This is the formal practice of body awareness,
Body scan.
During this meditation,
You will focus on the sensations of the body within the body.
Start with the breath as an anchor.
Scan through the body,
Exploring sensations as they arise.
Body scanning is like an x-ray with the mind.
By bringing awareness to each part of the body,
You can tune into layers of sensation.
Get started with the basic steps.
Getting into a comfortable position.
Sitting or lying down.
Shut your eyes if you like.
Focus awareness on the breath.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
Notice the rise and fall of the belly with each breath.
Scan your body.
We'll begin with our attention at the feet.
Left foot,
Right foot.
Maybe feeling the touch of shoes or socks,
Clothes,
Feet on the floor.
Coolness,
Warmth,
Tingling,
Dryness.
Noticing whatever sensation is felt in this part of the body.
Left foot,
Right foot.
Toes,
Skin,
Flesh,
Bones.
Thighs,
Knees.
Moving up the legs to the shins.
Knees,
The thighs,
All the way up to the hips.
Again,
Just checking in what's present here.
This breath.
Breathing in to the legs and ankles,
Shins and thighs,
The skin,
The muscles,
The bones.
What can we notice?
Breathing in to the hips,
The hips,
The thighs,
The knees,
The thighs,
This place of connection from the lower body to the upper body.
Moving up,
Hips,
To the different systems in the body,
The reproduction,
Filtration,
The organs,
The abdomen,
Midsection,
The systems of digestion.
How often do we notice the contents of this body?
Often so concerned with the container.
Can we just let go of the outside and kind of look within?
What's happening here?
Is the belly tight?
Can we relax?
Moving the awareness up the torso,
Back towards the spine,
The low back,
Up each vertebra,
Moving up towards the ribs,
Seeing where the ribs and the spine connect,
Feeling the lungs expanding and contracting,
How the ribs both protect the lungs and the heart,
But also are flexible.
They give,
They accommodate the expansion and contraction of the lungs,
The heart,
The heart pumping oxygenated blood throughout the whole body.
Sometimes there's a heaviness in the chest.
Can we relax here?
Expanding the awareness back around towards the spine,
Up towards the shoulders,
Shoulder blades,
As we hold so much stress,
Anxiety,
Fear in our shoulders and neck.
Can we soften?
Like ice turns to water and water turns to mist.
Can we soften?
Moving the awareness out to the shoulders,
The left shoulder and the right shoulder,
Again scanning down each arm,
Left arm,
Right arm,
To the elbow,
Elbow to the forearm,
Forearms to the fingers,
Palms,
Top of the hand.
What can we notice here?
Moving the awareness back up,
Left hand,
Right hand,
Shoulders,
Neck and throat.
Circles of awareness now around the jaw.
Can we soften?
Can we relax?
Around the ears,
So much tension.
See if we can just soften a little bit,
Relax a little bit more,
Around the face and eyes and nose,
The eyebrows,
Back of the skull,
Top of the head.
Can we bring our attention to the very crown of the head?
And then as if there was a blowhole or like a whale's top hole on the top of our head,
Breathing down,
Scanning through the whole body,
Breathing through the top of the head,
All the way down through the body,
Legs,
And out through the feet,
This full body breathing,
And through the feet to the head,
And just scanning through the next few moments.
So expanding awareness to your entire body,
Head to feet,
Feet to head,
Seeing if there is anything that was missed,
Any places of holding or tightness.
Allowing the bell to ring through you,
Leaving you feeling relaxed and alert.
The bell is invited.
