UPDATE: most helpful comment = https://www.reddit.com/r/streamentry/comments/1wz72ii/comment/pel20gk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Pinning here to help other people who may stumble on this.

==

OP:

I think after almost a year of focused practice, I have finally started regularly experiencing piti.

Several points and questions on which I would like feedback:

1. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that I am noticing the "body buzz" that is already there instead of generating piti. That was a mistake I think I was making--trying to generate piti...noticing is more accurate.
2. The body buzz/rapture/etc. feels familiar. I thought piti would feel foreign and exotic.
3. Spiritual chills + goosebumps on the inside of body + effervescence = piti?
4. I have experienced "spiritual chills" my whole life. They especially happened a lot as a little kid (raised in a fundamentalist Christian cult where people were always speaking in tongues and trying to lay hands on people to make miracles happen). The spiritual chills have been happening a lot lately, mainly inside of meditations. Other ways of describing those spiritual chills would be goosebumps on the inside of body and/or effervescence--are those good descriptions for piti?
5. Finally, this may sound weird:
6. When I really marinate in the bubbling, tingling feeling on the inside of my body, my butthole tightens up, and my neck jerks back so that my eyes are cast upward. This is involuntary. It takes me by surprise, almost like a sneeze, each time.

So, is what I am describing piti?

If so, how can I cultivate/strengthen this more in order to enter the first jhana?

As someone with two forms of mental OCD, is there a way to cultivate piti and enter the first jhana in a way that does not trigger an IFS-style backlash of parts?

The reason for my questions are
- I am having trouble generating piti to enter the first jhana
- I did have a spontaneous kundalini arousal (but not a full rising awakening) that went dormant again

The interesting thing to me is that BOTH jhanas (and the piti for the first jhana) AND kundalini are discovered rather than invented.

So, I am hoping to gently cultivate piti to enter jhana and later (possibly, much later) safely tend a kundalini rising.

Note: please only respond if you have experienced BOTH jhanas AND kundalini so that this does not turn into a philosophical / scholarly / textual debate.

The reason for my questions are
- I am having trouble generating piti to enter the first jhana
- I did have a spontaneous kundalini arousal (but not a full rising awakening) that went dormant again

The interesting thing to me is that BOTH jhanas (and the piti for the first jhana) AND kundalini are discovered rather than invented.

So, I am hoping to gently cultivate piti to enter jhana and later (possibly, much later) safely tend a kundalini rising.

Note: please only respond if you have experienced BOTH jhanas AND kundalini so that this does not turn into a philosophical / scholarly / textual debate.

I now have a Marshall Jackhammer and a CE-1 Ensemble Crunch. My DS-2 is in the mail.

QUESTIONS

What settings do you recommend for the Marshall Jackhammer?
I was actually only able to find one comment in this entire thread (now lost), and it said,
"OD mode, volume at 3 o'clock, gain at 10/11 o'clock, bass off, treble off, contour at 12 o'clock and frequency maxed"

Do I need a Marshall Jackhammer AND a CE-1 Ensemble Crunch AND a DS-2?
Or does only one or some combo of the other two cover John's sound from By the Way onwards?

Finally, is this the correct pedal chain order? If not, what should I move around?

• Tuner: Korg Pitchblack
• Wah: Wilson Effects (WH10V1)
• Compressor: Xotic SP compressor
• Overdrive: (still deciding...)
• Distortion 1: Marshall Jackhammer (always on?)
• Distortion 2: ProCo RAT 2
• Clean Boost: Triungulo CE-1 Ensemble Crunch (low mode for pure “always on”)
• Fuzz: Wren and Cuff Box of War
• Phaser: Catalinbread Many Worlds
• Chorus: Boss CE-2W Chorus Waza Craft
• Tremolo: TR-2
• Analog Delay: MXR Carbon Copy Delay M169
• Tape Delay: Universal Audio Galaxy
• EHX Volume Pedal
• Reverb: EHX Holy Grail
• Looper: TC Electronics Ditto X4

Thanks in advance!

EDITS/UPDATES:
Just to be clear (since this feedback has come up a lot in this thread), I am practicing more than I am reading.

The problem was that I practiced incorrectly almost daily for 10 years.

The purpose of this syllabus/curriculum for myself is just to have context for what I am going through.

I have found a teacher I am working with--he helped me with this list of books. I am just posting here to get 360 feedback in case I/we missed anything.

I am unemployed, divorcing my wife, dealing with health issues, and moving. I have had 2 therapists and shaman all independently tell me I am going through the dark night of the soul...
In order to release trauma, I plan to keep doing NARM/IFS therapy + psychedelics + daily inquiry via The Work of Byron Katie + meditation. However, I am open to any and all helpful suggestions.
Thanks in advance!

(ORIGINAL POST - starts here)

How does everyone in this thread know so much? Every time I read a comment, there are usually a bunch of folks who seem really knowledgeable, diagnosing where they are on "the path."

I want the shortest/most efficient path possible, so I put together two reading lists to be done in parallel (not serial) both to heal trauma so that I can enter jhana, etc.

I am open to coaching/advice on what to include, edit, remove, etc. I am most interested in what to re-order in case it will be more efficient.

I have spent 10 years doing inquiry with almost no samadhi/well-being practice, thus the order below co-created with Claude which now front loads samatha...

SPIRITUAL BOOKS
Phase 1 — Ground (now)

• (currently reading…) Buddha's Heart by Stephen Snyder (Brahmavihāras as the gentlest samatha doorway. Piti + love as my established entry. Expert on nimitta)
• Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness by David Treleaven
• Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante G.
• The Realization Process by Judith Blackstone (audiobook) for body scanning mapped to the chakras

Phase 2 — Choose your jhana (before practicing one)

• The Experience of Samadhi: An In-depth Exploration of Buddhist Meditation by Richard Shankman (“The map of the light-vs-deep debate. Read before committing to a method.”)
• Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond by Ajahn Brahm
• Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante G
• Right Concentration by Leigh Brasington

Phase 3 — Deepen samatha

• Practicing the Jhanas: Traditional Concentration Meditation as Presented by the Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw by Stephen Snyder, Tina Rasmussen, Pa-Auk Tawya Sayadaw (“Pa-Auk deep-absorption path.”)
• The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa (aka John Yates, Ph.D.) (“Ten-stage systematic samatha. Reference more than cover-to-cover.”)

Phase 4 — Supporting context (anytime, low stakes)

• Break Through Pain by Shinzen Young (“worth having given autoimmune pain”)
• Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom by Rick Hanson
• Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

Phase 5 — Insight (deliberately later)

• The Science of Enlightenment by Shinzen Young (“Unified framework; bridges samatha and vipassana cleanly.”)
• Seeing that Frees by Rob Burbea (“Emptiness...best on a stable base.”)
• Practical Insight Meditation by Mahasi Sayadaw + Visuddhimagga by Buddhaghosa (it is long) (“Mahasi's Practical Insight Meditation first, then Visuddhimagga Ch. III–XI as reference. Don't read cover to cover.”)
• Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha by Daniel Ingram (“Last deliberately. Vivid dark-night mapping; read when stable, not from inside.”)

[The one structural note: Phases 1–3 are roughly a year of actual practice, not a reading queue to clear. The samatha-first commitment means letting later books sit on the shelf even when they're tempting — which, given the nerd, is the actual discipline here.]

RELEASING TRAUMA
Phase 1 — Understand what happened (now)

• (currently reading/listening to) The Body Keeps the Score 
• Atomic Habits by James Clear (to build healthy habits from here moving forward)
• Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine (“Single-event PTSD”)
• Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman (“C-PTSD”)

Phase 2 — Build regulation capacity

• Heart Breath Mind (will do the course in parallel or immediately after.)
• Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

Phase 3 — C-PTSD specifics

• Unlocking the Emotional Brain by Bruce Ecker
• Fawning: Why the Need to Please Makes Us Lose Ourselves--and How to Find Our Way Back by Dr. Ingrid Clayton (fawning is the least-covered of the four trauma responses)
• Trapped in the Mirror: Adult Children of Narcissists in their Struggle for Self

 

Phase 4 — Depth

• Inner World of Trauma ("bedrock of Depth Psychology Trauma treatment")
• Trauma and the Unbound Body by Judith Blackstone
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Phase 5 – Curious...these are all just "maybe"

• (maybe) Becoming Supernatural: How Common People are Doing the Uncommon by Joe Dispenza
• (maybe) Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One by Joe Dispenza
• (maybe) The Emotion Code (“The method uses an "Emotion Code Chart" that categorizes 60 common trapped emotions by the organ that first produced them….The problem is that Nelson's specific mechanism (muscle testing → magnets → meridians) is likely not what's doing the work. If sessions help people, it's probably through relational attunement, intention-setting, and a kind of focused somatic attention”)
• (maybe) The Enlightened Brain: The Neuroscience of Awakening By Rick Hanson (audiobook only)

Thanks in advance for any helpful pointers

I.e. Major IV → borrowed minor iv — Fm6, the melancholic “minor-iv-with-a-6” that Radiohead leans on hard.

I’m a musician. I want to make a record that sounds that warm and organic.

Audio engineering nerds, why does Amnesiac sound so different 1. From other Radiohead albums and 2. Any other music ever?

And how could someone like me get in the ballpark of that warm, organic sound?

Shot in the dark:

I saw the band play live in Austin around 2010 I think

They had an amazing supporting guitar player who I believed played a telecaster and a gold top Les Paul into a 15 inch tweed amp

It was one of the best live guitar sounds I’ve ever heard.

Can anyone please tell me
\- the name of the guitar player supporting (I know it was not Andy Cabic)
\- the name and model of the guitar amp he was playing?

Shot in the dark:

I saw the band play live in Austin around 2010 I think

They had an amazing supporting guitar player who I believed played a telecaster and a gold top Les Paul into a 15 inch tweed amp

It was one of the best live guitar sounds I’ve ever heard.

Can anyone please tell me
- the name of the guitar player supporting (I know it was not Andy Cabic)
- the name and model of the guitar amp he was playing?

I am a guitar player looking for pedals to replicate that wall of sound effect.

Thanks in advance!

Example: “we know the Jazz master is new and weird, but we also made this specific amp that is voiced to bring out the best of it….”

Of course, I can anticipate all the replies saying because we all like to experiment by mixing and matching— I’m one of those players!

But I do wonder what the platonic ideal amp would be when paired to specific guitar’s pick ups, scale length, etc.

I could even see a cool alternate universe where there is both a black panel and tweed example for each kind of amp + guitar combo

The reason for my question is that I have spent a lot of time thinking about physics, in addition to trying to experience physics through inquiry and meditation.

Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, etc., have all established that space-time is actually a unified fabric (and not two separate dimensions).

To try to answer my own question:
My guess is because Eckhart has emphasized that the body is the vehicle for awakening. He has said that “we enter the body in order to realize that we are not the body,” so my guess is that the body is more tied to the here and the mind is more tied to now…

What do you think/feel/intuit?
Why would Eckhart (who I respect tremendously) focus more on Now and the dimension of time more than Here and the dimension of space?

Please advise...