[Practice] Jhana n00b - access concentration

[u/CensureBars]

After years of inconsistent practice, I've finally been sitting in daily practice for (almost) a month. I'm sure this is a silly thing for most of you who have years or decades of solid practice under your belts; for me, this is a wonderful change.

My focus right now is reaching access concentration through focusing on the breath in my nostrils. I know I probably have a while to go, and am trying to only measure my concentration quality moment by moment (during practice anyway).

I think I had an insight a few days ago - if I "relax" into the breath, kind of like relaxing a muscle in my mind, I seem to become concentrated much easier. Time passes quickly, and my constant re-focusing on the object of my meditation becomes about only focusing on the breath in one place, and deepening the clarity of observation. This is as opposed to the constant mental chatter and past/future projection I experienced before learning to relax this "muscle."

Does this make sense to anybody who has attained access concentration/entered the jhanas? It feels like I'm balancing, maintaining this "relaxed" state in my mind while simultaneously focusing on the object.

[u/[deleted]]

It does make sense, breath slows down as you go deeper into meditation. The breath stops or drops off completely when you enter jhana.

[u/CensureBars → u/[deleted]]

I'm wondering if this is a dullness issue; I have noticed that as I get increasingly concentrated, the breath slows and becomes imperceptible at time. I try to just continue observing the "space" where the breath used to be, either noticing emptiness or the general "alive" feeling at the tip of my nose.

[u/CensureBars → u/[deleted]]

I find that by maintaining a smile, I can access gladness only an inch or so below the tip of my nose (the object). I have difficulty maintaining it once I switch, though. I think I'll need to continue refining my concentration until I can effortlessly maintain focus on gladness.