how to jhana in 500 words

opinionated, non-definitive starter guide to emotions-based jhana meditation

The goal is continuity of an enjoyable feeling (e.g. love, joy, gratitude). If there’s enough continuity, then intensity takes care of itself. Build continuity by creating a positive feeling, reacting to it, identifying prominent things that aren’t enjoyment, reacting to those, and repeating (not necessarily in that order). Find a pace of reacting that feels easeful. If it feels effortful, that’s the wrong direction. During meditation, repeatedly do something to spark a positive emotion (e.g. smiling, metta phrases, things you’re grateful for, picture a puppy). any above zero valence feeling is enough. Once a way of creating positive emotion is found, stick to it. Sometimes it stops working. Good, that means level 2 unlocked. There’s some reaction or expectation that needs to be included/softened. Include/soften things other than positive feeling by welcoming/loving/appreciating/forgiving them, appreciating noticing, or some move that doesn’t create more internal violence. If anything detracts from building continuity of enjoyment, then respond using one of those ways. Respond with low complexity moves first, then return to sparking and reacting to positive emotion. If thing doesn’t go away easily / on its own, then gradually increase the complexity of moves (e.g. longer forgiveness session, asking what it wants [core transformation moves], maybe IFS, etc.). once it feels attended to, softened, or dissipates on its own, return to sparking nice feeling and reacting to it. Whenever positive feeling shows up, react to it with savoring, appreciating it, or giving it away / sending it (metta style). All moves (things used to spark positive feeling, reactions to positive feeling, and reactions to things other than positive feeling) can start complex, then become subtle, and nonverbal eventually. For example, gratitude can start as visual memories plus phrases, then one image plus a mantra, then just the mantra, then just the feeling of gratitude alone. Less complexity helps develop continuity of enjoyment. If pure physical pleasure shows up, that’s helpful, but not the goal, so react to it using savoring, appreciating, or sending to create an enjoyable feeling. Notice enjoyment and react to it irl as well. This helps build momentum so you’re not “starting from zero” every time you formally meditate. Noticing “negative” feelings and thoughts irl and responding with the softening reactions listed earlier can also build momentum for the second skill. It’s all skills. Once the skills are learned, jhanas emerge naturally. Emotional blocks are normal. Longer forgiveness sessions can help, or some other integration technique (bio emotive, core transformation, ek meditation). It’s normal for emotions other than “positive” ones to show up as you create a friendlier emotional space. If some hesitancy about intensifying enjoyment emerges, that can be responded to similarly to any other thing other than the positive feeling. If you feel worse twice in a row from meditation sessions, then find help to debug before doing so again. Measure success by if you continue to try new things in response to challenges (opportunities) encountered. The fuel of jhana is fun.

This part doesn’t count as the 500 words lol , but i highly recommend Jhourney retreats for a more comprehensive guide to learning the jhanas :D (i work for Jhourney)