Class 5: Integration

Follow-up Email & Resources

Thank you for being a part of this course!

Donations

Donations are greatly appreciated but no obligation; if you would like to, consider giving back 1/3 of what you feel you got out of the class. My Venmo is @Alex-Krusz and my crypto address is krusz.eth. As mentioned before, any donations will be split 90-10 between myself and Praxis admin unless you request otherwise.

Feedback

I would love your feedback – what worked, what didn't, what you'd like to see in a future course. Please reach out via email anytime or grab time for a chat on my calendar at cal.com/alex-krusz (no need to donate). Or we can grab a coffee if you're local!

Resources

My website – I post lots of related projects here. If you've found this class helpful, you might enjoy my writing too. Links to my Substack (which includes an account of my jhana retreat) and Twitter are here.

glooow – My speaking/listening meditation facilitator app for computers (Mac/Win/Linux). It comes with an AI that you can run on your computer, or you can hook into other AIs like Claude if you have a subscription or API key. I've already gotten some good use out of it so I hope you will give it a try. If there is interest, I may try to make a version for mobile.

The Two Systems That Protect Us – An article that Tracey was referring to in class when she was having connection issues. It's about how the conscious and unconscious mind both work to protect us, and it ties in well with our course material. By Tom Bunn, creator of a "fear of flying" course she has gotten a lot of value out of.

Loving Awakening by Maija Haavisto – I've worked with her as a therapist (my jhana 2 experience was with her). She wrote a free and very good book on the whole healing path – trauma, meditation, spirituality, IFS, somatic work, and more.

More Resources, for the Curious

Integral Guide to Well-Being – huge wiki-style guide to wellbeing techniques.

Romeo Stevens – scholar of Buddhist texts, "fixed" his anxiety, puts out lots of quality writing. Interview on The Metagame podcast (which is one of my favorite pods – lots of great people here).

Vacha – Very insightful guy, I have no idea what his background is but he puts out a lot of great tips (though I don't agree on everything).

Therapist effectiveness visualization – Some graphs I put together with Claude, summarizing studies on efficacy of therapists. 1/6 of therapists were found to be actively harmful! Even with professional help, it's important to keep the "be your own detective" mindset.

Coach-type people

Joe Hudson – wise person and coach, productivity but by feeling ALL the things.

Jonny Miller – good source of nervous system tricks.

Meditation & Rationalism

How to Be Skeptical About Meditation – The first comment on this LessWrong discussion is an excellent take on how one rationalist engaged with meditation and wound up finding it extremely beneficial.

Books

Self-Therapy by Jay Earley – This book walks through many examples of IFS therapy, enabling you to do it with yourself (I do recommend a guide if possible).

The Science of Enlightenment – Shinzen Young's magnum opus audiobook on what (he says) meditation is all about. Includes a few guided meditations.

Jhana Resources

Nadia Asparahouva's writing on the jhanas: nadia.xyz/jhanas and Manufacturing Bliss (Asterisk Magazine)

Stephen Zerfas – Jhanas Are Human, Not Buddhist

Yet another explainer on what jhanas are, tries to be accessible: corbinnn on jhanas

Another well-written journal from someone's Jhourney retreat: nintil.com/jhanas

A fun Reddit comment about entering the first jhana: r/streamentry post

Discovering Bliss States by Tasshin Fogleman – Instruction on feeling good using meditation, includes more on the jhanas.

Body & Pain

John Sarno – pioneer of psychogenic illness/pain. He wrote a few books; The Divided Mind was the one I read. I recommend looking into this a bit even if you don't get the book. I don't think he got all the mechanisms right, but that hardly matters – this applies to WAY more than just back pain. Lots of chronic illness is actually primarily generated by the brain's predictive model.

Breath by James Nestor – Good overview of many different explorations around the breath: breathwork techniques, medical facts, ethnographic stories, etc.

Chronic Widespread Pain (inspired by John Sarno) – a resource that someone close to me is benefiting from.