| | As long as you do a little every day, it will come. Actually, if you are consistent meditation has a way of being consistent as well. Once I had felt what piti was like, it seemed a lot easier to call it up, so it only took a minute or two to feel it and each jhana seemed to last 3-4 minutes like clockwork. Toward the end of that period I was rising up to the seventh jhana every day. (Bounced off the 8th a few times, haha.)
Several 15 minute sessions sounds like a good practice. If you lose your drive, or you don't have as much time in the future, just try to log even 10 minutes a day. You can also practice concentration just while doing menial tasks. Focus on the visual field. This can help build up a concentration backlog and you'll notice a difference when you sit.
As for body awareness - what I actually would do is start by placing attention on different body parts and "breathe into" them. Like, breathe into the feet, then inhale from the feet and breathe into the lower legs, then inhale from the lower legs, etc and so on. Once I'd done that for the whole body, I would breathe with the whole body for a few breaths. If there was some part that seemed out of attention, or if my mind wanted to wander, I would do the whole thing again. Also, if I felt like the mind had started to wander while focusing on a specific part, I would repeat that part one or two times until I felt the attention was stable the whole way through. I think this worked well for me because it was very active, so it was harder to get bored or lose track of what was happening.
Eventually I started to feel a buzzy tingling in different body parts as I'd do this, and once it started happening consistantly, it would only take one time through (or even just through the legs) to feel the buzzing and the whole body wold start to melt into the rapture. It would flare up during the day if I was in a good mood, too. So it's definately accumulative. I stopped practicing jhana specifically a while back, and now it's a bit more spotty if I try for it. Still possible, but more effort initially - so I think routine is a big part of it.
I should also note that "letting go" was a big part of my practice. I was dealing with a lot of physical discomfort, so I had to practice a lot of acceptance while sitting. This can be a pretty big part of the process, so don't try to force anything - let the awareness move away from the pain by becoming interested in the pleasure rather than trying to take it off the pain, if that makes sense. |