Body Scan (Long Version)

Welcome to the body scan.

Lying down on the floor or the bed and finding a comfortable position to be in for the next 45 minutes.

Letting the legs and arms lie long.

Perhaps with the palms facing up.

Or if you'd like some support for the lower back,

It can be helpful to have the knees pointed up.

Or something under the knees to offer support.

Bringing some awareness to the head and the neck.

Making sure the head isn't tilted back too far.

Or the chin too tucked in.

The most important thing is to make sure that the body is comfortable.

That you're warm enough and that you're in a place where you feel safe and hopefully won't be interrupted.

And just taking a moment or two to arrive.

To bring awareness to how the body is right now.

To how the mind is right now.

Bringing awareness to any moods or emotions that are present.

Just noting them.

Remembering that we're not trying to make ourselves feel any particular way.

Or not feel any particular way.

That this practice is about turning towards however we are right here,

Right now.

And now shifting awareness to the body lying here.

Maybe the contact that you can feel with the bed or the ground.

Maybe the contact of clothes on skin.

Or the contact of air.

And it might present itself as pressure.

Or tingling or throbbing.

Pulsing.

And it might be moving around the body as you become aware of different parts.

Just letting awareness center in the body.

But letting it move around if it wants to.

And now bringing your attention to the movement you can feel as your body breathes.

And it might be the movement of the stomach,

Going up and down.

Or the chest expanding and contracting.

Or the sense of air moving in and out of the mouth and nostrils.

Just noticing the movement of breathing.

And now if it feels OK for you we are going to shift our attention down the left leg.

Down into the left foot.

And we are going to settle our attention in the heel of our left foot.

And just noticing what sensations are there.

There might be pressure as it makes contact with the bed or the ground.

Might be tingling.

We might notice temperature.

And we are going to move our attention from the heel up through the arch of the left foot.

Into the ball of the left foot.

And to the front of the foot.

And just noticing what we can feel.

Or even what we can't feel.

Seeing our awareness move to our big toe on our left foot.

And then all the other toes.

Can we sense what it's like in between the toes?

And now holding our whole left foot in awareness.

And it can be helpful to imagine as we breathe in that we are breathing into the left foot.

And be a way to bring more awareness.

And then as you breathe out,

Breathing out of the left foot.

Just whatever you can feel there.

As best you can.

And now moving awareness up the left leg.

Past the ankle.

Around to the outside of the ankle.

And the back of the ankle.

The inside.

And the shin.

And allowing your awareness to move up the calf.

Again on the outside and on the front of the shin.

The sides of the shin.

And moving up until you get to the knee.

And letting your awareness move around the knee.

The top of the knee.

The outside.

The inside of the knee.

And the back of the knee.

Perhaps noticing that it's difficult to feel anything at the back of the knee.

Which is also something.

Noticing the absence of something.

And just remaining curious and open to whatever you feel.

And if at any point during the body scan you find yourself have drifted off into the realm of thinking.

Or into emotions.

Then just noting those.

Noting the thoughts.

Noting the emotions.

And coming back to whatever part of the body scan that we're up to.

And now starting to move up the top part of the left leg.

The front of the thigh.

And the outside of the thigh.

Any sensations you can feel at the back of the thigh.

Maybe where it's making contact.

And the inside of the thigh.

Moving up the left leg.

To the left hip.

Now as best you can.

Taking the whole left leg into awareness.

Just as it is right now.

And again imagining to breathe into the left leg.

So as you inhale,

Oxygen flowing to every cell in the left leg.

And then as you breathe out,

Oxygen flowing out of the left leg.

And just for comparison,

Maybe now bringing the right leg into awareness.

And noticing if there's a difference between the left and the right.

And now letting go of the left leg.

And moving across.

Traveling your awareness down through the right leg into the right heel.

And any sensations that you can feel in the right heel.

Being curious about it.

Is there pressure?

Is there temperature?

Does it feel hard or soft?

Can you feel where it's connected?

Where it's making contact?

And then moving down through the arch of the right foot.

Just noticing whatever sensations you can feel through the arch.

And into the ball of the right foot.

To the top of the foot.

The big toe on the right foot.

Letting awareness settle into the big toe.

Noticing what you can feel.

And letting awareness move down through all of the toes.

Maybe in between the toes.

Down to the small toe.

And then bringing the entire right foot into awareness.

Including the ankle.

As you then move up the right leg.

Through the calf and the shin.

And the sides of the lower right leg.

Just scanning your attention up the right leg until you get to the knee.

And letting your attention move around the knee.

To the top of the knee.

The front of the knee.

And the sides of the knee.

The outside of the knee.

The back of the knee.

And the inside of the knee.

And again,

Maybe you're not feeling much around the knee.

It's perfectly fine.

Maybe taking a moment to notice if there's any emotions in the foreground or the background of experience.

Maybe there's a sense of calm or frustration,

Annoyance.

Or sleepiness.

Whatever it is,

We're just noticing it.

We're not trying to change it.

We're just noting it.

And letting it be.

You can't get this practice wrong.

And now moving your awareness up the front of the right leg.

Over the thigh.

And then the outside of the thigh.

And the back of the thigh.

And the inside of the thigh.

Up to the hip.

And the groin.

And now just bringing the whole right leg into awareness.

And again,

It can be helpful to imagine breathing into the right leg.

As you breathe in,

The right leg filling up.

Filling up with awareness.

And then as you breathe out,

The right leg empties.

And then moving your attention into the back.

Or into the buttocks.

And the anal region.

The sacrum.

Feeling the pressure on the floor,

The chair,

The bed.

And then letting your awareness move up the lower back.

Just seeing what you can feel.

Whether there's warmth,

Or coolness,

Or blankness.

Just moving up the lower back.

To the middle of the back.

And up towards the shoulder blades.

Now moving onto the sides of the torso.

Just seeing what you can feel.

Maybe it's hard to indistinguishable between where the arms begin and the side of the body ends.

Or maybe there's blankness on the sides of the body,

On the sides of the torso.

Or maybe there's movement you can notice.

Just seeing what's there.

And now moving around to the front of the body.

To the genitals.

And the hips.

And the pelvic bone.

Just seeing what sensations are there.

Then letting awareness move up into the stomach.

Maybe again you can start to feel the movement of breathing in this area.

As your belly expands and contracts.

Just letting awareness settle into the belly.

Noticing feelings of maybe clothes on the stomach.

And noticing anything internal.

Feelings inside the body.

As well as on the surface of the body.

And then letting awareness move up towards the lower ribs.

And again just seeing what you can feel.

Maybe the movement.

Touch of clothes.

Then letting awareness move up higher into the chest.

Into the breastplate.

Possibly in this area you might be able to notice the beating of your heart.

Or not.

And letting awareness move up to.

.

.

Up higher towards the clavicle.

The collarbones.

The top part of the chest.

Where the neck meets the chest.

Just seeing what you can feel here.

Whatever presents itself in awareness.

Then maybe the movement from breathing or the pulse.

Now letting your awareness move into the right shoulder.

Just noticing whatever you can feel in the right shoulder.

Maybe at the top of the right shoulder.

If there's any sensations there,

Any warmth,

Any pressure,

Coolness,

Moisture,

Dryness.

And then letting your awareness move around the shoulder.

Into the armpit.

And then down the outside of the right arm.

Just noticing what you can feel.

And travelling down to the joint with the lower arm.

Meets the upper arm,

The elbow.

And travelling around that joint.

The outside of the arm.

And the back of the elbow.

And the inside of the elbow.

And then moving down the forearm.

Then the front of the arm.

The outside of the forearm.

Down to the wrist.

Maybe circling around the wrist.

Seeing what's there.

Being open to experiencing what's there.

And then into the right hand.

Maybe the palm of the hand.

Noticing any tingling or pressure.

The wetness or dryness.

And then into the right thumb.

Where the thumb meets the hand.

And then travelling up to the end of the thumb.

Then bringing the fingers into awareness.

And again noticing any throbbing or tingling or pressure or temperature.

Just being curious about what you can find in the fingers of your right hand.

Maybe letting awareness move through the fingers.

Or taking one finger at a time.

Starting with the index finger.

Moving down.

Just noticing whatever you can feel in your right hand.

And now taking the whole of the right arm into awareness.

Becoming aware of the entire right arm.

From the shoulder all the way down to the fingertips.

And as a comparison you might want to compare how the left arm feels.

Just noticing if there's any difference between the left and the right.

And again imagining breathing into the right arm.

As you breathe in,

That the right arm fills with oxygen.

Down to the cellular level.

So we're breathing into our right arms.

And then as we exhale all the oxygen flows out of the right arm.

And now letting go of the right arm and moving over to the left shoulder.

Letting our awareness settle at the top of the left shoulder.

Just seeing what you can feel.

Or what you can't feel.

And again,

Noticing any emotions that might be present.

Any background feelings.

Or maybe they're in the foreground.

Maybe they're quite dominant.

Feelings of calm or frustration.

So we're learning to just be with how we are without having to change it.

Maybe noticing these feelings whether they're pleasant or unpleasant or neutral.

Just learning to observe them with kindness,

With interest.

To befriend them.

And now moving our attention back to the left shoulder.

Maybe circling around now.

Through the armpit.

And the outside of the shoulder.

And then down the left arm.

The upper part of the left arm.

Maybe circling down over the bicep.

Down towards the joint,

Towards the elbow.

Noticing if we can feel anything in our upper arm.

And then circling around the joint.

The inside of the joint.

The outside.

The back and the front.

Just letting our awareness move around the elbow joint.

And then letting our awareness move down the forearm.

Maybe down the outside of the forearm.

The inside.

And down to the left hand.

Noticing any sensations that you can feel in the palm of the left hand.

Even if there's tingling or pressure.

If it's wet or dry.

There's moisture.

If there's throbbing.

Tingling.

And then letting your awareness move into the left thumb.

The bottom of the thumb to the very tip of the thumb.

And then moving your awareness into the fingers on the left hand.

Noticing what's there.

If the fingers are touching.

Noticing those sensations of touch.

Or if your hand's resting on something,

Noticing the point of contact.

Just letting awareness move around the left hand.

From the palm through the fingers.

From the back of the hand.

From the wrist.

And now taking the whole of the left arm into awareness.

Letting yourself become aware of the entire left arm.

And again,

Maybe imagining breathing into the left arm.

On the inhale,

Letting the air flow into the left arm.

Feeling it up.

And then emptying as you breathe out.

Now letting go of the left arm and moving into the neck.

Any sensations that you can feel at the front of the neck.

And again,

They might be pleasant,

Unpleasant or neutral.

Just noticing what you can feel on the outside of the neck,

On the skin.

And maybe on the inside,

In the throat.

Letting awareness move around to the back of the neck.

Maybe up the back of the skull,

Where you can feel pressure with the head,

Touching the pillow,

The cushion,

The ground.

And letting awareness slowly move up through the skull,

Through the scalp.

Just noticing what you can feel through the scalp,

The back of the head.

Whether you can feel anything at all,

Or whether it's blank.

And then moving your awareness up through the head,

Maybe the sides of the head,

Maybe one side and then the other.

And up to the top of the head.

Just noticing any sensations you can feel through the top of the head.

It's often difficult to feel anything at the top of the head.

That's perfectly OK.

And then allowing your awareness to move into the forehead.

Just seeing what you can feel there.

And moving down to the eyebrows,

And the eyes.

Maybe it feels tight,

Or they feel relaxed.

Maybe you can notice light coming through the eyelids.

Maybe there's blinking going on.

Just noticing whatever's happening.

Trying to stay with whatever's happening.

And moving down through the nose,

And the cheeks.

Seeing if we can feel anything in our nose and our cheeks.

Any sensations.

And into the lips,

Seeing what we can feel in our lips.

On the outside of the lips,

And on the inside.

On the inside of the mouth.

What we can become aware of on the inside of the mouth,

Maybe the tongue.

What sensations are most vivid in the tongue.

If it's the tip of the tongue,

Or the back of the tongue.

And moving down to the chin,

Seeing if we can feel anything in the chin.

Now taking the whole head into our experience,

The neck and the head.

And again,

Maybe imagining what it would be like if we could breathe into our head.

Into every part of our head,

Into our ears.

And as we breathe in,

Imagining our entire head filling up with oxygen,

Filling up with air.

And then releasing as we breathe out.

Now bringing our awareness to our whole body as we lie here.

Letting awareness fill every part of us.

Or letting awareness move around the body.

But staying with the body,

Right here,

Right now,

What we can directly feel.

And again,

Maybe coming back to the movements of breathing,

The expansion and contraction.

Cultivating what it's like to be present with our bodies here and now.

To spend some time out of the realm of thinking.

To spend some time with our bodies as they are right now.

Perhaps taking a moment to congratulate yourself for choosing to spend some time in this way,

In this radically different way.

Now maybe starting to transition from lying here still,

To maybe moving our fingers,

To maybe moving our toes and our feet.

To letting the body move to stretch in any way that it wants to.

Maybe starting to open the eyes and noticing light coming in.

As we bring the body scan to a close.

Letting awareness move around the body.