Body Scan For Present Moment Awareness - 25 Minutes

Finding a really nice comfortable space,

Getting your body nice and cozy.

Laying your back on a mat or the rug or whatever surface is beneath you.

Allow your eyes to close gently.

And take a few moments to just get in touch with the movement of your breath and the sensation in the body.

When you're ready,

You can bring awareness to the physical sensations in your body.

Especially any kind of sensations that you feel of the contact of your body with the surface beneath you.

Noticing any kind of sensation of touch or pressure.

And on each out breath,

You can allow yourself to let go and sink in a little.

Reminding yourself of the intention of the body scan practice.

The aim isn't to feel any different to evoke a relaxed or a calm state of being.

Even though this may happen or it may not.

Inviting in the intention of the practice as best you can.

Just to bring awareness to any sensation that you detect.

Focusing your awareness on each part of the body in turn.

Gently bring your awareness to any physical sensation that's in the low abdomen.

Just become aware of any changing patterns of sensation in the abdominal wall as you breath in.

And as you breath out.

Taking a few moments to feel the sensations as you breath.

Connecting with this sensation in the abdomen.

The invitation is to bring a focus or a spotlight of awareness all the way down the left leg to the left foot.

And out the toes of the left foot.

Focus here on each of the toes in the left foot.

Cultivating a really gentle curiosity to investigate the sensations that are present.

Perhaps you notice the sense of contact between the toes.

A sense of tingling.

Maybe there's a warmth.

Or maybe there's really no sensation present at all there.

Once you feel ready as you breath in.

Just feel or imagine the breath entering the lungs.

Passing down into the abdomen.

All the way down into the left leg,

The left foot and out the toes to the left foot.

And then on the out breath,

Feel or imagine the breath coming all the way back up out of the foot into the leg.

Up through the abdomen,

The chest and out through the nose.

And as best you can continue this for a few breaths.

Breathing all the way down to the toes.

And then back up from the toes.

And practicing this breathing in to as best you can,

Even with a playful state of mind.

And when you feel ready on an out breath,

You can allow your awareness to go.

And then bring your awareness to the sensation at the bottom of the left foot.

And then bring a really gentle,

Investigative awareness to the sole of the foot.

The instep,

The heel.

Even noticing what the foot feels like,

Where it touches the ground.

Experiment with breathing with any sensations that arise.

Allowing an awareness of the breath in the background.

As in the foreground you explore all of these sensations that are present.

Allowing the awareness to expand into the rest of the foot.

To the ankle,

Top of the foot.

Even right into the bones and joints.

Perhaps taking in a slightly deeper breath.

Direct this awareness down to the entirety of the left foot.

And then as the breath lets go,

Let go of your awareness of the left foot completely.

Shifting the awareness now to the lower left leg.

Practicing this breathing into the left leg and breathing out from the left leg.

Letting go of your awareness there.

Now shift the awareness to the left knee.

Perhaps you notice a subtle bend.

Maybe there's even a noticing of the fabric of your clothing against the knee.

Letting go of the left knee,

Shift your awareness to the left thigh.

Breathing out from the left thigh as you let go.

You can then shift the awareness and travel it all the way down to the right leg.

The right low leg to the foot all the way out through the toes.

Breathing into and out from the right toes.

Releasing the awareness of this and shifting to the entire right foot,

The sole,

Top of the foot,

The heel.

Breathing out from this and then shifting to the right low leg.

The calf and the shin.

On the out breath,

Just move the awareness to the right knee.

Noticing this with that very gentle curiosity.

What is actually present in the right knee?

Letting that go and shift the awareness now to the right upper leg.

And on the out breath,

Let that go and shift the awareness to the pelvic area.

The hips,

The bottom,

The low belly.

Perhaps you notice tightness,

Tension or some discomfort.

Letting that area go,

Shift the attention now to the lower back.

Noticing all the sensation that is present in the low back.

You might notice a sense of space around it.

And then shifting the awareness from the low back to the low belly.

That space kind of beneath the belly button.

Perhaps you notice a gurgling in the intestines.

Maybe there's some discomfort in this area or even focusing on this area could bring up some unpleasant sensation.

Maybe this area is just neutral.

Shifting the awareness from the low belly now.

Moving up to the upper abdomen,

The solar plexus.

Honing your awareness as if there's a flashlight shining on that part of the body.

Breathing into it and then let go on the out breath to the chest.

On the out breath,

Shift the awareness now to the back body,

The middle back.

You may even become aware if you're lying down of just some pressure as you breathe in,

Pressure on the lower back as it touches the surface beneath you.

Exhale out and then shift the awareness to the upper back,

Across the shoulder blades.

Again,

An area that often has quite a bit of tension.

And if that does happen to be present,

There's no need to change it.

Just notice that this is the sensation that is present for you right now.

Breathing into it.

And now noticing both of the arms as they rest.

The upper arms,

Elbows,

Lower arms.

Even the wrists,

The fingers,

The palms.

Breathing to the very tips of both hands and then breathing out from that,

Shift the awareness to the neck,

The throat.

And letting that area go,

Shift the awareness up towards the face,

Starting with the jaw.

On the out breath,

Let that go and then move to awareness of the mouth.

Are the lips parted or pursed together?

Can you notice how the lips rest against the teeth?

Even noticing the sensation of the tongue within the mouth.

Reminding yourself gently that there's no right or wrong way to feel.

Here the invitation is to simply observe.

Letting that go and moving now to the cheeks.

Shifting the awareness up to the nose,

The nostrils,

Perhaps even feeling the breath against them.

And the inhalation of fresh breath drawing in,

Maybe it's a little bit cool.

And on the out breath,

The air moving out,

Maybe a tad warmer.

And moving awareness now to the eyes,

Eyelids,

Eyeballs.

You may even notice patterns of light behind the eyelids.

And then shifting awareness to the ears.

Perhaps you notice sound.

Seeing if you can just notice the sound without even needing to identify.

And moving the awareness up towards the forehead.

And letting that go,

Move the awareness to the entirety of the head and feeling the surface where the head rests,

The weight of it.

And when you become aware of any kind of tension in the body,

I invite you to just breathe into that area.

Allowing the in breath to gently bring awareness right into the middle of that sensation.

And as best you can,

Just have a sense of letting go or releasing on the out breath.

Knowing that the mind will definitely wander away from the breath,

Away from the body from time to time.

This is totally normal.

It's just what our minds do.

So here you can just gently acknowledge where your mind went.

And then gently escort your awareness back to the part of the body that you're choosing to focus in on.

Sensing the whole body in this way.

The breath flowing freely in and out of the body.

Slowly here coming to the end of the body skin practice.

You can begin to blink the eyes open.

Even just noticing what kind of thoughts and sensations arise as you begin to open the eyes and move the body again.

And you can gently take your time as you move your way all the way up into a seated position.