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Think what you will of Sam Harris, but I like his description of what happens when you meditate. We start with the sense of “self” as you describe, it floats around our head somewhere, maybe slightly above it, but if you meditate, which involves some techniques to stop yourself from following thoughts and stop the internal conversation that occurs as voices in your head, that self quickly becomes something that can’t be located. I like that Sam also exposes that most people who talk about their meditations tend to exaggerate how well they can “stop thinking”. I haven’t tried it much, but I’ve barely been able to get to a few breaths where I sense that my body is just doing it’s thing without any need for a “me” in charge of it. Sam says he has worked with Buddhist masters and they report similar results. I’m sure I’d get something out of a multiple day meditation retreat, but it’s not something high on my list.