Body Scan into Breath Awareness

So to begin with just noticing how it is to be laying down.

How it is to be in this position,

In this room,

Just now.

And as you breathe,

Just noticing where the body is in touch with the cushions beneath you.

Just feeling a sense of pressure there,

And any other sensations.

Maybe some tingling or a sense of warmth,

Softness.

And as you breathe out,

Just seeing if you can't really let the weight of the body drop down into the floor through those points of contact.

So really letting yourself rest here,

Surrendering to gravity.

You don't have to brace against gravity.

Beneath this building is the earth,

The ground.

So the earth holds the building which holds us.

So we can use our imagination here to just connect with the earth,

Connect with the ground.

Let the ground hold you here.

Be held here.

As we allow ourselves to be held,

We can sense into the quality of stillness in the ground.

So many of us live very full lives.

And sometimes there can be very little stillness.

So really allowing stillness to come to the fore in your awareness just now.

You could even imagine drawing the quality of stillness up from the earth into your body as you breathe.

And then we'll just spend a bit of time opening to sounds all around us.

So we don't need to try and block anything out of our awareness.

Sounds can help us to arrive more fully as well,

Give us a sense of place and space.

So rather than resisting sounds,

We can just allow them to arise and pass away in their own time,

In their own way.

All right.

So we'll begin this body scan by bringing our awareness into the very top of the head.

If you'd like you could actually imagine on the in-breath breathing into the top of the head and with the breath,

The awareness following on the breath.

We're just getting curious about what we can sense at the top of the head.

There may be sensations there or there may be lack of sensation.

Whatever is happening is fine.

You don't need to make anything else happen.

But just exploring this part of the body.

Exploring what's there.

Alright.

And then coming down into the sides of the head,

So the area around the temples,

The ears.

Not feeling any sensations here.

And the back of the head.

See if you can't really let the weight of the head drop into the cushion,

Giving the neck a break.

You don't have to hold the head here.

Let the ground take the weight.

Now aware of the face.

Starting with the forehead.

Feeling sensations across the eyebrows.

Breathing into the eyes themselves.

Aware of the eyelids.

The whole area around the eyes.

The sockets.

Letting the eyes be heavy in their sockets.

And also aware of any visual sensations.

So even with the eyes closed,

We'll have a sense of light and shadow and colors and shapes and movement.

So again,

Whatever's there,

Just allowing it to be as it is.

Aware of the cheeks.

The jaw and the chin.

Aware of all the sensations in the inside of the mouth.

And the sensations of air passing through the nostrils or the lips as you breathe.

And then following the breath down into the throat.

Becoming aware of any sensations inside the throat.

Also aware of sensations in the neck.

So the skin,

Muscles,

Tendons of the neck,

Bringing awareness there.

As we go through the body scan,

If you notice any points of tension or discomfort,

Just see if you can't breathe into that space without having to change anything,

But just bringing a curiosity and a kindness to the experience.

Once there,

Can we soften into the tension?

Lean into it.

Breathing into the tops of the shoulders now.

As you breathe out,

See if you can't let the shoulders drop just a bit further away from the ears down into the floor.

You can even make a sound here that helps you to release.

So if you want to say,

Ah,

Or mmm.

You don't need to be self-conscious because no one cares.

Ah,

That feels good.

Aware of the lungs expanding,

Contracting with each breath.

You might even get a sense of the ribs here moving open and closed,

Not just in the front of the body,

But also in the sides and the back of the body.

So the whole rib cage moving like an accordion with the breath.

Aware of the lower organs as we breathe.

The central diaphragm moves down and gives all of the lower organs a gentle massage,

Which causes the belly to rise and fall and the sides of the body to gently move in and out.

Just aware of these subtle movements as we breathe and the sensations there.

And coming back into the shoulders,

Just taking a bit of time to notice sensations where the arms meet the shoulder.

Standing down from the shoulder girdle all the way down the upper arms.

Kinds of sensations here,

Maybe a sense of pressure where the arm meets the floor.

A sense of temperature where the air comes in contact with the skin.

Maybe there's tingling or warmth.

Or maybe there's something unpleasant,

A sharp pain or a dull ache.

So whatever's there,

Just aware of that as it is.

Moving our awareness now into the elbows.

How often are we aware of our elbows?

Probably only when we bang them.

What's there now?

And then coming into the lower arms,

Exploring sensations here.

It may be as we move through the body scan,

You also come across pleasant sensations.

So the invitation is to enjoy them.

Really dwell there.

Take them in.

Moving into the wrists and hands.

Often a place where we can sense a lot of energy,

Even when the hands are still.

Aware of sensations in the palms and the backs of the hands,

As well as each individual finger and thumbs.

And let's just tune in again with the shoulders.

Just see what the shoulders are doing.

It may be that there's tension there,

So taking a deep breath again into the shoulders,

Seeing if they can't drop further down into the floor.

Away from the ears,

Creating space around the neck.

And now just getting curious about sensations in the back,

Starting with the very top of the spine.

Spine reaches right up into the back of the head.

So aware of the vertebrae there.

Any sensations?

As you move down the back of the neck into the upper back.

Aware of movement here as we breathe.

The middle back and the lower back.

And before we move into the lower body,

Just taking the whole of the upper body now into our awareness.

Seeing sensations coming and going as we breathe here.

And then dropping awareness right down into the pelvic floor.

Aware of the soft tissues here,

As well as the hard bones of the hips and the pelvis.

You may even be aware of really subtle movements here as you breathe.

So the pelvic floor is very receptive to the breath.

There can be a gentle opening and closing in this area as we breathe.

Aware of the legs falling out of the pelvis,

The large bones and muscles of the thighs.

Aware of any sensations here.

Letting the earth take the weight of the legs.

Aware of sensations in the knees.

Curious about what's there now.

And then dropping down into the lower legs.

And shins and the calves.

And finally the ankles and the feet.

Aware of any sensations in the heels,

Soles,

Balls of the feet,

As well as each individual aspect of the foot,

Soles and knees.

Museums and museums.

On the next in-breath,

Just imagining your awareness dropping down into the heart.

So breathing into the heart.

These precious organ nestles between the lungs.

You can imagine the front of the heart,

The back of the heart,

Maybe even letting the weight of the heart drop down into the floor.

The sides of the heart,

The top and the bottom of the heart.

As we breathe into this space,

We might even have a sense of the beating of the heart.

Not just in the heart center,

But maybe across the whole of the body as it pumps blood throughout the body.

You might find it useful to actually place your hand on your heart to get a sense of this.

And for a moment,

Just notice what's hanging around.

So the heart center is often where we hold thoughts and emotions.

What's your emotional landscape this morning?

Whatever's there.

Maybe you don't have a sense of anything,

Which is also fine.

But just being curious,

How are you?

How are you?

And then just remembering what's brought you here this morning.

So whatever part of you wants to be here,

What do they need?

What do they want?

What's your deepest heart wish?

Just letting that be there to resting your awareness in that intention.

Just in that.

Now taking a few breaths to begin to expand awareness.

So moving from the heart center out little by little until you've included the whole body in your awareness.

The whole body laying here breathing.

Aware of sensations coming and going.

Some unpleasant,

Some unpleasant.

Without interfering,

Just being with.

Just being with.

And then beginning to deepen the breath.

Preparing to move into a seated posture.

I'll talk us through it.

So just starting to wiggle fingers and toes.

Notice how that is.

Rotating wrists and ankles.

And then when you feel ready,

Just rolling over to one side and hanging out there for a while,

Just notice what it's like to be on your side after being on your back.

And if you'd like,

You can really exaggerate this posture and take the fetal position.

It can feel kind of comforting to hold yourself in that way.

Really letting the weight of the body now fall through the side of the body.

Breathing here.

And then taking your time and with awareness,

So trying not to break the continuity of your practice,

We're going to move into a seated posture.

So you could put the hand,

Palm down of the upper arm and just push yourself up.

So try to not use too much effort.

Lifting the head last to protect the neck.

And you're going to move your way into a seated position that feels comfortable.

Don't worry so much about having the perfect posture.

Just anything that you can be in for the next 20 minutes or so.

And if you need extra stuff,

Feel free to grab anything else in the corner there.

Okay,

So we'm moving into a seated position.

Support your feet back.

And once you've found your seat,

Go ahead and close the eyes.

And once you've found your seat,

Go ahead and close the eyes.

So take a few deep breaths here,

Helping you to arrive now in your seat.

As you breathe out,

Allowing the body to drop just that bit further into the points of contact.

Trusting the earth to hold you here now in this posture.

Just notice how that is.

How is it to be sat here now after laying down?

What is that like?

What is it like to be both grounded but also rising up into space?

Sensing into the integrity of the posture.

And we'll just spend a little bit of time connecting with the sky above us.

So aware of this vast,

Infinite,

Luminous space that we are rising into.

You might even imagine the very top of a head nestling into the sky,

Connecting with that space.

As well as the space all around us.

Which we can sense through the skin and also through the eyes,

Even with the eyes closed again.

We can sense that there's a world out there.

Through sound,

We can sense the space we're in.

So aware of space stretching infinitely in all directions.

And also of the still point that we occupy sat here,

Breathing.

So aware of space.

So aware of space.

So aware of space.

So aware of space.

Let's just get curious now about the breath.

About what's actually happening as we breathe.

We don't need to think about it.

We can know the breath directly through sensations.

Getting curious about the quality of the breath.

The texture of the breath.

The sensations of movement as we breathe.

We can get interested in the depth of the breath.

Its temperature.

Where it can be felt in the body.

So allowing the breath to bring you more and more deeply into the body.

Getting curious about what can be felt as we do this.

So aware of space.

So aware of space.

So aware of space.

What's happening now?

So aware of space.

So aware of space.

So aware of space.

So aware of space.

So aware of space.

So aware of space.

So aware of space.

So aware of space.

So aware of space.

So aware of space.

So aware of space.

Just take a moment to notice the amount of effort you're making just now.

Whatever's happening.

Just letting go of any effort now.

Letting go of any striving.

Just resting back.

A broad open awareness.

We can support this resting back by even leaning back a bit in the posture.

You might want to open your eyes gently.

Just maintaining a soft focus.

You can place your hands palm up on the lap of the knees.

Just support a sense of receiving and openness.

Non-grasping.

For a few moments just being with the totality of your experience just now,

However it is.

Just letting go.

Just being that just by showing up here there will be an effect.

The practice will have an effect.

Just letting go.