I wrote this in 2024 and lightly edited it in April 2026. It doesn't substantively incorporate any post-2024 information, but Jhourney has continued to grow and seems to have a positive reputation in Berkeley circles, so I thought I'd post this as a slice of my experience at an earlier version of retreats they are still running today. I have not changed my mind on anything substantive, except where footnoted, and I stand behind my conclusions. It is not a strong general argument about jhanas, but rather a personal report about my experience at one retreat.

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I attended a May 2024 Jhourney work-compatible retreat, and left with a sense of uncertainty and many open questions.

Jhourney is a company that runs meditation retreats with the explicit goal of getting attendees to "tap into profound joy and wellbeing on command" through a state of altered consciousness called a jhana, all "100x faster" than the usual hundred+ hours of meditation. See Asterisk for more in-depth descriptions of the phenomenon.

At the time of my retreat, Jhourney's website said[1]:

"70% of our retreat participants have self-reported experiencing a jhana*
For those who experienced a jhana
- 70% say it's [...]

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Outline:

(03:16) 1: is Jhourneys retreat experience awesome?

(05:24) 2: what do jhanas feel like, granularly?

(11:04) 3: could jhanas decrease engagement in the world and concern for others wellbeing?

(13:08) And then it was over

The original text contained 10 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:
April 19th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Ffe8Cr988cojvgjgf/i-did-a-jhana-meditation-retreat-in-2024-with-jhourney-and

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“I did a jhana meditation retreat (in 2024) with Jhourney and it was okay.” by Jules

LessWrong (30+ Karma)