Accessing dhyana (jhana), or absorption, seems to be very natural for some people, and a complete mystery to others. Dhyana is well worth cultivating as a way of deepening shamatha (mental tranquillity) as well as for the sheer psycho-somatic pleasure that some of these states afford. On this retreat, we’ll be suggesting approaches that people have found to be helpful and effective for entering into dhyana. This may well involve questioning both our own views and approaches, and some of what the tradition has to say about dhyana. We’ll proceed on the basis of asking ‘What, in our experience, is and is not actually helpful?’

We have found that by becoming alive to the immediacy of our sensate experience, particularly body experience, resources for entering absorption can be discovered as already present – just waiting to be noticed. We’ll explore this in direct experience by delving into the relation between body and breath and between body, awareness and insight.