Jhanas - Kush Taneja
It’s been 40 days since I attended a Jhana retreat with amazing humans of Jhourney.io and I still haven’t found the perfect word to describe what happened.
If Vipassana was like learning to walk again, Jhana was like riding a bike with training wheels, then realizing one day you don’t need them anymore.
Before this retreat, I used to do Vipassana meditation. Vipassana taught me how to accept reality as it is. Jhana, on the other hand, was an invitation to go deeper, an altered state where I could change my perception of reality.
Jhana is a deeply restful and altered state of mind that arises when the mind becomes still, unified, and fully absorbed. It’s a natural part of the mind, something you don’t force, but fall into when the right conditions are created.
In ancient teachings, the Buddha described Jhana as a sequence of meditative states where the mind becomes quieter, more joyful, and more peaceful with each step. These states are not mystical - they are learnable, trainable, and very much a part of human potential.
