Collection of Jhourneys

In this episode, we speak with Leigh Brasington, one of the most famous jhana teachers alive today. Leigh is the author of Right Concentration, a remarkably clear and simple book that is commonly cited by novices who learned to enter jhanas on their own. We discuss how he first learned the jhanas, spent years looking for a teacher to show him how to navigate them, and how the jhanas changed his personality to be happier and more prone to glee over time. He shares how he believes the jhanas can show you it’s possible to be happier than you ever realized for no apparent reason, and most importantly, how they can help you see what Buddhists call capital-I Insights: things like how malleable your ego really is. Leigh visited us during an online jhana retreat, and fields several questions from the audience near the end.Sections:0:54 How Leigh got started with meditation 6:42 Quitting marijuana in order meditate clearly8:54 Leigh’s first jhana11:49 Discovering how to enter piti (glee) consistently14:18 Learning what jhanas are15:44 J1 and piti: like the rush of marijuana18:19 Moving to the second jhana21:46 J2 and sukka: happiness23:04 The effects of J2 on baseline wellbeing28:53 J3: wishlessness30:37 J4: stillness and a mind ready for Insight33:26 Jhanas as a warmup for Insight37:21 You’re more malleable than you think you are39:36 Leigh’s advice to his younger self41:20 What traits in students predict success in learning jhanas?43:13 Common pitfalls46:33 How many people are practicing the jhanas today?47:41 Why aren’t they more popular?49:31 How Leigh’s teaching philosophy has changed50:37 What might be done before meditating to make jhana easier?52:55 Supplements or drugs that might make jhanas easier54:13 Audience Q&A: lucid dreaming and body scanning55:31 Insight and changes in values stemming from jhanas 57:42 Does Leigh currently have a sense of self?58:28 Jhanic experiences in mundane activites, like sports and dating1:01:15 The value of following instructions in meditation1:05:13 Asking the “why” behind restlessness1:07:46 Injecting jhanas into life off the cushion1:10:31 Learning jhanas via Leigh’s book alone has proven surprisingly doable

In this episode, we talk to Zach Lauzon, a Google engineer and novice meditator with less than 100 hours of meditation experience who learned the first five jhanas on a recent Jhourney retreat. He shares how the jhanas have changed his worldview, changed his relationship to hard things, and unlocked personality-change in what he describes as “self-therapy.” I tear up as he describes how he used the jhanas to finally process the suicide of his best friend after 7 years of therapy. I think you’ll find many of his tips and ideas, like how he welcomes distractions in meditation, counterintuitive, articulate, inspiring.0:00 Memory of initial jhana experience5:05 Benchmark "as joyful and exciting as getting my dream job" but within you7:05 Do big payouts have to come with big work? Or it there within,  just waiting to be found?9:30 Worldview shifting to know the internal resource is just within you14:25 Seeing difficult material in meditation as things to be understood, accepted, loved19:25 Jhana as a basis for difficult emotional work25:22 Experience with parts work and somatic therapies like internal family systems (IFS) affecting meditation29:07 Unshakable resource from deeper jhana and working with the trauma of losing his best friend34:35 Deep sense of equanimity and okayness37:40 To you, what are the jhanas and what do they feel like? (states of harmony and unification). Aliveness/timeliness, then still calmness47:10 Seeing it as "safety and assuredness"50:00 How can it be familiar yet worldview breaking? From "finding" rather than cultivating55:05 Getting into meditation 8 months prior and just 100hrs practice before jhana1:05:40 Recap of 3 learnings for a novice1:06:50 Growing up, professional background as a software engineer, personal interest in music

In this episode, we talk to David Phelan, music producer and songwriter for Zayn, Sia, and Blackpink, who was on a recent Jhourney retreat. He shares how music, psychedelics, and a challenging time led him from identifying as a confident materialist to a regular meditator. He developed panic attacks, and then cured himself by intentionally inducing and observing them in meditation. For the first two thirds of the interview, I ask him detailed questions about his background, habits, and decisions that led him to where his meditation practice is today. In the final third of the interview, he shares how his recent jhana experience was as personally significant as his wedding day, and how he hopes to use jhanas to make music with less fear.00:00 - Introduction and Background06:30 - The Role of Music in Profound Altered States08:44 - Growing Up in Ireland11:45 - Transition from Materialist Worldview (Pre-2018)13:55 - Diving into Music: Collaborations with Zayn, Sia, Nicki Minaj, Blackpink18:08 - Concert Peak Experience: Turning to Wim Hof, Yoga, and Cold Showers21:55 - Personal Growth: From 2 Million to 60 Million Followers and a 2-Hour Morning Routine24:55 - The Bootstrap Problem and Catalyzing Peak Experiences28:15 - Rational Approach to 'Woo' Content with a Focus on Experience34:02 - Meditation: Confronting Fear and Creating Fearlessly39:05 - First-Time Panic Attacks and Aversion to Altered States, Exploring the Phenomenology of Anxiety46:20 - Overcoming Panic Attacks with Teachings from Mingyur Rinpoche and the Timing of Life Lessons51:20 - Observing Panic Attacks Over 50 Times in Real-Time56:00 - Discovering Teachings from Rob Burbea and Ram Dass: Moving Beyond State Chasing1:00:05 - Using Meditation as an Inner Resource During a Friend's Death1:03:40 - Experiences with Jhana Meditation1:10:00 - Paradigm Shift in Intention During Jhourney's Retreat1:16:50 - Deep Connection to Self and One of the Most Profound Life Experiences

Welcome to the Collection of Jhourney’s podcast, where we explore the stories of everyday people who have had their lives changed by the blissful and therapeutic states of jhana meditation. The jhanas are profoundly altered states of meditation that are a growing trend among meditators and scientists. Practitioners have described it as "MDMA therapy without the drugs", and early neural images suggest the jhanas may lead to distinct, measurable changes in the brain. Further studies at places like McGill and Harvard are just getting started. Despite these dramatic qualities, these states are historically controversial. Some believe they're a distraction & others doubt their attainability. We believe pragmatic instruction and feedback can save you months or years of stagnant practice. We've heard from hundreds of regular people who meditate (from engineer to musician) that have had their lives transformed by these states. Now, you can hear their stories. Enjoy the podcast, and check us out at jhourney dot io! That's j-h-o-u-r-n-e-y dot i-o.