The Body Scan For Awareness

Welcome to Day 3,

7 Days of Mindfulness meditation practice known as the body scan.

So let's begin to settle down for this 20 minute practice,

Finding a comfortable position.

As you shift your weight and your body,

Just observing your seat.

Perhaps noticing the point of contact of your lower body to the chair or to the ground.

Bringing some alertness and aliveness to your torso and your spine so that you feel supported throughout your centre.

Now when you're ready,

Gently close your eyes.

Taking a moment here to sense the breath moving gently,

Easily.

Breathing in and out through the body.

And when you're ready,

Gently closing down your eyes.

Or perhaps today you prefer to keep them open with a soft gaze.

As you continue to sense the breath,

Allow this time to fully commit to being present,

Paying attention on purpose from this moment to the next.

Any time during this body scan,

If anchoring to the body or to the breath becomes difficult,

Challenging,

You can simply just allow your awareness to wander to wherever it needs to wander to,

Allowing yourself to gently come back to the practice when you feel ready.

Back to the sound of my voice,

Settling back in and tuning back in to this body scan.

When you're ready,

Let's begin to place our attention onto the body,

Noticing the whole body.

Perhaps noticing the posture that you've chosen for this practice today.

You're seated on a chair,

You might notice the feet flat on the floor,

A connection from feet to earth,

Or perhaps you might notice the support at the back of the chair.

Or perhaps you've chosen to sit on the earth,

On the ground.

Notice whether your body is moving forward,

Sideways,

Or perhaps moving backwards,

Not needing to fix or change anything in this moment,

But just simply noticing the posture that you have chosen.

And the sensations in the body,

Perhaps noticing the sensations that are moving gently around the body,

Such as temperature or air,

And asking,

What is here for me now in this present moment?

And as you continue to gather your awareness onto the body,

Perhaps beginning to notice now if there are any particular sensations you might be feeling.

Seeing familiar sensations.

Perhaps there are new sensations here today,

Ones that are unfamiliar.

As we begin to tune in with our attention,

Observing these bodily sensations with curiosity and kindness,

Noticing where the sensations are in the body today.

Perhaps there is a sense of tightness in the jaw.

Let me feel it here,

Just noticing without needing to change a thing,

Observing with curiosity and patience.

Perhaps we might notice some tingling,

An achy feeling,

Tension,

Crunching.

Becoming aware of sensations.

Now let's begin to turn towards,

Purposefully,

Various body parts,

Scanning the body,

Waking up to these areas of the body,

Lingering,

Exploring,

Noticing any sensations as we move through the body parts,

Not needing to create sensation,

But simply just seeing what is here now,

Placing your attention and awareness on each body part.

If you find your mind wanders away from the body to thoughts,

Remembering,

Thinking,

Planning,

Simply waking up to these thoughts,

Not judging this experience,

But noticing that it's part of the whole experience of now.

There is no right or wrong.

Simply noticing this is part of the whole experience now.

So let's bring your awareness now to the tip of the head,

Taking a moment to sense the crown of the head,

The back of the head,

The forehead,

The eyes and the nose and the jaw.

Just noticing as you scan the head,

What sensations are here for you now.

If there are no sensations,

Simply noting there are no sensations.

If you notice there are sensations,

Can you feel?

Naming these sensations helps us to discover and explore in this moment what is being felt right here,

Right now.

As we begin to move down into the sensations away from the head into the neck,

The front of the neck,

The throat and the back of the neck into the shoulders,

The front of the chest to the back of the upper chest.

Just noticing if there are any sensations here to observe.

There is some darkness,

Some holding.

Notice what it's like to become awake and aware as you scan these body parts.

And then gently drawing your awareness to your arms from the shoulders,

Letting your mind's eye and your awareness softly and gently linger down the length of your left arm.

Noticing what is here for you now,

Exploring the left arm from the top of the shoulder to the elbow,

The forearm,

The wrist,

The palms and the fingers.

Exploring sensation.

Pleasant,

Perhaps unpleasant or mutual sensations.

And then with curiosity and patience,

Taking your awareness now to the top of the right arm shoulder,

Gently exploring down the length of your right arm,

Upper arm,

Elbow,

Lower arm,

Wrist,

Palm and fingers.

Exploring as if for the very first time waking up to the sensations that are here for you now.

Lingering here and then as we continue to explore,

Noticing the upper back,

The middle back and the lower back.

Exploring here,

The sense of awareness,

Tuning in to sensations here.

What is here for me now?

And scanning the left and the right hand sides of the torso.

Perhaps there is something here to explore.

If your mind has wandered away from the body into thoughts,

Feelings,

Sensations or emotions,

Just noticing where your mind has wandered to without any judging,

Any expectation.

Knowing that it is part of your humanness,

It is part of your practice.

Sense of knowing of the flux and flow of the mind,

The body and the breath.

Acknowledging and gently when you're ready coming back to the body.

And your awareness now in the upper chest,

The diaphragm,

Centre of the body,

The belly and the lower belly,

The hips.

Not needing to find anything in particular here,

Just curiously,

Compassionately exploring this front part of the body.

Perhaps we might notice sensation of the breath.

Perhaps you might notice sensation of a gurgling tummy.

Perhaps it might be sensation of your clothing that meets your body and your skin.

Or perhaps there's no particular sensation here right now.

And as we continue on,

Noticing the heaviness of the lower part of the body through the hips and the pelvis.

Perhaps sensing here what is here for me now.

Sense of ease.

Perhaps an ache at each tingling,

Tightness.

Perhaps noticing the contact,

The lower half of the body to the earth,

To the chair.

Really gliding your awareness now down the length of your left leg.

Noticing the upper thighs,

The back of the knee and the knee,

The lower leg,

The ankle,

The heel,

The back of the foot,

The front of the foot and all five toes on the left leg.

Exploring with a sense of beginner's mind what is here for me now.

What can I feel?

And noting that there's no particular sensation to be felt and that's okay.

There is no vital room on this exploration.

You're simply just noticing moment by moment.

And then glide your awareness to the right leg,

Noticing the connection,

The buttocks and the hip,

The upper thighs,

The back of the knee,

The front of the knee,

The lower leg,

The ankle,

The heel,

Top of the foot,

Base of the foot and all five toes.

Exploring.

Noticing sensation,

Scanning and lingering with what is here now.

Not needing to create sensation or imagine.

It's simply just placing your awareness on this body part and noticing what arises.

And then gently glide your awareness back up from the soles of your feet as you take an inhale.

Expand your awareness all the way from the soles of your feet through the body,

Through the limbs that you've just visited and explore.

Inhaling all the way with this awareness,

Expanding this awareness to the crown of your head.

Sensing your whole body,

Your very alive and alert body.

From front to back,

Side to side,

Acknowledging the whole body,

Sensing the whole body in its posture,

In its place,

In the room or from wherever you are,

Noticing its place,

The space that your body takes in this moment.

Feeling awake and aware to the air moving around the body.

The sounds.

It's beginning to let in a glimmer of light,

Opening the eyes gently,

Slowly,

Bit by bit.

Sitting or lying with awareness of your whole body in this moment and knowing that you are where you are meant to be right now.

Your whole body breathing,

Alive,

Alert,

Whole and healthy.

As we begin to bring this practice to a close,

I'd like to congratulate you for having spent this last 20 minutes exploring the physical sensations of the body,

Waking up to this present moment and taking this time to nurture your body and your mind.

Thank you for joining me.

The practice is now complete.