katy s:
What sort of breathing are you doing? On what aspect of breathing is your concentration during breathing meditation?
I'm meditating on the dan-tien/ tanden, the point a few inches below the belly button that is the body's center of gravity. I'm not controlling my breathing, just letting it happen. The more deeply I concentrate, the slower and calmer my breathing becomes, until by the time I have entered the jhana, the movement of the breath is barely perceptible.
katy s:
What is occurring at the 40-minute mark? Is the meditation experienced differently in sits lasting more than 40 minutes?
That varies quite a lot day-to-day. If my mind is frisky to begin with, it may take a long time quiet down. In such cases, the good stuff comes at the end, so long sits are better. On the other hand, I find it easier to make a strong determination to meditate for shorter periods; if I sit for 20 minutes, I don't mess around, I really concentrate. If I sit for an hour, I am likely to spend some of that time wandering.
It depends on how inspired and determined I am feeling when I sit down - how much joyful effort I have, as the Tibetans would say. I think this is the main thing holding back my practise just now - that I do not constantly, unwaveringly display joyful effort. My effort is intermittent and flags pretty frequently. It's getting better though.
What is the experience like that causes excitement and "I'm in a mystical trance - how groovy!" You may be transitioning briefly into second jhana here.
Silence. Quiescence of the thoughts.
I get into jhana when my effort becomes unwavering. At first, I apply effort, and re-apply it as frequently as I can, several times per second. But even this allows gaps through which distraxions can infiltrate. When I stop using 'frequently reapplied effort' and start using 'uninterrupted, continuous effort', I attain jhana pretty soon.
What daily practices do you do that do not require thinking and analysis? Consider practices that highlight the efforts of the thinking/analytical mind such that you can notice the activity of thinking and deliberately go back to the actual practice at hand, which is to say, consider something prepatory wherein the thinking/analytical mind is not needed and is very apparent in contrast to the activity (exercise, yoga/yogic breathing, drumming). Then, go into sitting practice as soon as you can. Perhaps switch to kasina instead of breathing. If possible sit longer. Chose a posture that can be sustained for 60 minutes and after the sit try to look back and see approximately at what minutes second jhana occurred.
Ok, this sounds doable. You mean do something like chess that involves thinking extra-hard in order to familiarize myself with what it feels like when the thinking mind comes up?