This is quite interesting. I just tried the first method in the book just to test it out and having already a pretty sustained concentration I slipped into first jhana very quickly. I wonder how it works.
He related the breath to the nose and went back and forth to the forehead, then to the crown, and lastly to the middle of the brain. At this point my inner vision became extremely bright, as if someone turned on the lights. I like how he compares the inhalation to the "stress of birth" and exhalation to "stress of passing away".
I think a better explanation would be how a mental object surfaces in order to draw in the breath or expel it. And in between, there is a very still mind where there is no breath-related thought. I'm not sure, I don't have that much insight into this whole thing yet so I can't say.
Then he allows this "nimitta" or visual kasina to expand to the size of the head, bringing it down to the heart area. Then from here, the breath suffuses the whole body. It's a pretty fast entry technique in my opinion.
It's very similar to what happens when I do body tingling meditation until the whole body tingles. But I find that with this, the tingles are not as intense, so probably this is not in the hypersensitive phase of the second jhana. I find that the inner whistling turned into a water stream.
Would love to know a more perfect description of samadhi though haha.
