Attaining A Jhana Live: How Anyone Can Achieve Super Wellbeing
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
In this unique episode of AI & I, host Dan Shipper invites Stephen Zerfas, founder of Jhourney, to demonstrate live jhana meditation on the podcast. Jhanas are traditionally considered bliss states requiring thousands of hours of practice, but Zerfas and his team have revolutionized access to these altered states through intensive retreats where most participants achieve jhana in their first week. (02:57)
- Core focus: Live demonstration of jhana meditation with real-time narration, followed by discussion of practical applications and AI integration for accessible meditation training
Speakers
Stephen Zerfas
Stephen Zerfas is the founder of Jhourney, a company working to make life-changing meditation accessible to everyone through jhana states—altered states spanning from bliss to peace that can be learned with meditation practice. Originally starting as a neurotech company collecting biosignal data, Jhourney evolved into running transformative meditation retreats after discovering they could "build a school rather than a lab." Zerfas has developed innovative approaches to meditation instruction that help participants achieve traditionally difficult meditative states in dramatically reduced timeframes.
Dan Shipper
Dan Shipper is the host of AI & I and founder of Every, a publication focused on AI and technology. He attended one of Zerfas's meditation retreats and described it as "by far the best retreat" he's ever experienced. Shipper brings both personal meditation experience and a technology perspective to exploring how AI might enhance contemplative practices.
Key Takeaways
Meditation is About Resting Into What Already Exists
Rather than trying to achieve or create special states, effective meditation involves recognizing and relaxing into awareness and openness that's already present. (36:00) Zerfas demonstrated this by repeatedly returning to the metaphor of "coming home" and dropping tension rather than building something new. This reframe from effort-based practice to recognition-based practice can dramatically accelerate progress for achievement-oriented practitioners who tend to turn meditation into another optimization project.
Create Feedback Loops Between Attention and Emotion
The jhana practice involves learning to create a feedback loop between attention and emotion, developing "unprecedented fluency" in navigating your nervous system. (01:31) This involves practicing "conductivity"—embracing whatever arises (distractions, tensions, fears) with kindness rather than resistance. This skill transfers directly to daily life, improving your ability to handle stress, difficult conversations, and challenging decisions with greater emotional regulation.
Use Memory Reconsolidation to Hack Your Personality
By co-activating challenging emotional charges with commensurate levels of safety, compassion, and connection, you can literally rewrite your emotional defaults through memory reconsolidation. (48:13) This gives you "root permissions to hack your personality" since personality is largely a collection of stimulus-response patterns. This technique can help transform how you react to triggers from family, work stress, or personal insecurities by changing the underlying emotional associations.
Approach Goals with Play Rather Than Self-Coercion
Most people instantiate goals as "contracts to be dissatisfied until we get what we want," but peak performance comes from play and flow states rather than self-coercive effort. (40:06) Learning to hold goals with openness and curiosity rather than desperation makes them both more sustainable and often more effective. This applies whether you're building a company, developing relationships, or pursuing meditation practice.
Align Actions with Internal States for Authentic Change
Internal well-being work must be matched with aligned external actions—you can't just feel good internally while acting in unloving ways toward yourself or others. (52:51) If you're abandoning yourself in relationships or making decisions that conflict with your values, meditation alone won't create lasting change. True transformation requires both inner work and outer alignment, making this practice a catalyst for necessary life changes rather than a bypass mechanism.
Statistics & Facts
- Jhourney retreats achieve a success rate where "most participants hit a Jhana in their first week," compared to traditional beliefs that jhanas require thousands of hours of practice. (03:58)
- Journey started as a neurotech company collecting biosignal data before pivoting to retreat-based instruction when they discovered better outcomes through direct teaching rather than technology-first approaches. (55:30)
- The company has hosted tech executives and cofounders of some of the world's biggest companies on their retreats, suggesting growing interest in contemplative practices among high-performing professionals. (56:54)
