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i can do this thing i got out of an energy-work book. the idea is to do a body scan from above the top of your head going down to below your toes. you're supposed to move your attention down your body like a plane, just noticing any blockages or tension or any sensation really along the way, only moving down not up (though i find it doesn't matter now). you're supposed to use this to identify energy spots and dissolve them but i haven't gotten that far.

if i do it correctly, and i'm getting better at it, when i go down to my ankle, then the sole of my foot, then the tip of the foot, then the toes, then past the toes about a foot into the ground - it's a definite spot that i can intuitively reach - then i feel this great peaceful downward flow over my entire body. basically it feels like all my energy is draining downwards, except i'm not being depleted - just a really peaceful affective well-being is left in its place. if i focus on that spot 1 foot beneath me then the motion is increased. there's a tendency to link it up with a spot above your head - and i wonder if they're similar - but i think you have to not do that.

i started doing goenka-style body scanning and that seems to have a similar effect, though maybe more thorough cause you go over your entire body in more detail. i dont get the draining motion, but i do get the affective well-being, and if i focus on the bottom then i can go from that to the draining, too.

anyone else have any experience with this? it's like all the negative affect is just going away to a nothing-spot. it sounds similar to the naivete-center that actualists talk about, except this one isn't even on the body.

EDIT: changed title

hmm i wonder if it was a 3rd jhana experience. it's really vibratory and it was strengthened when i focused on the outside of my body (where i'd been focusing most of my body scanning), after i did it for a while all the calm-vibration stopped and was replaced by calm-stillness, at which point i could start feeling things inside my body, like a white drop of attention spreading through the body.

i also feel pretty woozy if i do it too much, heh..

I'm getting a similar effect by just focusing on the base of the spine and lower abdomen, what happens if you try that?

Here is what I mean from this thread.

thanks for the instructions. i was missing the last bit about the spinal cord - guess that's openin up chakras?

a question: once the surface is penetrated and i move inside the body, should i notice sensations on both the surface and the inside at each part, or only the inside?

its like my focus shifts from the surface of the skin to the inside of my body, and i can go around looking only on the inside parts, which feels more natural, in a way, though that isn't the best indication of a good practice. if i focus i can also pick out surface sensations, though they are dimmer. it seems to me like a good idea to take both into account; was wondering what goenka actually instructs, though.