Dissolving physical body during meditation
 

I have been practicing yoga nidra for about 8 years in order to overcome depression and anxiety associated with PTSD and chronic back pain.
Recently I was reading a novel where the protagonist did a week long meditation course which culminated in a practice where participants were invited to imagine their physical bodies floating away, atom by atom.
I didn't think I would be able to achieve this state but found that after my normal meditation I was able to visualise this. Immediately my pain disappeared, no physical body equalled no physical pain. I also experienced a high that was as intense as serious painkillers such as OxyContin. The high lasted for hours and the pain was gone for days. I was able to refresh the feeling the day after I first undertook the meditation but haven't been able to achieve it since. I think I'm focusing on the outcome more than the process.
Has anybody else tried this meditation and/or had similar experiences?

Sure, as the mind gets concentrated and subtle the perception of the body goes from hard and solid to more subtle and dynamic, and under what we usually feel as hard physical pain are ripples of finer sensation - so the hard pain 'dissolves' into a myriad of tiny movements.

In terms of the process, the mind can't get subtle while it's all in aversion to the discomfort, or when it's craving for some special or remembered experience, so the tricky thing in the meditation is to be at peace with the sensation just as it is, regardless of it being hard physical or it being dynamic and subtle.

There are various ways to meditate. Yog Nidra is very good.

To overcome anxiety & depression, basic breathing based meditation or even zazen too is okay.

not trying to burst your bubble (because your experience makes sense) but the benefits you experienced were probably due to exactly the inverse of what you were imagining.

in order to imaging your body slowly floating away, you'd first need intense body awareness and that intense self awareness (i.e. energy work) is likely what helped.

one way to find out is to practice both methods, on alternating days.

then you'll know for certain.

best wishes! cheers!

-Dale

It happened to me once. I became so attached to it that I've never been able to experience it since then. And it's been 6 years and I've been modestly trying.

I hear if a person meditates on the body awareness. then goes to awareness of breath only. then continues to meditate, eventually the awareness of breath will go away and only awareness remains. This type of awareness is euphoric and sounds like what you are describing. A euphoria better than any drug known to man.