Mindfulness Meditations guided by Una Keeley Professional MBSR Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Instructor This is a short body scan practised in the standing position.
You can also do it in the seated position.
But if you can stand I would invite you to practice in the standing position.
So to begin allowing yourself to come into the standing position.
What we're going to be doing now is we're getting in touch with the body as a whole on the level of sensation in the standing position.
And sensing the ground underneath the feet.
Sensing the contact of the feet with the floor.
Whatever surface that is that you're on.
You could be carpet,
Maybe wood,
Maybe soil,
Maybe grass.
Sensing that earth,
That floor,
That terra firma underneath you.
Holding and supporting your weight.
Allowing the eyes now to gently close.
You can also do this practice with the eyes open.
And if so,
Lowering the gaze so as it's looking towards the floor about a metre to two metres ahead of you.
And softening the gaze so you're not staring or looking.
The eyes are just open and the gaze is soft.
So beginning now to allow the attention to shift from thinking to sensing.
So perhaps noticing the chattering mind,
The mind of opinions.
Preoccupations,
Memories,
Anticipations and bringing all that attention down into the body and shifting it into sensing mode.
So beginning to sense the body standing here.
Bringing the attention now to breathing and sensing breathing happening in this moment.
So beginning to notice where breathing is revealing itself to you in your body.
Where is the sensation of breathing showing up for you?
You may notice the chest moving,
Perhaps for you sensing the air coming in through the nostrils.
Maybe you're noticing a little bit of movement in the abdomen area as the breath comes into the body and leaves the body.
So beginning now to gather the attention and to bring it right down to the feet.
So sensing the feet and the soles of the feet.
Bringing the awareness up into the ankle area.
Moving up now to the shin bones and the calf muscles at the back.
Moving the awareness now up to the knees,
The kneecaps and the backs of the knees.
So bringing the awareness now up to the thigh muscles,
The front and the back.
The hip bones.
The pelvic area.
The belly.
The base of the spine.
And then sensing the spine all the way up the back.
So the rib cage at the back.
And then the rib cage as it envelops the body and comes around the front.
Sensing the belly button.
Sensing the chest area.
The shoulders.
The arms,
The upper arms.
The elbows.
The lower arms.
The wrists.
And the hands.
Sensing the backs of the hands.
And sensing the palms of the hands.
The knuckles.
And the pads at the tops of the fingers.
Bringing the awareness now back from the hands all the way up through the arms,
Back to the shoulders.
Across the chest and to the neck.
And sensing the head balancing above the shoulders.
So becoming aware of the chin.
The cheeks.
The mouth.
The lips.
The nose.
The nostrils.
The eyes.
The forehead.
And the crown of the head.
So holding in your awareness the whole of the body now from the tip of the crown all the way down through the body down to the soles of the feet.
And beginning to sense the envelope of the skin.
All around the body.
Noticing wherever there's bare skin.
Perhaps picking up on a sense of temperature.
Becoming aware of the air touching the skin.
And now scanning through the body and seeing where in the body is calling for your attention.
What part of the body is looking for the attention?
And when you move the awareness to this part of the body.
What sensations are you noticing?
How are they showing up?
If there's an ache or a pain there how is it showing up?
How do you know there's an ache or a pain there?
What are the qualities that you're noticing?
Perhaps heat.
Coolness.
Numbness.
Tingling.
Tension.
Bracing.
Throbbing.
And practicing just for a few more moments just breathing with this.
And perhaps asking this part of the body what it needs,
What it wants.
And now when you're ready beginning to move the hands,
The feet.
And when it feels right for you beginning to open the eyes.
So this part of the body that you've gotten in contact with this part of the body that was calling for your attention.
The sensations that you noticed in this part of the body.
And what you got in touch with as in what this part of the body was asking for.
What we're going to do now is we're going to give this part of the body what it needs on the level of movement.
So for me I got in touch with my arm and an ache through the upper part of the arm.
So what my body was calling for as an example is a soft touch,
A pressing motion on the arm,
On the muscle.
And so that's what I'm going to give my arm.
And as I do this I'm going to invite you to give whatever part of the body was calling for your attention to give it what it needs on the level of movement.
To release,
To take the pressure off,
To comfort.
Whatever that means for you in your body.
So what we're doing is we're offering a sense of compassion to this part of the body that's been calling.
We're acknowledging it,
Letting it know that we've heard it,
We've listened and we've heard it.
And giving it the attention that it needs.
So perhaps for you it's a gentle touch,
Maybe for you it's a stretching out,
Maybe for you it's a rebalancing of the body to take pressure off.
Trusting yourself in whatever that movement is and giving that movement to your body.
And now when you're ready,
Giving your hands a shake out and your feet a shake out.
And congratulating yourself for tuning into your body,
For doing this mini body scan,
For listening to the body and for giving it what it needs.
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