Link to retreat
Intro
- One month of retreat, full-time practice is not too much to learn the first Jhana
- Focusing the practice at the edge of on one’s practice (your playground)
- If you can get to the first Jhana, all of them are open to you
- New version: If you can get to a (pleasurable) state of Piti, all Jhanas are open to you
- It doesn’t matter how Piti arises
- Go with whatever practice makes it easiest for well-being to arise
- Jhana practice includes dealing with
- Hindrances
- Goals
- Difficult emotions
Jhanas and Happiness
- Jhanas are dependent on happiness → While also leading to happiness
- Cultivating happiness and taking care of the heart
- Orienting towards gratitude and appreciation (feeling it)
- Beauty
- Connection (with each other, nature)
- Openness
- Cultivating a (soulmaking) fantasy of the retreat
Malleability and Inertia
- Jhanas are dependent on malleability → While also leading to malleability
- Watching out for inertia and old habits in practice