vic:
... usually my practice was under 30 minutes or so, so im not all quite sure because most people and books would say you would need to practice for hours at a time. The experiences iv felt was an intense overwhelming feeling that caused me to burst out into laughter, which I assume was the bliss, I had complete mental clarity and I couldn't sleep for the next night because of it. If this was jhana then this is what I had experienced in 20 - 30 minute sessions...
What you describe are most likely episodes of
piti ("rapture", s/t also called "bliss"), which is a part of what happens with
jhana, but which some people think is full
jhana. It's a
jhana-lite, if at all, but is an important step in the right direction – if one doesn't get too carried-away with it, or take it for the real thing.
You might try lengthening your sessions to 40, 50, or so minutes, even if gradually. (Not at all necessarily "hours at a time".) After 30 minutes or so, the mind often starts to settle down nicely by itself, and very interesting things start to happen. Very unusual, though, with only 20-30 minutes, because of the momentum of the mind's s/w jittery force-of-habit to continue imagining, worrying, etc. about stuff in one's life.
With longer periods of relative quiet, which establish more of a break with the mind's normal activity time-spans, one might well discover that it can be very enjoyable to relax, to eventually "stop" the compulsion to interpret, plan, etc. When one experiences that-- a bit of peacefulness, for a change -- even in a small way, it helps motivation to stick with it, to go further.
