Body Scan (Track 3) | MBCT | Mindful Rehab

To begin this body scan practice,

Finding a place where you can comfortably lie down on your back,

With your legs outstretched and your feet falling away from each other,

Perhaps with a pillow under your knees if that's more comfortable,

And with your arms lying by your sides.

And if it feels okay,

Allowing your eyes to gently close.

Taking a moment to tune into your whole body lying here.

Noticing sensations of touch or pressure of your body on the surface underneath you.

Perhaps noticing the movements of your breath in your body.

Now taking the time to remind yourself of the intention of this practice,

Which is as best you can to bring clear awareness to your experience of each moment as you move between each body part.

There's no need to try to feel any different or to become more relaxed.

The intention is simply to directly sense the sensations of the body in each moment whatever they are.

Rather than thinking about the body,

But directly sensing the body,

And doing this as gently and as kindly as you can.

And then when you're ready,

Shifting your attention to your left foot.

If it helps,

Perhaps breathing into your left foot,

Using the breath as a way to transport your attention to the left foot.

Tuning into your toes,

The little toe,

The big toe,

And the others in between.

Noticing sensations of touch,

Of the toes against each other,

Or maybe of your socks or shoes.

Perhaps noticing sensations of tingling or coolness or warmth.

Perhaps noticing blankness,

Where there are no sensations at all.

Tuning into this blankness also.

Whatever it is,

Just getting a sense of your experience here in this moment as clearly as you can.

Shifting your attention now to the ball of the foot.

The arch and the heel.

Noticing any sensations here.

Now moving your attention to your ankle.

Perhaps sensing the ankle bone,

The inner side and the outer side.

And then shifting your attention to the top of your foot.

Now expanding your awareness to the whole foot.

Perhaps if you like,

Breathing in and out of the whole foot.

And then when you're ready,

As you breathe out,

Letting go of the foot.

And instead shifting the focus of your attention to the left lower leg.

Beginning with the calf muscle.

Tuning into the sensations of touch,

Pressure and contact of the surface underneath your calf.

Tracking around now to your shin.

Getting a sense of the shin bone.

Then moving up to your knee.

Perhaps tuning into your kneecap.

Seeing if you can map out the edges of the kneecap.

Or not.

Noticing the inner surface of the knee and the outer surface.

And behind the knee.

What sensations are here?

Perhaps warmth,

Coolness or pain or discomfort.

Whatever is there for you right now in this moment.

And you may be noticing your mind wandering off to other things.

That's completely okay.

That's just what minds do.

But when you notice this,

Take a moment to note where your mind went off to.

And then gently and kindly guide your attention back to the sensations of the area of the body that is currently being focused on.

Which right now is the left knee.

And now shifting your attention up to your thigh.

The front of the thigh.

The back of the thigh.

The inner thigh.

And the outer thigh.

Tracking up now to the left hip.

The groin at the front of the hip.

And the buttock at the back.

Widening your awareness now to include the whole left leg.

Perhaps breathing into the left leg.

And then when you're ready,

Letting go of this left leg.

And shifting your attention to your right foot.

Tuning into the toes of your right foot.

The big toe.

The little toe.

All the toes in between.

Seeing if you can get a sense of every individual toe.

Or perhaps noticing the blankness.

The lack of sensation.

Shifting your attention once more to the ball of the foot.

And the arch underneath the foot.

And the heel.

Moving up to the ankle.

Getting a sense of the ankle bone.

The outer side and the inner side.

And shifting to the top of the foot.

What sensations are here?

Perhaps noticing pressure or touch.

Of your sock or your shoe.

Or perhaps of the air around your bare foot.

And once again,

Widening your awareness to include the whole right foot.

If you like,

Breathing in and out of that right foot.

Using the breath to really explore the right foot.

Then on the out breath,

Letting go of that right foot.

And shifting to the lower leg.

The lower right leg.

The calf at the back.

And the shin bone at the front.

Working your way up to your right knee.

Perhaps getting a sense of the kneecap.

Moving up your right thigh now.

Noticing the quadriceps at the front of the thigh.

And the hamstrings at the back.

Seeing if it's possible to take your attention right into the thigh muscles.

Perhaps getting a sense of the feeling of these muscles.

Getting a sense of any softness or tightness or tension within the muscle.

And if you become aware of any sense of tension or holding,

Either here or anywhere else.

Seeing if it's possible to use the breath to gently carry awareness right into the tension.

So with the in breath,

Allowing a kind curiosity to enter and explore any tension.

And with the out breath,

Allowing any tension to leave to the extent that it will.

Not trying to make anything happen.

Just allowing whatever happens naturally with the out breath to occur.

Perhaps exploring that possibility now for a breath or two.

And then moving up to your hip.

The groin at the front of the hip.

And the buttock at the back.

And widening your awareness to include the whole right leg.

Breathing into that right leg.

And then when you're ready,

Letting go of that right leg.

And moving your attention to your pelvis.

The bony bits of the pelvis at the front.

And the bony bits at the back.

Noticing their contact on the floor or the surface underneath you.

Tuning into your pubic bone at the front.

And then shifting up to your lower abdomen.

Perhaps getting a sense of your belly button.

Perhaps noticing movement here as your body breathes.

Noticing the gentle stretch of the skin.

And the release as you breathe out.

And then shifting your attention now to the lower back.

Particularly where the spine emerges from the pelvis.

An area where the muscles often hold a lot of tension.

Perhaps carrying our awareness right into these muscles.

Sensing any tension that's present.

And on the out breath,

Allowing the tension to leave to the extent that it will.

And if it doesn't,

That's perfectly okay.

That's just what your experience is right now.

Moving up the spine now,

One segment at a time.

Starting at the lower back and then moving up to the middle back.

And upper back.

Getting a sense of the ribcage here.

Noticing the sensations of touch against the floor.

Following the ribs at the back of your chest,

Around the sides of the chest.

To meet at the breastbone at the front.

Perhaps tuning into the movements of the breath here.

The rise and fall of the chest.

The expansion and retraction of the ribcage.

Perhaps getting a sense of deeper into the chest.

Sensing the movement of your lungs.

Maybe even noticing the beating of your heart.

And if at any point you're feeling sleepy or drowsy,

You can always open your eyes until that drowsiness subsides.

And then tracking up your left collarbone.

Moving across the collarbone to your left shoulder.

Noticing any sensations here.

The side of your shoulder.

The back of your shoulder.

And the front.

Moving down your upper arm.

The biceps at the front of the arm.

And the triceps at the back.

Shifting now to your elbow.

Getting a sense of the elbow bone.

And then shifting down your forearm.

The front of your forearm.

And the back of your forearm.

Down to your wrist.

And then into your hand.

Noticing the physical sensations in your palm.

Perhaps noticing temperature,

Warmth or coolness.

Perhaps sweat.

Moving to the back of your hand.

And then to your fingers and thumb.

And expanding your awareness to include the whole left arm.

Breathing in and out of this left arm.

And when you're ready,

Letting go of this arm.

And shifting your attention to your right collarbone.

Moving across the right collarbone to your right shoulder.

The front of your shoulder.

And the side of your shoulder.

And the back.

Moving down your upper arm.

The muscles at the front of your arm.

The muscles at the back.

Moving down to your elbow.

And the forearm.

The front of your forearm.

And the back of your forearm.

And shifting your attention down to the wrist.

Mapping right around the wrist.

Getting a sense of the whole circumference of the wrist.

And then moving into your right hand.

Exploring the physical sensations of your right hand in this moment.

Perhaps breathing down into that right hand.

Using the breath to explore.

Explore that right hand with curiosity.

The palm,

The fingers,

The thumb.

Noticing whatever's there for you.

And then widening your awareness once more to include the whole right arm.

Getting a sense of the right arm as a whole.

Every part of it.

And then when you're ready,

Letting go of that right arm.

Shifting your attention to your neck.

An area where we often hold a lot of tension.

Perhaps noticing any sensations of tension or holding around your neck.

Around the neck and shoulders.

Tuning into perhaps sensations of discomfort or pain.

Seeing if you can approach these sensations with kindness and curiosity.

And shifting to the front of your neck,

Your throat.

Tuning into the muscles here.

And then moving up to underneath your chin.

And then around to the top of the neck where it meets the back of the head.

Are there any sensations here?

Moving your attention to the back of the head now.

Noticing sensations of pressure and touch of where your head lies on the floor,

The surface underneath you.

Perhaps noticing tingling or numbness.

You may be noticing an urge to move.

And it's totally okay to move if you need.

But see if you can move mindfully.

Really tuning in to every part of that movement.

Moving up to the top of your head now.

To your forehead.

And down to your face.

Noticing your facial expression.

Perhaps noticing some tension or holding here.

Shifting your attention to your eyes.

Your left eye.

And your right eye.

And down to your nose.

Any sensations here?

Breathing across your cheekbones.

The left side.

And the right side.

And then out to your ears.

Your left ear.

And your right ear.

And tracking down your jaw.

On both sides.

Feeding at your chin.

And moving up your chin to your mouth.

Noticing how your mouth sits.

Closed.

Or slightly open.

Perhaps noticing any sensations inside your mouth.

Dryness.

Or saliva.

Tuning into your tongue.

And into your teeth.

Teeth at the top of the mouth.

And the teeth at the bottom of the mouth.

Then expanding your attention to include the whole head.

The whole head and face.

Perhaps even breathing in and out of your head.

And then widening your awareness once more to include your whole body lying here.

Getting a sense of the body as a whole.

Perhaps getting a sense of the breath throughout the body.

The whole body breathing here.

And then as we approach the end of this practice.

Just starting to loosen our grip of our attention and our focus.

And bring some movement into our fingers and toes.

And when you're ready allowing your eyes to open.

Thank you.