30-Minute Body Scan Practice

Welcome to the body scan meditation.

It is best to listen to this recording in a place where you feel comfortable and secure and free from distractions and interruptions.

You can do the body scan lying down on a mat,

Rug or mattress or sitting on a chair.

What is most important is that you are comfortable so you can bring your attention fully to the meditation.

If you are lying down,

I'd like to invite you to extend the arms and hands alongside the body,

Palms facing up to the sky,

And the legs and feet fall to either side,

Like an open book.

If you are sitting,

Come away from the back of the chair or stool so the spine is self-supporting.

The spine and neck are in one line,

Long but not stiff,

And your shoulders relaxed.

Let your eyes close if that is okay for you,

Or leave your eyes open,

Softening and lowering your gaze to a spot a few meters in front of you if you're sitting down.

Take a few conscious breaths in and out at your own pace.

Sense the whole body lying or sitting here,

Right now.

Take a moment to make a clear intention for your body scan practice,

Acknowledging the choice that you are making of taking time out from your busy life just for you.

A time you deserve,

An opportunity to offer yourself positive energy and attention.

This is an act of kindness and care that will not only benefit you,

But also those with whom you share your life,

Your family,

Colleagues,

Friends,

Just about everyone you interact with during your day.

In doing this practice,

The intention is also not to try too hard to relax or to try too hard to feel your body.

This just creates tension.

This practice is about letting go of the tendency we have of wanting things to be a certain way.

That we need to feel a certain way or judging how we are doing,

That this is good or this is bad.

The invitation is for you to choose to just accept what is happening in yourself physically,

Mentally and emotionally,

Looking at it clearly and giving yourself permission to see it as it is.

Because it is already here.

It is part of your experience to feel what you are feeling,

Even when you feel nothing and seeing that that is okay.

And whether sensations are unpleasant or pleasant,

Knowing that each passes and changes,

Sometimes lingering longer,

Sometimes changing in an instant.

So just follow the instructions as best you can and if your mind wanders away,

Which it probably will if it hasn't already,

Bring it back gently without giving yourself a hard time.

This is being mindful by noticing that you brought your attention away from your body,

You are present again and in the moment.

Let's begin.

With your eyes closed or softly open,

Bring your awareness to sensations where your body is in contact with whatever is supporting you.

The floor,

A mattress or mat,

A chair.

Take a few moments to explore the sensations.

Now bring your attention to sensations of your breath,

Sensing where the breath enters the body,

Perhaps at the opening of the nostrils,

At the back of the throat or in the chest or abdomen.

Sensing where you sense your breath most in this moment,

Letting go of any tendency to breathe any differently than how you're breathing in this moment.

Sense what is true for you.

Now gathering your attention,

Move it away from the breath,

Down the left leg to the left foot.

Bring your awareness to sensations in your toes,

The bottom of the foot,

Heel of the foot,

The top of the foot,

The ankle.

What do you sense in the region of your left foot?

Not so much imagining your foot,

But opening up and allowing all sensations to arise.

Take a deeper breath in and on the out breath,

Let go of your foot and bring your awareness up the left leg from the ankle along the bottom part of your leg to your knee,

Your thigh,

All the way up to the left hip.

What is going on right now in that region of the body?

Perhaps sensing what the leg is in contact with,

Clothes,

The floor,

Chair,

Sensing heaviness or lightness.

Feel your leg and let it act as an anchor into the present moment.

Just this,

Just now.

If there are no sensations,

Just simply registering a blank or if it is subtle,

Just registering this.

There is no right way to feel.

Your task is just allowing the attention to stay with your leg.

Keep opening,

Keep softening,

Keep allowing.

Imagine you are ready,

Bringing your whole left leg from foot to hip into your field of awareness,

Aware that the leg is alive.

And on an in breath,

Imagine your breath could come into the body,

Flowing all the way into the left leg,

Right down to the foot and back up again on the out breath,

Up and out of the body.

So that you are imagining or sensing what it would be like if your left leg could be filled as you breathe in and emptied as you breathe out.

Just play with this for a few breaths if you like.

You breathe in,

The breath fills your leg and you breathe out.

The breath flows up and out of the body.

At a certain point,

Taking a deeper breath and on the out breath,

Letting go of the left leg.

Now expanding your attention to both legs for a moment.

Left and right,

Noticing whether there is a difference between the left and the right leg.

Shifting your attention now to the right leg and traveling all the way down to the right foot.

Bringing non-judgmental awareness to the right foot,

Toes,

Bottom of the foot,

The heel,

Top of the foot,

The ankle.

What do you sense there?

Take a deeper breath and on the out breath,

Let go of your right foot and bring your awareness up the right leg.

From the ankle,

Along the bottom part of your leg,

The knee.

Inside the knee,

The knee joint,

The thigh or upper part of your leg,

All the way up to your right hip.

What is going on in that region of the leg right now?

Being alive to all the sensations on the surface of the skin as well as inside the leg.

Perhaps sensing pulsing,

Vibrations or something else,

Allowing any and all sensations to arise.

Feeling your right leg and letting it act as an anchor into the present moment.

Where are you now?

Your mind has probably wandered away from your body.

This is perfectly normal.

This is what the mind does.

When you notice,

Oh,

I'm thinking,

Thinking.

Gently and kindly invite your attention back to the body.

This is part of the practice.

Remember how many times you need to bring your attention back.

Whether that's 10,

20,

100 or 1000 times.

Noticing that your mind drifted means you're back in the present moment.

Congratulate yourself for noticing thinking,

I'm thinking and choosing where to place your attention.

This is the essence of mindfulness.

And when you're ready,

Bringing your whole right leg into your field of awareness.

Aware that the right leg is alive.

And on an in-breath,

Imagine that your right leg is being filled with oxygen and emptied as you breathe out.

Play with this for a few breaths if you like.

You breathe in.

The breath fills your leg.

And you breathe out.

The breath flows up and out of the body.

Now with a deep breath in and out,

Letting go of your right leg and shifting your awareness to your hips,

Pelvis and belly.

Sense the right hip bone,

The left hip bone and the whole basin of the pelvis as well as inside the organs in this region.

How open or closed do you feel there?

Does the energy feel to be flowing smoothly?

Or is there something cut off?

Feel your pelvis and belly exactly the way it is and let it be your anchor in the present moment.

Imagine now that the breath could flow into this region.

In with the in-breath and out with the out-breath.

Breathing into the pelvis and out from the pelvis.

Play with this for a few breaths if you like.

You breathe in.

The breath fills your pelvis.

And you breathe out.

And then the breath flows out of the pelvis.

Take a deeper breath now and on the out-breath letting go of hips and pelvis.

Bringing attention to the back of the body.

Starting with lower back.

And slowly expanding your field of awareness to take in the middle back.

And the upper back.

Including the shoulder blades until you're holding the whole of the back in awareness.

What do you sense there?

You're inviting yourself to breathe in and out with the back.

Softening,

Opening and allowing all sensations to come and to go.

From time to time,

Thoughts might arise about your body or about the meditation.

About whether you're doing it right or wrong.

Or perhaps emotions arise.

You might feel distracted,

Impatient.

Or perhaps boredom is pulling for your attention.

When this happens,

Nothing has gone wrong.

Not a mistake.

Just notice.

Acknowledge how they are affecting the body and your mood.

And without judgment,

Choose to bring your attention back to where you had intended it to be.

On the back of the body.

Breathing.

And at a certain point,

Taking a deeper breath and shifting attention to the chest where the lungs and heart are housed.

What sensations are here as you hold this part of the body in awareness?

Whether ease or relaxation or tension,

Closing,

Holding.

Perhaps sensing the movement of the lungs or the beat of the heart.

Let it be your seat into the present moment.

Then taking a deeper breath.

Letting go of the chest and moving to the arms and hands.

Bringing your attention to the left hand and up the left arm to the left shoulder.

Perhaps sensing heaviness,

Tension,

Aliveness or something else.

And now choosing to let go of the left hand and arm and shifting your attention to the right hand and arm.

All the way up the right arm to your right shoulder.

Sensing whatever there is to sense in this moment.

And if you sense nothing,

Sensing the sense of nothing.

Then taking a deeper breath,

Letting go of the arms and hands and moving to the neck and inside the neck,

The throat.

Breathing and sensing.

Now the face.

The lower jaw.

Lips.

Are they soft or moist?

Nostrils.

Tip of the nose.

The cheeks.

The ears.

The eyes,

Perhaps seeing into the eyes.

The eyelids.

The eyebrows.

And the space between the eyebrows.

Moving up to the forehead.

And the scalp.

Imagine the breath could fill the whole head.

You could feel the breath under the skin of your face as it comes in.

You could feel the breath changing and renewing with each in breath and as it leaves,

Letting go of any tension in the region of the face.

The in breath fills the face.

And the out breath empties the face.

And let it act as your seat into the present moment.

Now imagining the breath could fill the whole body as you lie here.

Breathing in and out from the whole body.

Sensing a breathing body right here and now.

And now letting go of any intentions for the breath and letting the breath be just as it is.

Sensing coming home to the body.

Sensing yourself just as you are.

Complete and whole.

Resting in awareness.

Moment by moment.

As this meditation comes to an end.

Be reminded that the deep stillness we seek.

Does not arise because the world is still.

Or the mind is quiet.

Stillness is nourished when we allow things to be just as they are for now.

For this moment.

Moment to moment.

And breath by breath.

Now bring this body scan to an end.

Perhaps you choose to lie here or sit here a bit longer.

Whenever you're ready.

Slowly and with caring attention.

Bring the body scan to an end.

And invite yourself to mindfully step into your next moment and activity.

Thank you.

And be well.