Combining janas and noting practice

Elliott A, modified 4 Years ago at 7/1/19 2:55 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 7/1/19 2:55 PM

Combining janas and noting practice

Posts: 2 Join Date: 5/30/19 Recent Posts
Hey all -

I’m about to spend 23 days on retreat at FR and wanted to get an opinion from those who have experience both with jana style practice and Mahasi noting. 

In the past I’ve received instruction in janas up to the 3rd jana (according to Aya Kema’s teaching) and have spent many retreats working with the four foundations of mindfulness and also open awareness practice as taught by U Tejaniya. 

For this upcoming retreat I am considering spending my first 7-10 days honing my concentration via the breath as a means for developing access concentration -> janas and then interweaving Mahasi style noting for the last two weeks. 

Does this sound skillful? Any advice or thoughts on other approaches I could take? I want to experiment with more formalized noting but also believe it would be wise to cultivate deep concentration given the precious opportunity for longer retreat. 

Thank you for your thoughts!