In the sutta tho the buddha seems to be talking about developing whole body awareness as a samatha method:Kenshou wrote:It sounds like to me that, and I could be wrong, since you're talking about a large amount of tactile input, that you've been doing anapanasati as a method to develop mindfulness of the body. Using anapanasati to develop the 4 frames of reference is something that I think works very nicely.
"[1] Breathing in long, he discerns, 'I am breathing in long'; or breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long.' [2] Or breathing in short, he discerns, 'I am breathing in short'; or breathing out short, he discerns, 'I am breathing out short.' [3] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to the entire body.'2 He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the entire body.' [4] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming bodily fabrication.'3 He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming bodily fabrication.'
"[5] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to rapture.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to rapture.' [6] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to pleasure.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to pleasure.' "
I waffle to the point that sensations in the body draw me away from the breath, i guess. Maybe it is just a matter of practice and i thot that experience with another method would translate better to anapanasati.Kenshou wrote: How far do you waffle, though? I think a little wiggling is inevitable because of all the things that you're trying to keep in focus, but as long as the wiggling takes place within the confines of where you want the mind to be, then I don't think it's a problem. If you waffle completely off subject, then, that's just a matter of practice, I'm afraid.