How effective is body-scanning for samadhi in your experience?

[u/NibannaGhost]

I keep reading about how important the body is. There seem to be a lot of advantages I just don’t hear people talking about using it for samatha but for insight. I use the breath but the body seems kind of grey for me like I can’t feel joy or something. Any advice?

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[u/duffstoic]

For samatha (calm-abiding) body scan meditation is pretty great, because it leads to relaxing the muscles and the nerves of the body, similar to "progressive muscle relaxation." The body feels relaxed, the emotions calm down, and the mind becomes quiet (ideally).

For samadhi (meditative absorption) it can be a gateway in, for example if you dissolve the entire body into subtle blissful vibrations (takes a while, but it's a reliable effect of the practice), and then focus on the pleasant aspect of that, you can become absorbed in it and go into the first (pleasure) jhana. That said, most people don't necessarily go that way directly, and there's probably a good reason for that.

If you are going for pure samadhi and want to use the body and/or "subtle body," you can try feeling the whole body all at once as the object of concentration. That tends to lead quickly into feeling pretty blissful and then go into that first jhana absorption. This is how some Chan teachers do samadhi instruction (see The Method of No-Method: The Chan Practice of Silent Illumination by Sheng Yen).

Joy feels like blissful, buzzing, tingling vibrations in the body, so body scanning can definitely unlock joy by regaining awareness of these subtle kinesthetic sensations. It also unlocks all other emotions that you might be suppressing, so this is why it's important to develop lots of equanimity with all body (emotional) sensations.

[u/Zestyclose_Mode_2642]

Not sure about scanning specifically, but covering the entire space of the sensation field with awareness and using that as an object works very well for samadhi/jhana.

I like Burbea's energy body instructions, near infinite possibilities...

[u/liljonnythegod → u/[deleted]]

This is so on the money. Great comment!

Took a long time for me to realise that it was never about trying to get to a particular feeling

[u/NibannaGhost → u/liljonnythegod]

How can I take that advice and apply to samatha practice? I kind of feel like I’m really looking for a positive feelings in body to tell me I’m getting better at relaxing.

[u/liljonnythegod → u/NibannaGhost]

Using shamatha to generate feelings of relaxation in the body is good and useful to allow for more success with insight practices but the end goal of the insight practices (although it's not a goal) is not a particular feeling

Use shamatha to build up the positive feelings and concentration then use that as a stable ground to do the insight work that will lead to you no longer needing positive feelings and then eventually you will go beyond labelling that which we call feeling as feeling and you will understand what that actually is

[u/carpebaculum]

It is useful for samatha. While samatha and vipassana comprise different practices and goals, they are mutually supportive of each other. Practicing one will help development in the other, whether to a large or small extent will be practitioner dependent.

In TMI (The Mind Illuminated) body scan is emphasised in the middle stages (5&6 iirc) since it helps in broadening attention which builds metacognitive awareness, and in reducing dullness. Both of which (and perhaps several other factors besides) are needed in the later stages. You could probably get a better reply in this vein on r/TMI.

But in short, ime it does help lots. I'd also vary the pattern of body scanning in all aspects (area per piece, direction, sequence), not following a set pattern. This I feel helps to keep the mind alert. Eventually attention is able to stay with the whole body in a stable way while maintaining good resolution.

[u/adivader → u/carpebaculum]

You could probably get a better reply in this vein on r/TMI.

I think you should point to r/themindilluminated The other one is .... shocking :)

[u/carpebaculum → u/adivader]

Yes.. I'm sorry :/

[u/Future_Automaton]

It'll eventually become useful to keep the entire body in awareness at once, staying with the body. If that feels useful now, great - if not, give it time.

[u/Impulse33]

Seconding /u/Zestyclose_Mode_2642! While it isn't strictly body scanning, I think there's more opportunities for skillfulness with the energy body approach. I think Rob's instruction does a good job of not focusing on tensions, feelings, or chasing joy, which is counterproductive to samadhi. It's more about awareness and opening up into a spacious area around the body. He also talks about working with what you find, be it joy, pain, w/e. Here's a guided meditation on energy body for samatha.

[u/Ordinary-Lobster-710]

my understanding is that body scanning doesn't lead to samadhi nor is samadhi the goal of body scanning.

[u/Dromper]

I've had my most interesting experiences doing body scans and the six doors of the senses. I was scanning my arm once and was noticing pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral, got to my elbow and noticed neutral and my whole arm floated up with no volition/intention!

Another time I was doing walking meditation and going through the six sense doors, a little out of order, and when I noticed the last one the entire field of my vision went rainbow psychedelic and it felt like I was about to release mid-swing into the air but from the back of my head. Then fear arose and pop! Back to normal.

[u/DodoStek]

Body scanning as taught by S.N Goenka is a set of techniques that is very nourishing to me.

I use it to:

• Become more aware of (the physical part of) my emotions
• A 'task' for the mind to do when it is agitated and when 'just letting go' will mostly lead into fantasy, planning, or agitation
• Sharpen and calm the mind (samatha) as preparation for jhana and insight practices.

So... I would fully recommend body scanning. With regards to the results for you, I wonder how much time you have invested into the practice, and how free you are of craving for results. Of course, the practice needs time and kind attention to lead to a positive effect.