I invite you to find a comfortable seat wherever you are and you can do this mindfulness of body sensations meditation with your eyes closed as I usually do or you can also do this with your eyes open but with a soft gaze looking just ahead of you.
Let's begin once again at the top of the head.
Notice all of the sensations that exist here.
Is it a very pleasant perhaps bubbling sensation in effervescence like a beautiful bottle of soda water or a sparkly soda?
Or do you feel any unpleasant sensations here even anything that might be painful?
Or are you having a tough time feeling anything at all?
If it's pleasant we can say to ourselves okay pleasant sensations tingly or effervescent or whatever that experience is I feel you I notice you but I know that you are impermanent and so I will not get attached and then just watch with a delightful curiosity what the experience of a pleasant sensation feels like and bring that same curiosity and wonder and witnessing to any unpleasant sensations.
Okay unpleasant or painful sensations I feel you I know you're there but you too are impermanent and I will not feel aversion and I will not react I will only watch and witness ah fascinating this is what an unpleasant sensation feels like how interesting and then don't move if possible just watch it what we want to avoid here with the unpleasant sensations is doing what I call going down the links thinking oh no I'm gonna end up in the hospital with this and what if the good doctors aren't there today because it's a Saturday or a Sunday or a Tuesday and what if I have to go to another hospital and I'm afraid of helicopters and what if I have to get into a helicopter and get to the best hospital in the area so we want to just stop that and just bring a gentle relaxed noticing to any unpleasant sensations and if it's dull if we have a hard time feeling anything at all we just continue to place our attention here gently with no judgment and if you need to you can poke your finger perhaps the top of the head and that will certainly give you a wealth of sensation so you can notice that if you want to or just continue to gently place your attention here and now we can go down to the forehead and you can take longer when you do this on your own but for this guided meditation you can go down to your eyes,
Your nose,
That area below your nose,
Above your lips,
The lips,
Chin and so you can continue to go down body part by body part you can also begin to open up to the sensations let's say in the back of your head so when you do the forehead you would do all the way around that whole area and the same for the nose you can even begin to scan for sensations internally in that area you can go all the way down body part by body part and then scan your entire body and you can first scan for pleasant sensations so scanning anywhere and everywhere in the body for where you feel anything pleasant might be in your shins,
In your toes,
The fingertips,
The top of the head,
Anywhere at all and as you feel these pleasant sensations throughout the body we still say to ourselves okay pleasant sensations,
I feel you,
But you are impermanent,
I will not get attached and then just continue to watch them as they flow and move around the body next you can scan your body for all unpleasant sensations anywhere that you feel anything even slightly unpleasant or perhaps very unpleasant or even painful can sweep your body for all unpleasant sensations and when you notice them individually or all together we say to ourselves okay unpleasant sensations I am aware of you I feel you for sure but you are impermanent they will not always feel this way all of these parts of the body having these unpleasant sensations in this moment I will not react just that same gentle noticing and witnessing and then just watch with curiosity and wonder what it feels like only the exact experience of feeling an unpleasant sensation not adding anything to it at all just witnessing watching and if you have areas of your body that feel dull where it's hard to feel anything at all for me this is often in my stomach but it could be anywhere just place your attention here and see if after a few moments you can feel anything at all and then once you've done this sweep you can go back to doing the scan body part by body part and bring in these sweeps whenever your intuition tells you to or after you've completed one full cycle all the way down to the toes and you can also do a full scan of the body noticing all of the sensations all at once what are all of the sensations of my body exactly in this moment pleasant unpleasant neutral what does it feel like to be alive what does my body feel like in this moment and there's no judgment there's no craving there's no reversion we're just noticing what are all of the sensations of my entire body right now and then after witnessing this you can go back to the scan body part by body part or even inch by inch and bring in the sweep whenever your intuition tells you to
