To begin this practice of mindfulness of the body by means of body scan,
We first find a comfortable stationary position.
Adjust the elements of our posture by elongating our spine,
Relaxing and dropping our shoulders,
Comfortably placing our hands on our knees or thighs.
Putting the tip of the tongue on our upper palate,
Right behind our teeth.
Making sure our chin is level with the floor and slightly tucked in.
And then depending on what we prefer,
Either closing our eyes or keeping them fully or partially open.
And yet not paying any attention to our visual perceptions.
What we do in this practice is rather bringing our awareness to our tactile experiences,
Attending to our body.
But before that,
We need to establish a positive motivation for this practice by thinking of our highest spiritual or psychological aspirations.
And what we want to accomplish by means of our contemplative life in general.
And then with this motivation as the basis for our practice,
We bring our attention to the domain of the body as experienced by means of our tactile sensations.
And we start this process by first attending to the apertures of our nostrils or our upper lip,
Where we can register the sensations associated with the movement of our breath.
Gently and in a relaxed manner,
Noticing the sensations that arise as the air passes through this area.
And as we attend to these sensations,
Focusing on them directly,
Instead of trying to imagine or visualize this area.
And if images still arise,
If we still notice the arising of these images,
Simply letting them go or not attending to them,
But instead choosing to focus on the sensations directly.
And then from there,
Extending our awareness to all the sensations in our face.
Observing them directly and in a focused manner.
And withdrawing our awareness back to the face,
Every time we start to get distracted.
And once again,
Focusing on the sensations themselves,
Not the visual image of the face or our ideas about it.
And then coming up to our crown,
Scanning this area for any sensations.
Moving to the back of our head,
To see what we are experiencing right there.
And then down into our neck.
Are there any sensations in the neck or in our throat?
And then is there anything noticeable in our shoulders?
And then in the same way,
Slowly moving down our arms,
Not by means of our visual images,
But directly attending to the sensations,
Checking the area around our elbow.
Then our forearm.
And then our hands and fingers,
Resting in this area while we attend to their rising sensations.
And while we rest here,
Once again fine-tuning our attention by withdrawing our awareness from anything other than the sensations in our hands.
And then to make it even more focused,
Spending a little bit of time with our right hand.
And then with our left hand.
Just the sensations,
Not the visual image,
Not our ideas,
But just the sensations themselves.
And then from there,
Coming up to our shoulders once again.
And then slowly bringing our awareness down into the torso.
Attending to the sensations at the front of our torso,
Around our ribs,
In our abdomen.
And then at the back of our torso,
All the way along the spine,
From our neck to our buttocks,
Our hips.
And then spending some time with the sensations in our pelvic floor,
Attending to them with curiosity and openness.
And then coming down to our thighs,
And noticing any sensations arising in the area between our hips and our knees.
Then around the knee,
Around the ankle,
And finally bringing our awareness to the feet,
To our feet and toes.
And for a little bit,
Simply resting there with the sensations.
Spending some time with the right foot,
And with the left foot.
And then extending our awareness to all the sensations arising throughout the body,
And experiencing them directly as this vibrant field of sensations that in this moment we don't need to label or analyze,
But can experience,
And can attend to,
Clearly and directly.
And through this observation,
Moving a bit closer to the ability to experience our body as a vibrant field,
Rather than a fixed entity.
Something solid,
Real and clearly defined.
Allowing our body to rest for a few more moments,
We mentally dedicate the energy of this practice to our highest psychological or spiritual aspirations,
Which would ideally include the aspiration to deepen our insight,
And through that,
To bring greater happiness and well-being to ourselves and all sentient beings.
And with that,
We slowly conclude the practice and invite the bell.
