Coverage

Deep State: The New Science Of Advanced Meditation

Women's Health, feature by Claudia Canavan · 2024

My Week at the Buzzy Meditation Retreat That Promises Bliss on Demand

TIME, retreat report by Naina Bajekal · 2024

What if you could have a panic attack, but for joy?

Vox, essay by Oshan Jarow · 2024

Manufacturing Bliss

Asterisk Magazine, feature by Nadia Asparouhova · 2024

The Meditation Start-Up That's Selling Bliss on Demand

The Atlantic, feature by Ross Andersen · 2024

How To Pursue Goals without Striving

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg · Jul 2026

Spencer Greenberg and Stephen on why meditation is so hard to teach, and on reaching blissful states without grasping for them.

You're Optimizing Everything Except the Thing That Runs It All

Thrive State Podcast, with Dr. Kien Vuu · May 2026

Stephen and Dr. Kien Vuu on why the state you run your life from shapes everything downstream of it.

How to Access Deep Bliss and Wellbeing with Jhana Meditation

Elevating Consciousness, with Artem Zen · Apr 2026

A long-form conversation on what jhana practice actually is, who it's for, and how people learn it.

A Panic Attack for Joy?

Nervous System Mastery, with Jonny Miller · Jan 2026

Jonny Miller and Stephen on jhana as the inverse of a panic attack — an escalating loop of ease rather than alarm.

What Jhana Meditation Feels Like — From the Inside Out

AI & I, with Dan Shipper · Dec 2025

Stephen walks Dan Shipper through what the jhanas feel like from the inside, one state at a time.

Stephen Zerfas, Guest Explorer

Awareness Explorers, with Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor · Sep 2025

Stephen joins the hosts to talk through jhana practice and where it sits alongside other awareness techniques.

Making the Jhanas Accessible

Teaching Meditation, with Tucker Peck · Jun 2025

Tucker Peck and Stephen on the pedagogy question: what it takes to make the jhanas teachable at scale.

On the Jhanas, Pleasure, and the Mathematics of Meditation

YouTube, with Andrés Gómez Emilsson · Mar 2025

A conversation on pleasure, valence, and whether the jhanas can be described mathematically.

#29 — Jhanas and Hacking Agency

The Metagame, with Daniel Kazandjian · Nov 2024

Daniel Kazandjian and Stephen on the jhanas, agency, and what changes when bliss becomes a practiced skill.

I Did An 8 Day Meditation Retreat To Rewire My Brain For Joy — Here Are My Biggest Takeaways

The Liz Moody Podcast · Nov 2024

Liz Moody devotes a solo episode to the eight days she spent at a Jhourney retreat and what she took away from it.

Jhana as a Service

Founder Meditations, with Weiting · Jul 2024

Stephen on Jhourney's origins and the bet that jhana can be made reliably learnable rather than rare.

Scaling Jhāna Responsibly: Comments and Concerns

Natural Awakening, with Wystan Bryant-Scott · May 2024

Wystan Bryant-Scott presses Stephen on the risks and responsibilities that come with teaching jhana widely.

Jhanas, Technology, and Tradition

Deconstructing Yourself, with Michael Taft · May 2024

Michael Taft and Stephen on where a modern, tech-informed approach to jhana meets the traditional lineage.

Stephen Zerfas on the Jhanas and Jhourney

Psychotechnologies Live · Jan 2024

An early conversation about what the jhanas are and what Jhourney was setting out to build.

What Are The Jhanas And How Can They Change Your Life?

Evolution FM, with Scott Britton · Dec 2023

Scott Britton and Stephen on what the jhanas are and why they're worth a week of your life.

Jhourney, Meditation, Learning and Feedback Loops

The Talking Brains Podcast, with Brendan Foster · Oct 2022

Stephen on meditation as a learning problem, and what tighter feedback loops could do for it.