Body Scan Meditation - 30 Minutes For Calm & Peace

Hi there,

This is Clemens from Mind Anchor and today I would like to invite you for an extra long version of the body scan.

So to start,

Find a comfortable position upright on your chair or on the floor,

Wherever feels most comfortable.

A position that you can hold for the next 30 minutes or so.

Once you've found that position,

You can gently close your eyes.

And with the closing of the eyes,

Letting go of the outside world,

Letting go of any to-dos,

Letting go of thoughts about the past or the future,

Simply arriving to this very moment.

And for a moment just notice your body making contact with the seat beneath you,

Your feet touching the floor,

Your breath flowing in,

Flowing out.

And just observing your breath here,

Noticing the rhythm,

The depth of each inhale,

Each exhale.

Nothing to change,

Nothing to do,

Nowhere to be,

Just observing your breath here.

As it is for a moment here.

And if at any point throughout this meditation you're gonna drift off,

Your mind is drifting off into thoughts,

Then just know that that's the most normal part about meditating.

The mind just wants to explore all kinds of possibilities that are out there or it likes to rethink of moments that happened in the past.

So just acknowledge that with a kind and open heart.

Acknowledging that and returning back to the focus point,

Back to your breath in this case right now.

And then from the breath we're gonna shift the focus to our body.

And we will start with a body scan from the very top of the head,

The skull,

The top of your head,

What's here?

What kind of sensations do you feel?

Is there a sort of tingling sensation here?

Or perhaps you feel a tension or a relaxation,

Just observing.

And from the top of the head we're gonna move to the back of the head.

Down,

Down to the forehead,

The eyebrows and eyes,

The nose and cheeks,

All the way to the mouth and chin.

Once again just observing,

Noticing how your face feels.

There's no right or wrong here,

It's just about noticing what's there.

And maybe you can even tune into the sensations in your ears here.

Now from the face we will move even further to the sensations in the throat,

The sensations in the neck,

Becoming aware of how your neck is holding the entire weight of your head.

Noticing the muscles that are at play here.

And then moving further down to the shoulders,

The left shoulder,

The right shoulder.

And the shoulders can be an area of the body where you may store a lot of tension,

If that is the case for you,

You can also direct a deeper,

More intentional breath into your shoulders.

And just invite whatever sensation there is,

Not wanting or needing to push anything away.

And then we're gonna move down the right arm,

Starting with the right upper arm,

The right elbow,

Moving down to the right forearm,

Wrist,

All the way down to your right palm and fingers.

Maybe again there's a tingling or vibrating sensation in your hand here,

Perhaps you feel a certain warmth or the cool air passing by your skin.

And again and again,

Whenever you notice yourself drifting off,

Just gently,

Kindly,

Guiding your awareness,

Your attention back to your body.

And then from the right hand,

We move to the left arm,

The left upper arm,

The right forearm,

Left elbow,

Down into the left lower arm,

Forearm,

The wrist,

The palm of your left hand and your fingers.

Once again,

Just staying with any sensations that occur in your left arm or hand,

And just noticing,

Kind of curious about what's happening here right now.

And then from the left arm and hand,

We will move to the chest,

The area of the heart,

For a moment,

Just observing what's happening here.

Perhaps you notice the rising and falling sensation of the breath.

Maybe you notice your heart beating.

Maybe there's a tension or relaxation in your chest.

Notice how the longer you stay with one sensation,

The more you notice how it's constantly changing.

Every sensation in the body comes and goes all the time.

Now from the chest,

We'll move our awareness further down to the right arm.

From the chest,

We'll move our awareness further down to the right arm.

Once again,

You may notice the rising and falling sensation with each inhale and exhale.

Maybe you feel your stomach working to digest food.

Just observing what's going on in your belly right now.

And then once again,

We will move back up to the upper back,

Noticing if there's any tension here,

Welcoming whichever sensation shows up at this moment.

And from the upper back,

We'll move down along the spine to the lower back.

And from the lower back,

We will pay attention to any sensations that are happening in the hips,

The pelvic region,

Noticing your body making contact with the seat beneath you,

Scanning the body further down into the upper legs,

Starting with the right leg,

Moving down into the right knee,

Shin and calf,

All the way down to the right ankle,

Heel and sole,

Down into the toes of the right foot.

And again,

If the mind is very present right now,

You can just imagine those thoughts that are swirling around,

Just like clouds on a blue sky.

Watch them,

See them move away,

Flow by,

And return back to your anchor,

Back to your body.

Now from the right foot,

We will move into the left upper leg,

The left knee,

Shin and calf,

Noticing what's going on in the left ankle,

The heel and sole,

And then the toes of your left foot.

And then from here,

In your own pace,

You can move back up from the toes,

Through the feet,

And your legs,

All the way up to the hips and pelvic region,

Into your torso,

Your left and right hand,

And left and right arm,

All the way up to the shoulders,

Neck,

Face,

And top of your head.

Take your time here and just scan your body from bottom to top.

Time and time again,

Whenever you notice that you drifted off,

Give yourself a little smile,

A smile for having discovered that you drifted off.

Because the drifting off is going to happen no matter what in every meditation,

And that is normal.

It's all about noticing that you drifted off and gently guiding your awareness back to your anchor point,

In this case,

Back to your body.

And just continue scanning further up from your feet into the top of your head.

And just keep on scanning through the body.

If you already arrived at the head,

Then you can scan back down from the head all the way to the toes.

Keep on observing what's happening here.

And then wherever you are for a moment,

Letting go of the scanning of the body and just becoming aware of any sensation that is very prominent right now,

That wants to show itself and wants you to notice it.

And whenever there's a sensation like that,

Just staying with it,

Noticing what happens,

Noticing the rising and falling of those sensations.

And then slowly letting go of the focus on the body and just allow yourself to take three very deep breaths in through the nose and to the belly,

Breathing in,

Holding at the top and letting go,

Breathing out through the mouth.

Ah,

Once again,

Breathing in,

Holding and letting go,

Breathing out.

One last time,

Breathing in all the way,

Holding at the top and letting go.

And very gently allow your body to wake up,

Wiggle your toes and your fingertips.

And once you feel ready,

You can slowly open your eyes again and return back to life around you.

Take a moment here and maybe stretch out,

Do whatever feels good right now.

Thanks so much for joining this meditation and I hope you have a wonderful day.

Bye-bye.

You