I was listening to an Ajahn Anan Dhamma talk recently, he talks about meditating and prior to pīti and sukha of the jhānas, feeling like the body is getting longer.
This is one of the things that happens in the process of breaking through jhana constipation.
If you're doing meditation correctly, passadhi (pacification/relaxation) of body and mind, and thoughts are very minimal, then you feel some combination of force, heat, electrical tingles pervade the body. When force hits energy channel blockages, it can make that body part or spot hurt, feel dull pain, or just feel like it's constipated and a current of energy really wants to pass through.
When the spinal column has this force pervade, it makes you feel like a force makes you sit up straighter. On some people, the result can be dramatic. My mom, sometimes most of the vertebrae audibly crack as the spine straightens, same sounds as a chiropractor twisting the spine.
A have another friend, when he's in normal non-meditation worldly mode, he sometimes has a slumped spine, lazy posture. But one time when we were in sitting meditation together, I knew he was close or made it to first jhana when I saw his body expand and vibrate, lengthening and filling out with a palpable energy, and he sat mostly still and comfortably for a couple of hours. It was amazing the difference between noble silence (a vitakka a vicara samadhi) and ordinary worldly mode for him. In worldly mode, he could look like a sloth. Sitting in noble silence, he looked like a dragon.
Here's what almost nobody teaches. Once you learn how to turn on noble silence with correct passadhi (pacification, relaxation), this expansion of force feeling turns on instantly on demand. Basically, you will have a partial jhana on call anytime you want.
Sitting quietly, of course samatha will be deeper and the effect more pronounced, but standing static posture, you should be able to retain a partial jhana of about 80-95% of sitting, and walking easily in a small section where there's no danger from rough road, poisonous snakes, etc, you should be able to retain a partial jhana of 30-70%, depending on how much you work on that skill.
Doing Taiji, you can easily get 30-90% partial jhana. The word taiji means supreme ultimate, and it is no exaggeration, because what it means energetically is fourth jhana. Taiji quan is doing slow easy movements while one retains fourth jhana.
The other thing almost no one ever teaches, is that if you want a good strong jhana, you need to charge the jhana battery and protect it. Not being celibate will kill your battery quickly, and limit your ceiling to a mediocre first second jhana range. Not spending a major portion of your day in noble silence will dissipate the battery.
This is what the Buddha is talking about when he says he's in samadhi + jhana all the time, and he expects good meditators to be as well:
🚶 Walking meditation, samādhi & jhāna in all postures: Also see noble silence 👑😶
always should be in samādhi & jhāna in all postures 24/7: or at least strive to be
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