HomeAbout UsBook / CDsTalksEventsServicesContact

What's New
  • We will teach two retreats in 2009 at Cloud Mountain Retreat Center in Washington. Our 3-day retreat is July 31-August 3, and our 2-week retreat is Dec. 27-Jan. 10, 2010. Descriptions and a hotlink to Cloud Mountain is found on our Events Page. 
  • Shambhala Publications is releasing an expanded version of our book, with the title Practicing the Jhanas. It will be available online and in book stores in later this year. Once this new version is released, our original version will no longer be available.
  • Our original book, Jhanas Advice from Two Spiritual Friends, has now been purchased by more than 500 people from 26 countries. We are down to our last 90 copies, and expect to sell out soon. To order, go to the Books Page.
  • Our talks from when we taught with Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw at the Forest Refuge last year are available for download on www.DharmaSeed.org.

What is the Jhana Practice?

The jhana practice is an ancient type of concentration meditation that predates written history as a method to purify the mind. It was taught to the Buddha by his teachers, and he practiced and taught the jhanas throughout his life. This practice was so important to him, that jhana meditation was his last act before he died.

Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw of Burma is considered by many to be the leading Buddhist jhana teacher alive today. Tina Rasmussen and Stephen Snyder were taught personally by the Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw, who has authorized them as the first Western lay people to teach these practices as the Sayadaw taught them. Their book, Jhanas Advice from Two Spiritual Friends, is an accessible and direct experiential account of jhana practice. Their book has been endorsed by the Sayadaw.

They now offer several services to practitioners interested in the jhana practice. Their services are for both experienced meditators interested in deepening their concentration practice, as well as new meditators beginning a concentration practice. They offer:
- Daylong intensives
- Dharma talks at your location
- One-on-one spiritual guidance
- Free downloads of dharma talks on the jhanas practice
- The book,
Jhanas Advice from Two Spiritual Friends:  
  Concentration Meditation as Taught by Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw

Click here for more information About Us or the Services we offer.

Click here to download the Anapanasati Meditation Instructions Card

ForestRefugeSayadawSTCropped.jpg
Stephen & Tina with Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw at Forest Refuge, 2008

Join Our Mailing List
Periodically, we distribute emails about upcoming events, new postings, and our publications. To join, please click here to go to the Contact Us page. If you send us your email address we will add you to our distribution list.