I came across this post by Daniel Ingram where he said this:
And it made me curious about how concentration develops over time. After spending most of my yogi career practicing noting in the style of Kenneth Folk and Daniel Ingram I am now in a place and position where I'm giving more time to the practice of concentration; working with a kasina and getting familiar with the jhanas.

I'm curious how I might expect my concentration to develop over time. Obviously I've noticed that on retreat my concentration shoots up and then drops pretty dramatically afterwards, but if I'm putting two or three hours a day into concentration practice will it actually pay off over time? Will it drop again as soon as I shift the balance over to more insight practice? If I practice concentration dilligently enough for long enough will I eventually reach retreat levels of concentration off retreat? I'm curious what others experience is in this area.

Thanks!

Hi Daniel, 

From my experience jhanic concentration, like playing a musical instrument, will develop over time and certainly does not require retreat.  It just takes regular, sincere practice and it greatly helps to make it a joyful practice, finding an object of meditation that is readily welcomed by the mind which also causes no remorse or confusion or provocation. I use breathing meditation, because physiologically it calms the mind (and then sleepiness or boredom is the early training hazard). From my experience when the mind becomes very good at calming meditation and the body gets very still, insight happens on its own and "we" come out of the meditation with a new understanding of something or many "things".  

So for me, the anapanasati instructions have been plenty: this method has mental stablilization, calming and insight all in one study. But it's not for everyone. Some people do need physical studies: Aikido, tai chi, music, cooking... so-called mindfullness training can also cause jhana, but this way can be harder due to the many, many movements of mind that are required to happen when one is awake and not simply sitting still.

Good luck with your study.

Daniel,

I'm also intrigued by concentration and going to Centre for Mindfulness in Burlington next week where I am planning to work on concentration and metta, and i believe Soryu Forall may have something to say about the jhanas.  I felt like this would be a good use of time as i've always enjoyed it when i felt most concentrated. 

I've been working on metta and trying to access the jhanas during my home practice for most of the last year.  I've gotten into some good states and had some long sits.  I typically get an experience of a nimitta with 5-10 minutes.  But this could be explained by a low-carb diet.  i am somewhat frustrated by the fact that crossing my right leg over my left (instead of the reverse) is still difficult.  and i wouldn't say that i have gone far beyond the lowest level feel-good states and my nimita has been pretty dull lately.   

As sorry if this is off topic but wasnt it you who interviewed Soryu for Buddhist Geeks TV?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to my time there and can report back what comes of it and how long it lasts.

Alex

Hey Alex,

Yes indeed, that was me who interviewed Soryu for BG. Cool that you watched it, and I hope it was useful to you.

And, in an interesting twist, I'm currently living at the Center for Mindful Learning--so I'll be seeing you next week! We'll be on retreat together.

And thanks for sharing your experiences. Always good to collect more data points!

Best,
Daniel

wow, what a strange coincidence. 

I hope everything is going well and look forward to the early morning chants

Best