Welcome to the Circle of the Arms meditation.
The Circle of the Arms is a body scan and the aim of this method is to develop total and full body awareness.
A part of the practice is to lose the method and acknowledge what feels like the gaps.
However this too is contained within the sense of awareness.
So do what you can,
It's ok to be aware of even a part of the method described.
And if you lose focus or lose the method,
Just gently build it up again step by step.
So let's begin.
Sit in an upright position,
Feeling the weight of your body on whatever you are sitting on,
The seat,
The cushion,
The stool.
And take a note of your spine,
Feeling the vertebrae stacked up,
One bone upon another,
Supporting the torso.
Recognise that your head is balanced on the vertebrae.
And imagine a cord running up from the crown of your head up into the sky.
Allow the back of the bones of your neck to expand just a little so that your chin can tuck in.
Now take a deep breath in and breathe out,
Allowing the shoulders and belly to soften if they need to.
And now breathe naturally.
Ideally the instructions for the eyes are to have them half open and half closed,
And looking down at a 45 degree angle to a point about 2 or 3 feet in front of you.
However if you struggle with this gaze,
Feel free to keep your eyes fully open or fully closed.
It's useful for this method for you to place your hands on your lap,
Either touching or reasonably close together.
Now settle your attention into the palm of your right hand.
Notice any tingling,
Warmth or coolness.
And slowly shift your attention to your fingers,
Your thumb,
With their nails and walls of fingerprints,
The creases and pads.
Now introduce the back of your hand,
With its hair,
Veins and skin.
Is there any tension in the hand?
Maybe move it very slightly to release the ligaments.
And where is it resting?
Can you feel the hands wait?
Feel your hand as one whole.
Now allow your attention to move towards the wrist,
Feeling the gaps between the bones and the tendons.
Where the complicated bones of the hand join the two bones in the arm,
Which allow your hand to turn and move.
And from the wrist move your attention to your right forearm,
Its bones supporting the muscles that work the fingers in your hand.
Feeling all the muscles,
The blood vessels,
The fascia,
Contained by the skin of the forearm.
Now move your attention to your elbow,
Feeling the crook and the point of the elbow.
Now include in your attention your hand,
Wrist,
Forearm and elbow together.
Now move your attention to your upper arm,
Feeling the bicep,
The tricep,
And up to your shoulder,
The muscles over the shoulder.
And then joining it all together by becoming aware of how the right arm feels from the tips of the fingers,
Through the hand,
Through the wrist,
The forearm,
The elbow,
The upper arm,
And where that arm joins the shoulder.
And there you have your whole right arm.
And just rest your attention there for a moment.
Now move your attention across the back of your shoulders,
Through your right shoulder blade,
The spine,
The back of your neck,
The tops of your shoulders,
Moving across to the left shoulder blade.
And acknowledge if there's any tension.
Then slowly scan down the left shoulder,
Into the left upper arm,
With its bicep,
Its tricep,
And the left elbow,
Its crook and its point.
Into the left forearm,
With its skin,
Muscles,
Blood vessels,
Fascia.
Into the left wrist,
With its joints and connections.
And into the left hand,
The left hand with its fingers,
Its thumb,
Nails,
Fingerprints,
Creases and pads.
Then connecting all of the right arm and all of the left arm to produce the circle of the arms.
Right hand,
Right wrist,
Right forearm,
Right elbow,
Right upper arm,
Cross the shoulders,
Left upper arm,
Left elbow,
Left forearm,
Left wrist,
And left hand while it's resting in your lap.
Then place your attention on as much of the circle of the arms as you can,
Acknowledging any gaps or spaces.
And if your attention wanders away,
Just gently acknowledge where it's gone and return to the method,
Reproducing the unity of the circle of the arms.
Now move your attention into your left hip,
The socket joints,
And down to the large muscles of the leg and buttock,
Powerful muscles holding you up,
Enabling you to stand and sit.
Now down the left thigh,
Drawing your attention into your left knee,
The back of the knee,
The left calf muscle,
The left shin,
Left ankle,
Left foot and toes and the sole of your foot.
Does it tingle?
Do you feel warmth,
Coolness?
Allow yourself to be really interested in the sensations.
Now moving your attention to the right sole and toes,
The whole right foot,
Noticing the sensations in that foot,
Then up through the right ankle,
The right calf and shin,
Right knee,
The right back of the knee,
The right thigh,
Powerful muscles,
The right buttock,
And then the right hip,
Including the pelvis in your attention,
Noticing all that's going on inside it.
And feel your seat held where you touch the earth,
That's your base,
The place that grounds you.
Feel the weight of the base,
Feeling of steadiness.
Now using a little effort,
Add the circle of the arms to your base,
So you have the circle and the space together.
And allow your attention to move to the base of your spine,
The coccyx,
The sacrum above the pelvis.
Aware that on either side of the spine,
The soft areas which contain the kidneys,
Then rising along the spine,
Supported by the muscles and either side the ribs,
Which reach around to the chest.
And moving to the upper back,
Ribs overlaid by shoulder blades.
And broadening your attention out,
Creating the trapezius,
The sheath of muscle,
Which links the shoulders to the neck.
Wriggle your upper back and shoulders a little if that feels right to you.
Allow yourself to move into them,
Fully inhabit them,
Fully inhabit your body.
And move your attention up the back of your head and into the crown,
Feeling your scalp,
All the hair follicles,
Hair slowly glowing.
Then feeling the temples,
The sides of your face,
Your forehead,
Aware of the eyes and their sockets,
The nose,
Your ears,
Your jaw,
The teeth,
Feeling the lips,
Down the throat,
To the front of your chest,
To the heart and lungs.
Aware of your sternum,
Drifting the awareness down to the solar plexus and your stomach.
Feeling the gut and going down,
Down into your belly,
Allowing it to soften and relax.
And down to your one point,
Your down chin,
Just below your belly button.
And there you have your body,
Your whole body.
You have the circle of your arms,
Your seat and your body.
Now try inhabiting all of them together,
The circle of the arms,
The seat,
The whole body.
This is your breathing living body.
Now tend to it as best you can.
Embodying as much as you can of it,
While noticing the gaps.
And if you lose any part of it,
Just slowly build it back up again the best you can,
Piecing together the circle of the arms,
The seat and the body,
Whole body.
I'm going to stop speaking for a while,
Allowing you to be with your living breathing body.
Remember if you lose your place,
Build it up piece by piece,
Joining the circle of the arms to your seat,
To your body.
Now if you feel reasonably stable,
Inhabiting your whole body,
The circle of the arms,
The seat,
The body together,
Allow your attention to expand outwards,
Taking in external sensations to become part of your bodily experience.
Perhaps noticing that what you're touching,
Sitting on,
Can be part of this.
Arms,
Seat,
Body,
Touch,
Becoming connected in your awareness.
Collecting sensations to you,
Using your whole body as the anchor.
And you might be able to draw what you hear into your body,
Becoming part of that experience and awareness.
Arms,
Seat,
Body,
Touch,
Hearing.
Inhabiting the body,
Sensations and sounds around you.
And if the mind feels stable,
You might like to open your eyes for the last few minutes of meditation,
Allow what you see to become part of your body experience.
Arms,
Seat,
Body,
Touch,
Hearing,
Sight and breath,
Inhabiting it all.
Whatever you think,
Whatever you feel is part of this experience and this awareness.
I'm going to ring the bell shortly to end this session,
But your level of awareness doesn't have to,
Your level of embodiment doesn't have to.
This method can continue off the cushion and see if you can take it with you.
I'm going to ring the bell.
