This morning, some of our newer meditators reported accessing piti/the beginnings of 1st Jhana. So cool! Someone said that they kind of felt it was esoteric weirdness, and then suddenly, hey presto! Thanks again for the intro video @OortCloudAtlas, it was directly responsible.

Followup question: would you say that people new to meditation should just start practicing aiming for 1st jhana right away? So, develop access concentration and then going into full jhana development step by step? Curious to hear opinions.

In our group this seems to be pretty effective as a way to develop a good practice right away, and more importantly good practice motivation, but perhaps people disagree?

Thanks again all who contributed to this thread/conversation! We discussed your ideas in the group this morning and will continue to do so and draw on the resources you shared!