Jhāna Retreat

The Jhāna Retreat holds every recording from the jhāna retreat Rob Burbea taught at Gaia House in Devon, from 17 December 2019 to 8 January 2020. It was one of the last retreats he led before his death in 2020.

Over three weeks Rob guides the practice from first instructions on the breath and the energy body, through pīti, the hindrances and the four jhānas, into the formless realms and the cessation of perception and feeling, and finally back into daily life.

What's here - 24 talks and guided meditations, about 28 hours, numbered in the order they were given - 8 optional Q&A sessions, placed on the days they were recorded - The full sequence: orientation, the energy body, pīti, the hindrances, the first to the eighth jhāna, the end of time, and going forwards

How you can listen - Pick up where you left off. The app remembers your place in every talk. - Download a talk, or a whole section at once, to listen offline on retreat or in airplane mode. - Keep listening with the screen locked. - Play at 0.75x to 1.5x, and let one talk lead into the next if you like. - Open the player and a slow field of light changes with the retreat, from the breath to the formless realms.

Sit with it - A sitting timer with a singing bowl at the start and the end. While you sit it shows on the lock screen and in the Dynamic Island. - Choose your springboard: the breath, mettā, the energy body, an object of joy, gratitude. - Rob's guided sittings and practice instructions, one tap from the timer.

Keep a journal - Mark each jhāna when you first glimpse it, and again when you can enter it at will. - Note what it was like and what helped you get there. Export your notes whenever you like.

The talks build on each other. There's no rush: listen, practise, and let things settle before moving on.

The recordings are offered freely in the spirit of dāna, with the permission of the Hermes Amara Foundation, which looks after Rob's teaching legacy. They are also available on Dharma Seed. If the teachings help you, please consider supporting the foundation at hermesamara.org.

The app is free, has no ads, no accounts and no tracking. Your progress and journal stay on your phone.

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