
Body Scan
Body Scan - Resting in awareness, resting the body, resting the mind. Simply experience the felt sense of your body and mind in a position that is warm and comfortable to you for just under a half-hour. This is an opportunity to deepen awareness and knowledge of yourself with acceptance and restore some ease and energy. Enjoy!
Transcript
So you're very welcome to this body scan.
It may be practiced either sitting or lying down,
Choosing a mat and a blanket or a bed.
So what is important here is that you feel supported and you feel comfortable and warm.
And the intention is to fall awake into experience,
To accept things just as they are in this moment without changing anything.
This is time spent with yourself,
By yourself,
Just as you are.
Being tender in this practice,
Allowing yourself to feel what you feel and knowing that resting in awareness is supporting your health and your well-being.
It may be helpful to know that there is no right way to doing this.
It is simply your experience.
And experiencing it in a way that is non-judgmental,
That is curious and simply knowing that you are doing your best.
This practice is an invitation,
So only following the guidance that feels right for you.
Getting a sense of what resonates and following your own guidance wherever needed.
So let's begin by becoming aware of the whole body lying here and how your posture feels.
Capturing this snapshot in time of the experience of being in your body and getting a sense of the back of the body and all the points of contact.
The heels,
The back of the legs,
The buttocks,
The upper back,
The head and the arms.
Feeling the aid of gravity as it lends your weight fully to the floor,
The chair or the bed.
Becoming aware now of breathing.
Simply knowing that your body is breathing.
Not changing any aspect of your breath,
But exploring the breath in a curious and a non-judgmental way.
Noticing what it is like as the breath enters the body.
Noticing the parts of the body that move with each in-breath.
Noticing where sensations are associated with the out-breath.
Perhaps the movement of the tummy.
Perhaps a warmth with the exhalation.
Or a coolness and expansion with each in-breath.
And the attention that is being placed on the breath is gentle.
And as we observe the breath,
There's no striving here.
There is no efforting.
The breathing is simply happening.
If the mind has wandered,
This is normal.
It's what the mind is made to do.
And all we need to do is bring it back again and again,
Lightly,
Kindly.
Cultivating this gentle way of being with ourselves.
Patiently redirecting your attention again and again.
If it feels comfortable for you,
Taking a deeper breath in and on the exhalation,
Drawing the attention down through the body,
Through the trunk,
Through both legs to the toes.
Just seeing what you notice here.
Being curious about your experience.
Sensations,
Tingling,
Warmth.
Feeling the toes,
The tips of the toes,
The big toes,
The baby toe on left and right foot,
The nail bed of the toes,
Perhaps even the space between each toe.
Leaving the toes to bring your attention to the soles of the feet.
The balls of the feet,
The instep and heels.
Guiding your attention to the top of the feet.
Feeling that bony structure.
All the tiny little bones.
Getting a sense of the feet from the inside out.
Muscles,
Ligaments.
Then guiding your attention to the ankles,
The joints of the ankles.
Not so much imagining the feet or visualizing them,
But really sensing and feeling the feet as part of your body.
Bringing attention to the lower legs,
The backs of the legs in contact with the floor,
The shins,
The skin.
Moving now to the knees,
The backs of the knees.
Perhaps noticing that little gap between the back of the knees and the floor of the bed.
The kneecaps,
Round bony disc,
The whole of the knee joints.
Bringing the attention further up the legs to the large muscles of the thighs,
Front of the thighs,
Back of the thighs,
Inner and the outer thighs.
Reaching with your attention for the left and the right hip.
Breathing in more deeply here.
Filling the volume of the legs with the breath if that feels okay.
And on an exhalation just releasing the attention on the legs.
And this time placing the focus on the pelvis,
That bony structure that cradles all of the reproductive organs,
The buttocks.
And moving up to the lower back.
Often this is a place where we hold some tension or pain.
Again noticing that we're not trying to do anything here.
Only noticing.
Seeing and feeling what is here for you now in this moment.
As the mind wanders acknowledge where it has gone to.
The mental thoughts,
The images,
Words,
A voice.
And gently taking it back to the low back.
The spine.
Resting your attention up the spine to the middle of the back.
Feeling the rib cage either side of the spine here.
Getting a sense of each rib if you can.
And now resting your attention on the upper back,
Shoulder blades and the shoulders.
Feeling what is here for you now.
As the awareness moves up the back,
Over the shoulders and all the way down to the tummy.
And often times we hold tension in the tummy and not worry.
Sometimes noticing the rise and fall with each breath.
There's no right way,
There's no wrong way to do this.
Every way you are doing it now is your experience and is right for you.
Awareness moving now to the front of the ribs.
Resting some attention here to how the ribs widen and contract with the breath.
No need to do anything.
Just allowing for your experience and the attention moves up to the chest or the pecs or the breasts.
And noticing the collarbone reaching across the front of the body.
Just knowing how the ribs,
The chest protect the heart and the lungs.
Feeling perhaps how the heart beats.
As we breathe in and exhale letting go of the torso and guiding our awareness now on the exhalation down to the fingertips of both hands.
The lungs can be quite a sensitive area.
There might be tingling or warmth.
Perhaps noticing the thumb tips,
The nails on the fingers,
Palms and the back of the hands.
The wrists.
Possibly the first time today the hands have had nothing to do.
And what is that experience like?
Resting awareness with the lower arms,
The inner elbows,
The bony outer elbow and the upper arms,
Biceps and triceps.
The armpits,
Back up to the shoulders,
Neck and throat.
Noticing perhaps what it's like to swallow.
Resting your awareness now with the bones of the head.
The skull.
The back of the skull where it meets the mat or the cushion.
The scalp at the top of the head.
Guiding yourself to the ears and the ear canals.
Saving sound.
Noticing how sounds travel inside the ear canal.
All of the tiny little muscles of the cheeks.
The jaw.
And if the jaw is being held tight or loose,
Where the upper jaw meets the lower jaw.
Chin and the lips.
Noticing where the lips meet if they do.
And then noticing the inside of the mouth.
Perhaps you can notice taste here or sensations.
Teeth.
Gums.
The roof of the mouth.
The tip of the nose.
The breath in the nostrils.
The eyeballs in their sockets.
The eyelids covering the eyes.
Each eyelash.
All of the eyelashes.
The eyebrows.
And that space between the eyebrows.
Notice if the space is furrowed from agitated thinking.
And then the forehead.
Just taking a breath,
Imagining you can fill the head with the breath.
And as you exhale just letting go of the attention and focus on the head.
Saving this time in awareness of the whole body.
Breathing in to the entirety of the body.
Filling the volume of your body if that feels okay for you.
With the cleansing,
Easing,
Soothing breath.
Filling all of the breath out of the body and letting go.
Each breath refreshes you.
Breathing in this way for a few cycles of the breath.
Not wanting your experience to be anything other than it is in this moment.
Allowing things to be as they are.
Letting the breath return to its normal pattern.
Knowing that you are supporting your health and your wellbeing in this practice.
Before ending,
Allowing yourself movement of the toes and fingers.
Just taking a deeper stretch with the arms overhead.
And slowly bringing yourself back to sitting or continuing to rest as you wish.
4.8 (212)
Recent Reviews
Katie
July 11, 2021
That was very nice. Soothing voice and nice slow pace. Relaxing and centering. Thank you so much for your time and this practice. ☮️💖🙏
Doug
July 5, 2021
Very nicer and thorough
