How to meditate by examining the inner composition of the body?

Discussion
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In Kāyagatāsatisutta, the Buddha says -

Furthermore, a mendicant examines their own body, up from the soles of the feet and down from the tips of the hairs, wrapped in skin and full of many kinds of filth. ‘In this body there is head hair, body hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen, lungs, intestines, mesentery, undigested food, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, saliva, snot, synovial fluid, urine.’

It’s possible to examine the outer compositions of the body eg hair, nail, teeth, skin, sweat, tear, urine etc.

It’s also possible to examine (or at least feel the presence of) bones, heart, fat etc.

But how can a mendicant examine kidneys, bone marrow, spleen, synovial fluid etc whose presence within one’s body can’t be experienced directly unless dissected? How to bring them into the mindfulness of body without imagining or relying of other people’s experience (eg anatomist’s)?

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I take this as the knowledge that these things are in our own body and thus we should meditate knowing what they look like and where they’re located. And thus we know that we have asubha / earth element / whatever aspect we have determined in our body, present due to the existence of that body part.

There’s nothing wrong with imagining here, as long as it’s based on the reality of one’s body and within the scope of the practice we have determined to do.

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It’s an imaginative practice, even if one has seen these things directly (one works in the operating room, for example). You basically conjure up a perception of the body in your mind and investigate, explore, and dissect it down to the fine details. Having some knowledge of anatomy helps, i.e. knowing where the organs and tissues are in the body. The practice becomes more natural and clear as you do it more.

Many teachers recommend calming the mind to some extent before doing this practice. For example, practicing mindfulness of breathing until the mind is calm and mindfulness is strong, and only then turning the mind to investigating the body parts, elements, or corpses.

Also, be aware that one shouldn’t do this practice in an unbalanced way that leads to strong aversion toward the body—see SN 54.9. I’d consider it a more advanced practice for a layperson, especially if one doesn’t have a reliable teacher. For most laypeople starting out, they should develop the foundation of their meditation practice on mindfulness of breathing, the brahmaviharas, the six recollections, and similar practices that are of a more neutral or uplifting nature. Once a foundation is established and the practitioner is ready, they can start developing meditation on the repulsiveness of the body or corpses.

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And so they meditate observing an aspect of the body internally, externally, and both internally and externally.
Iti ajjhattaṁ vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati, bahiddhā vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati, ajjhattabahiddhā vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati.3.4
They meditate observing , with respect to the body, the liability to originate, to vanish, and to originate and vanish.
Samudayadhammānupassī vā kāyasmiṁ viharati, vayadhammānupassī vā kāyasmiṁ viharati, samudayavayadhammānupassī vā kāyasmiṁ viharati.3.5

the topic of what can or can’t be observed can be sensitive and can be cause of doubt when you have observed something and someone else hasn’t or vice versa for instance I once with a friend who I was mentioning the neutral sensation in hands and they could not feel it, and I was once practicing and someone asked what was practicing and they said “you can’t feel your teeth!” the synovial fluid some runners may experience that (without ever having meditate), but that kind of comparison is cause of doubt

one for instance won’t necessarily at all times be able to observe vedana anywhere - and rupa is different to vedana - the aspect is observing the condition which the highlighted paragraph is

The condition is different to like essence which is implicit where we “posit” that might be what you are thinking of with regards to imagination.

For instance imagine if someone was a victim of violence, the observing of condition (with the dana and sila precursors) is “how are you?” or “what do you need?” there’s an open hand, the observing of essence would be “how did you get this way?” the second has a posit or object of them while sounding could be wise (sounds like inquiry into causality?) it is not the yoniso manisikara because it subtly has a perception of an essence there.

With metta