There are six groups of two practices: one seated meditation to focus on the skill and one of in-life practice to apply it. The practices are self-contained, so you can use them as needed. It is a great practice to dedicate a certain period of time to focus on one particular practice. Here is a recommended model for your first year in the system.

First Time Through

One week per practice followed by 1 week rest (13 weeks)

Second Time Through

Two weeks per practice with 1 week of rest in between modules (30 weeks)

Third Time Through

Both practices of a module at the same time for 6 weeks, followed by 3 weeks rest. (9 weeks)

• Week 1: Foundations
  • Creative Source each morning and evening, whether for 1 minute or more than an hour.
  • Breath Texture throughout the day.
• Week 2: Thoughts
  • Deconstructing Impulses each morning.
  • Choosing Trailheads throughout the day, focusing on critical situations.
• Week 3: Emotions
  • Ionizing the Field three times per week and as needed.
  • Free presence throughout the day, focusing on critical situations.
• Week 4: Sensations
  • Deconstructing “I” three times per week and as needed.
  • Seeing the “Current I” throughout the day, focusing on critical situations.
• Week 5: Witnessing
  • Perfect Mirror Meditation, >20 minutes at least once per day.
  • 30,000 Foot View throughout the day.
• Week 6: Non-Dual
  • Co-Created
  • Receiving

In many circles, meditation is a mental/psychological phenomenon. While approaching it this way has many benefits, the true power of meditation is in its capacity to erode the barriers between our physical body and spiritual heart/mind. To experience these benefits, we must approach meditation differently– as an exercise that includes our entire being: physical (body), spirit (heart), and emotional/cognitive (mind) . The heart and mind are so intimately related that throughout this program, we will refer to it as heart-mind. Through meditation, we have the experience of harmonizing our body and heart-mind.  

Most of us who come to meditation start from a place of separation and discord within ourselves. Over time, our practice refines itself into increasingly nuanced dances between these forces. Experiences of harmony increasingly reveal more and more about the nature of our existence. These experiences, in turn, bring great empowerment, freedom, and joy. There is no need to wait for such benefits, though, as the process of “taking our seat,” even for a moment, can have a strong positive impact on our lives. 

To realize these benefits, there are several prerequisites:

• You must be sufficiently motivated to experience changes in your life. 
• You must intend to establish a strong practice in service to such a life transformation. This may require:
  • A willingness to work through the frustration of change.
  • A willingness to dedicate the time and resources necessary.
  • A willingness to release limiting beliefs.

The good news is that if you’ve gotten this far, most of those things are already in place. Congratulations! 

And, take a moment to feel the truth of this in yourself – bring this resolution forward into consciousness so you become fully invested in engaging with this practice for its full duration of 21 days. 

Honor your system and your body – you may need specific one-on-one guidance to progress through this practice. If so, please email us at connect@yourturnml.com or check out the Divine Posture Practitioners forum. You can also Schedule A Meeting with Dan (additional fees apply).

What about traumatic disembodiment? 

Somatic work like this is coming back into a healthy relationship with our body and its sensations. This is an essential step in the recovery from complex traumatic disorders, including feeling unsafe in the body and other forms of disembodiment. Some modifications may be required to build up to the exercises in this module:

• Shorter sitting periods
• Penduluming intensity 
• Spiraling into hyper-sensitive areas via proximity.

Again, if this is a factor for you, we are here to help. Please reach out to us at connect@yourturnml.com

Over the coming weeks, you will embark on a delightful journey into the rich world of symbols and spiritual truths that this remarkable medium holds. Along the way, you will have the opportunity to:

• Develop your own intuitive understanding of each card, firmly grounded in the tarot’s symbolic foundations.
• Generate your own “tarot encyclopedia.”
• Build strong habits for ongoing practice.
• Learn tarot-based meditation, and
• Gain the confidence to conduct a variety of tarot readings.

While this course is designed for you to work through at your own pace, a daily practice has proven to be the most beneficial. If possible, set aside approximately 30 minutes each day to review this material. Each practice is supported by everything that came before it, so please take your time to progress through the material in order. The rewards of your consistency will be immeasurable. The program is designed this way because I believe there is no substitute for spending time with the cards. I also strongly suspect that you will find yourself wanting to spend more time with them each day!

I hope that your deck will often be in hand, and the symbolic, aesthetic beauty of these archetypes will dance just behind your eyelids. I have no doubt the interplay between Tarot practice and your consciousness will be entertaining, if not profound!

The practice of eight brocades has its origins in the ancient internal meditative alchemical practices of Daoism. A brocade is a self-contained practice, complete with its own pattern of physical movement, breath and energetic practice. In the Eight Brocades, 8 such patterns are practiced in a specific order to build off of each other. Similar to other forms of moving meditations throughout the world, it requires precise physical movements matched to breathing patterns and visualizations. This method is a powerful form of body and mind unification, promoting attunement to illumination (shen), the cultivation of life essence (jing) and the refinement and direction of vital function (qi). The benefits of such somatic meditations are extensive and lead to improved well-being.

In the YourTurn Training Framework, Eight Brocades is derived from the Shaolin version of the practice, merged with Dan’s 30+ years of martial arts experience, understanding of Daoism, and energetic work. A daily Eight Brocades practice is likely to support you in:

• increasing awareness of the body and improving physical fitness.
• learning to synchronize movement with breath.
• developing the capacity for extended concentration.
• tuning into, increasing the capacity for, and directing the energetic flows of the body.
• opening up to, and harmonizing with, our environment and the universal energies.
• strengthening the capacity for sensory imagination and subtle body awareness.
• an introduction to certain Daoist principles that positively influence our perspective

All of these are skills that serve a meditative life and come in to play in other aspects of the YourTurn approach.

We have done our best to make everything as clear, concise and digestible as possible so that you don’t “waste” any time on superfluous content. If, at any point, you have questions about the practice, please feel free to email us at connect@yourturnml.com

Naming Conventions

In an effort to support your practice, the brocades are named in a way that points to the feeling that arises out of their energetic practice. The traditional names also convey certain meanings to the movements. For those of you who are interested, they are:

1. Supporting the Heavens
2. Shooting the Arrow
3. Separating Heaven and Earth
4. Wise Owl Looks Behind
5. Big Bear Turns to the Side
6. Bending Back, Touching Toes
7. Clenching the Fists (or Gazing with Purpose)
8. Clicking the Heels

A final note

You’ll notice that I start each video on the right. This is to facilitate your experience of following along. Please begin each brocade to the left!

Welcome to the Jhanic Adept Training Resource!

Active Training Periods

Each January, we begin a 3-month practice period to deepen our community’s adeptness in concentration meditation.

This practice period includes commitments to:

• At least 1 hour/day of jhana practice.
• Actively engaging as a supportive member of the cohort.
• Attend bi-weekly 90-minute Zoom calls with Dan.

There are also optional opportunities to participate in:

• A Discord channel for ongoing connection and support.
• 1:1 calls with Dan (as requested, additional costs may apply)

You are about to embark on a process of mastering your most powerful tool, your mind. Our minds are so powerful that they tend to find ways to get us through life without us really understanding what they’re doing. On the one hand, this is fantastic! On the other, things can get a little sideways.

One of the biggest things you may notice is how different the mind behaves under different circumstances, and how little control you seem to have over where your attention goes and your thoughts. Bringing these “automatic” processes back under your control has a profound impact on well-being.

This unification process is perhaps the most essential component of meditative living, and through it we practice a basic principle: Pay Attention and Do What You’re Doing on Purpose.

How We’ll Do This

Throughout this course, you will be asked to explore four different functions of your mind; awareness, attention, focus and concentration. As you become intimate with the functions of your mind and become familiar with how they feel, you will also learn a lot about yourself and what allows you to function at your best.

There are a variety of exercises that you will be asked to practice; some only require a few minutes, while others may continue across several days. Most of these instructions are written, and follow a three-step process: Understand, Practice, and Reflect. Please read through several lessons at a time, especially in the Awareness Module, so you can be prepared for each day’s practices.

Each step is essential. Without clear understanding the practice will be much less effective, and without practice, the understanding will not become helpful to your life. Reflection refines both understanding and practice to keep you moving in an upward spiral into a deeper understanding of mind.

Reflection

We will engage in reflection through journaling, however, the purpose of this work is not to create an archive of your progress. Instead, journaling asks us to commit to a period of time where we are integrating our experiences and understanding into new ways of thinking about our system.

Writing – old fashioned pen and paper – is a powerful way of integrating information that uses different brain structures from speaking and typing. For this reason it is the primary recommended method of reflection. However, voice notes and typing are both very good methods as well. Whatever allows you to fully engage in the reflective process!

Discussion and dialogue are also a powerful component of integration and reflection, and we strongly encourage you to use the discussion forum during your practice. The course includes links to the forum to make this easy.

Things to Remember

• There’s no regression in evolution
  
  Evolution is always moving forward and upward, not backward!
  
  Sometimes it may feel like you are regressing rather than improving, but fear not, this is not how it works. Regular, consistent effort over time can only yield progress. Don’t worry!
  
• Mind is a muscle
  
  The mind thrives with attention and care, just like a muscle. When we lift weights, we push our muscles to grow and expand; exercising the mind works in a similar way. Stay in tune with how things are going, if you are feeling overworked, take notice and calibrate your practice accordingly. You may need a rest day, or may choose to engage in an activity with more practice sessions of a shorter duration. All of these adjustments are OK! If you want support, email contact@yourturnml.com or head to the forum.
  
• The Goldilocks Zone Principle
  
  The goal is to find a “just right” level of practice for you. For some minds, the practice may be too easy, while for others it may be too hard. Just right means it takes effort, but is also doable.
  
• Frustration is your friend
  
  We experience frustration when we know we should be able to do something yet can’t quite get it done. The good news is this feeling means you know what you want to do and that you’re capable of doing it. When you notice some frustration this likely means you’re in the Goldilocks Zone!
  
  Be persistent and things will happen. If you get too frustrated, intentionally choose to take a break and come back later. No worries!