Alex:
Hello all,
...I've been doing four 30 minute sittings (2 hours in total) per day...
.
You might try consolidating 2 of those sittings to 1 of 50-60 minutes.
Even given an ability to reach absorption ("hard"
jhana), it still usually takes the mind more than 20-30 minutes to just settle down, exhaust the momentum of mundane mental activity; letting the tensions play-out on their own. Can be a big difference, how it s/w naturally quiets down after 40 min or more, and effortlessly slips into access concentration (
upacara-samadhi, which I define as a sort of floating in the absence of hindrances, of pressing, bothersome mental activity -- not necessarily raptuous or whatever, just quiet, still).
After that, the mind is far more malleable. Attending and intently sticking to an object (nostril breath,
kasina, etc.) is then far easier, and ripens gradually into forming a "counterpart" mental representation of the object (
nimitta), which, if held steady in attention, grows larger, or seems to get closer, and at some point, with a certain kind of letting-go (but an unmistakable shift), the
nimitta "swallows" the mind, or the mind falls into it, becoming fixed (as some call it), or absorbed; the nimitta (breath sensations,
kasina image, etc.) then seems on the outside, surrounding the still center of consciousness. And it's like a bubble-shield, a barrier, where normal sound, sight, etc. sensations are still happening, but somehow just bounce-off, don't get through to grab the mind's attention, aren't reacted to. All motion seems exterior; the mind itself is still, and it's quite pleasant.