritual landscape.

“Highly innovative, brilliantly written, and based on solid research, Drifting Through Samsara is one of the best books on (de)Conversion that I have read in the last fifteen years. The book addresses an important lacuna in the conversion literature by theoretically expanding religious disaffiliation.”
— Henri Gooren, Professor of Anthropology, Oakland University.
“This innovative book is a welcome addition to the literature on conversion. Rahmani’s careful attention to the narratives of those who engage in and disengage from Vipassana meditation sheds light on the complex relationship between self and spirituality.”
— Peter Stromberg, Professor of Anthropology, University of Tulsa
“Finally a study of Buddhist mindfulness groups that does not treat meditation as self-evident and naturally effective, but paints a much more complex picture.”
— Jens Schlieter, Prof and Co-director of Institute for the Science of Religion, University of Bern

Rahmani, M. Adds, P. Senanayake, R. (2024) ‘Māori atheism: a decolonising project?” Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online, 1-20.

Rahmani, M., van Mulukom, V. & Farias, M. (2023) Believing in the Powers of Mindfulness: A Thematic Narrative Approach and the Development of a New Scale. Mindfulness 14, 1689–1704.

Rahmani, M., van Mulukom, V., Sevriugin, S., Farias, M. (2025). Belief in the Powers of Mindfulness Scale (BPMS). In: Medvedev, O.N., Krägeloh, C.U., Siegert, R.J., Singh, N.N. (eds) Handbook of Assessment in Mindfulness Research. Springer, Cham.

Rahmani, M. (2020) “Secular Rhetoric as a Legitimating Strategy for Mindfulness Meditation”. In: Newcombe, S., and O’Brien-Kop, K. eds. Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies. Routledge.

Rahmani, M. (2020) “Goenka’s Vipassana Movement: From Conversion to Disaffiliation”.  In: Farias, M., Brazier, D., and Lalljee, M. eds. The Oxford Handbook of Meditation. Oxford University Press.

Farias, M. and Rahmani, M. (2020) “The Alchemy of Meditation: Turning religion into science and science into religion”. In: De Manning, R. ed. Mutual Enrichment: Theology, Psychology, and Religious Life. Routledge.

Rahmani, M. (2020). “Tacit Conversion: A Linguistic Analysis of a Vipassana Meditator’s Narrative of Self-Transformation”. In: Jindra, I.W. and Sremac, S. eds., Conversion and Lived Religion: Recovery, Imprisonment and Homelessness. Palgrave Macmillan.

Rahmani, M. (2019)“Leaving Vipassana Meditation”.In: Enstedt, D., Larsson, G., and Mantsinen, T.eds.Handbook of Leaving Religion.Brill.