I took a few 10-day courses and a 7-day satipatthana sutta course in this tradition. I also wrote a description of a 10-day course above (#15236).
I summary, the practitioner scans the body from top to bottom, observing the sensations along the way, staying neutral to them. In other words, they take bodily sensations as the arammana.
Why just bodily sensations? One reason is the following verse: “vedanā-samosaraṇā sabbe dhammā”.
Goenkaji explained this verse as follows: “Everything that arises in the mind starts flowing with a sensation on the body.”
Lal has explained what this verse means above (#15237): “All types of vedana coming together to lead to each and all dhammā”.
After learning things from puredhamma.net for a while now, I’m thinking that “vedanā” in this verse means samphassa-ja vedanā, not sukha and dukkha vedanā. Is that correct?
For me, noting bodily sensations does have one benefit: it calms the mind down, similar to doing breath meditation, and likewise is a temporary calm. However, using that calm mind for bhavana as described here is very effective.
Best,
Lang