Connecting With The Body With Kindness And Curiosity

This meditation is for connecting with the body more deeply by feeling it from the inside and by exploring sensations with kindness and curiosity.

So taking some time to get yourself settled in a suitable posture,

Either lying down or in a seated position.

Becoming aware of the contact between the body and the floor,

Or if you are seated between the body and whatever is supporting you.

So that you can really feel your presence here in this very location.

Making any final adjustments to your posture now.

Really checking in with your body.

Seeing if there is anything you can do to make yourself that little bit more comfortable.

And then beginning by taking a few deeper,

Longer breaths.

Taking fresh air into the body through the nose.

And then after a short pause,

Releasing it slowly through a small hole in the mouth.

With a sense of release.

With a sense of letting go.

Continuing with a couple more breaths like this in your own time.

Experiencing perhaps the refreshing,

Energising quality of the in-breath.

And the releasing quality of the out-breath.

The sense of letting go.

Breathing normally now,

Most likely in and out through the nose.

And before we begin our journey of directing awareness to different parts of the body,

Just resting the attention on the sensations of the breath in the abdomen.

Noticing perhaps the rise of the abdomen as the breath comes in.

And the fall of the abdomen as the breath flows out.

One cycle after another.

And letting the sensations of the breath flowing into and out of the abdomen be the place you come back to again and again whenever your mind wanders off.

And knowing also that the sensations of the breath,

Or the contact between the body and whatever is supporting you,

Is a place that you can come back to at any point during the practice.

Especially if you find yourself feeling a little unsettled.

Beginning our journey now by letting the attention travel down the legs,

All the way down to the toes of both feet.

And really getting interested in whatever sensations you can notice there.

Maybe taking a deeper breath or two,

As if to fill up the toes with awareness,

As if to anchor your attention down there.

And then breathing normally and noticing whatever there is to notice.

Perhaps a slight tingling,

Or a warmth,

Or a pulsing.

Perhaps you notice the sensations of contact between the toes,

Or the touch of your socks or shoes.

It can be helpful to ask yourself,

How do I know my toes are there?

Perhaps there are quite distinct sensations,

Or perhaps there is very little sensation at all,

Or there is simply numbness.

And knowing that this is okay too,

This is just how your experience is right now.

From the toes,

Allowing the attention to flow into other parts of the feet.

To the soles of the feet,

To the heels,

To the tops of the feet,

To the ankles.

Paying attention to all and any sensations in both feet now.

Just noticing what it is like to have feet.

With the breath in the background,

Noticing whatever sensations are there in the whole of both feet.

And if at this point,

Or at any point in the practice,

You become distracted by sounds or by thoughts,

Then just noticing where you have wandered off to,

And then very gently bringing your attention back to the sensations in the part of the body that we are exploring.

There is no need to judge yourself,

Or give yourself a hard time.

This is just what our minds do.

So now taking a fuller,

Deeper breath in.

And with the out breath,

Just letting go of awareness of the feet.

Directing the attention up into the lower legs.

And perhaps taking a deeper breath here too.

And then breathing normally,

Just noticing any sensations you can find here in the lower legs.

Sensations in the shins at the front.

Noticing the boniness of the shins.

And noticing sensations in the calf muscles at the back.

Exploring the fleshiness of the calf muscles.

Just letting your experience be as it is.

Just noticing whatever is there,

Without the need for judgement,

Or any attempt to make it different.

Letting attention flow up into the knees now.

Exploring both knees,

And whatever there is to notice there.

The kneecaps at the front.

The backs of the knees.

And the knee joints themselves,

Where the bones of the upper and lower legs meet.

Bringing your attention back,

Whenever you become distracted.

Directing your attention now to the upper legs.

Upper legs.

The fronts of the thighs.

The backs of the thighs.

The inner thighs and the outer thighs.

As well as sensations relating to skin and muscle.

Seeing if you can notice sensations deeper down.

Like the presence of the thigh bones.

The longest bones in the body.

Stretching from the knees all the way up to the hips.

And then taking in the hips specifically now.

The ball and socket joints,

Right at the tops of the legs.

And then opening up to sensations in the whole of both legs now.

Breathing with an awareness of the sensations in the whole of both legs.

From the hips,

Right the way down to the tips of the toes.

All different sensations coming and going.

There's nothing that you need to change or get rid of.

Just experiencing your legs as they are.

Taking a deeper in-breath now.

And then with the out-breath,

Really letting the legs go.

And directing your attention up into the pelvic area.

The back of the pelvic area.

The buttocks.

The sacrum at the bottom of the spine.

The pelvis itself.

The basin-shaped pelvic bone.

And perhaps sensations relating to the softer organs that it houses and protects.

Guiding your attention up to taking in the lower part of the torso now.

The abdomen.

Perhaps moving in time with the breath.

Perhaps sensations relating to the digestion.

Or to the activity of other organs in this part of the body.

Exploring also the lower back.

The kidneys and the heart.

The back.

The kidneys and the lower part of the spine.

And this is a part of the body where there can sometimes be discomfort or soreness.

If this is the case,

You can see what it is like to imagine the breath flowing right into those sensations.

Right into the intensity.

And then to imagine the out-breath flowing back out from that area.

With a sense of letting go.

This is not to try to change or get rid of anything.

But to help you to open to whatever is there.

And then guiding your attention now into the upper half of the torso.

Sensations in the chest.

The ribcage expanding and contracting in time with the breath.

And within the ribcage,

Sensations relating to the lungs,

To the heart and the circulation.

To the body's other organs and systems that are housed and protected here.

And then at the back of the upper torso,

The top half of the spine.

The shoulder blades.

And the trapezius muscles at the tops of the shoulders.

And the shoulders are another part of the body where discomfort or tightness can be found.

So if this is the case,

Breathing into and out from those areas of intensity.

To help you stay with the sensations.

To bring a gentle curiosity to them.

And now expanding the attention to the whole of the torso.

From the tops of the shoulders down to the bottom of the pelvic area.

With the breath in the background.

Taking in all sensations in the torso.

Letting it all be as it is.

If you've become lost in thought,

Then bring yourself back to the sensations in the body.

To the sensations happening in the torso.

And then taking in all the sensations in the chest.

All the sensations in the chest.

All the sensations in the chest.

All the sensations in the chest.

All the sensations in the chest.

All the sensations in the chest.

And then taking in another full,

Deep in-breath.

And with the out-breath letting go of the torso.

And guiding the attention down the arms to the fingers of both hands.

Perhaps taking one or two deeper,

Longer breaths here.

As if the in-breath were filling up the fingers.

And as if the out-breath was emptying out from them.

And then breathing normally and just getting really curious about whatever there is to experience in the fingers.

What is it like to have fingers?

Noticing sensations such as tingling,

Pulsing,

Buzzing,

Warmth or coolness.

Whatever is there.

Whatever is available to your awareness.

Perhaps noticing contact between the fingers.

Or a sense of the space between them.

And then exploring other parts of the hands.

The palms.

The backs of the hands.

The wrists.

Experiencing your hands just as they are.

And then directing your awareness to the lower arms now.

Noticing perhaps the touch of your clothes.

Or the touch of the air on your skin.

Any kind of tingling or aliveness that you can sense here.

As if you were listening to your arms from the inside.

Then up to the elbows.

Sensing into the elbows.

And then the upper arms.

The triceps at the front.

The biceps at the back.

And then the shoulder joints.

The ball and socket joints linking the arms to the torso.

The whole of both arms now.

From the shoulders right the way down to the tips of the fingers.

Experiencing your arms as they are.

Without judgement.

Noticing whatever there is to notice without trying to make it different.

Taking a deeper breath now.

And guiding your attention up to the neck.

The throat at the front of the neck.

The sides of the neck.

The back of the neck.

The back of the head.

And the sides of the head.

And then the features of the face.

Starting with the jaw.

And the chin.

And then the mouth.

And the lips.

The nose.

The cheeks.

Noticing sensations in the eyes.

And all the muscles around the eyes and behind the eyes.

The ears.

Just seeing if it's possible to find your ears with your awareness.

Even if it's just a trace.

The forehead.

The temples.

And finally the top of your head.

Letting your attention take in the whole of the neck,

Head and face.

Whatever sensations are there to notice.

Letting them be as they are.

Letting sensations just come and go.

And now expanding your attention to taking a sense of the whole body.

From the top of the head.

Down to the ends of the fingers and the tips of the toes.

The whole body.

Front and back.

Upper and lower.

The left side as well as the right.

Seeing if it's possible to keep a sense of the whole body.

The whole body.

As best you can.

Noticing sensations without trying to make anything different.

Without resisting anything.

Without trying to change anything.

Experiencing this living,

Breathing human body just as it is.

Pleasant and unpleasant sensations.

Strong ones and subtle ones.

A landscape of different sensations coming and going.

Changing from one moment to the next.

Resting for a few moments more in this sense of wholeness.

Of completeness.

Of being as you are.

And then when you feel ready.

Bringing a little movement and awareness to the fingers and toes.

Giving them a wiggle.

And seeing if there are any other movements or stretches that help you to wake up a little bit more.

Without any sense of rush.

Whenever you are ready.

Coming onto your side if you are lying down.

And resting there for a few breaths before getting up.

And perhaps as you do so,

Seeing if it's possible to take with you this sense of being more connected to your body.

More tuned in to its wisdom and the messages that it's giving you.

As you continue with the rest of your day.