Body Scan For Transforming Fear & Anxiety

This practice is a guided meditation for transforming fear and anxiety.

Begin by taking a comfortable posture.

Lying down or sitting upright.

Settling into the awareness of your body and your posture.

Lower your gaze or close your eyes.

Whatever you prefer and feel comfortable with.

Allow your body to relax.

As you begin this practice,

Take a moment to welcome and appreciate yourself.

Appreciate your body,

Your mind,

For being here today.

For taking the time today to be present,

To go inside into your own mind.

Take a few moments to feel any sensations in your body.

Any holdings,

Any tightness,

Any reservations.

As well as feeling into your mood,

Your emotions.

Just acknowledging whatever is being felt and letting it be.

Feeling how you are with awareness and acknowledging that whatever is there is meant to be there.

Now,

Very gently,

Let's bring our attention to the breath.

Begin by being mindful of the breath in the abdomen.

Expanding and rising on an inhalation and falling on an exhalation.

Breathing in and breathing out with awareness.

Breathing normally and breathing naturally,

Feeling the rise and fall of the abdomen.

Breathing normally and breathing naturally,

Feeling the rise and fall of the abdomen.

This type of mindful breathing can help calm you down when you're feeling anxious,

Fearful or stressed.

Just be mindful of the breath coming in and going out.

Breathing in and breathing out gently with awareness.

If you find that your mind has wandered off,

Don't get upset.

Compassionately,

Gently take note of it.

The mind has wandered.

Simply watch and say,

The mind has wandered.

Continue breathing in and breathing out with awareness.

Now,

Gently withdrawing the awareness from your breath,

We'll slowly shift our focus to a body scan.

Feeling into this body,

Into the world of sensations,

Thoughts,

Emotions,

Tensions and acknowledging whatever is being experienced.

Just like a scientist would objectively report their findings,

We as mindfulness practitioners are like our own internal scientists,

Reporting on our internal findings,

Thoughts,

Sensations,

Objectively.

So whatever it is you're feeling in the body,

In the mind,

Acknowledge it and let it be.

Let's start by bringing the focus of our awareness into the soles of each foot.

Getting to feel the heels,

The bottom of the feet,

The toes,

The top of the feet and gently above into the ankles.

Feeling each of the feet up to the ankles with awareness and just acknowledging whatever is felt in the body or even in the mind.

Feeling into the feet,

Into the ankles,

Slowly let the awareness rise up into each of the lower legs,

Into the calves,

The shins and coming up into the knee joints.

Feeling into the body with awareness.

If you don't feel anything,

Don't get frustrated,

Don't try to search for a sensation or force anything to happen.

Just be with whatever sensation does or does not arise.

Perhaps it's an itching sensation,

A cool sensation,

A warmth,

The feeling of your clothes against your skin.

Any sensation,

No matter how subtle it is,

Is a sensation.

Now letting the awareness rise up from the lower legs and knees into the upper legs,

Into the thighs,

Hamstrings,

Quadriceps.

Feeling the sensations in the upper legs and its connection up into the hip joints.

Feeling into the thighs,

Into the hips and letting be.

Letting the awareness come up into the hips,

Into the pelvic region,

Into the center of the body.

Feeling the sit bones,

The buttocks,

Genital region,

Feeling into the center of this body with awareness,

Within the hips and the pelvic region.

Whatever arises in the body or perhaps at times whatever arises in the mind and emotions,

Allow them to arise.

Just acknowledge them and let them be.

Letting the awareness rise into the tailbone and then slowly coming up into the lower back,

Up the spine,

Into the middle,

Eventually into the upper back.

Feeling sensations in the back with awareness and letting be.

As you go through your body,

You may notice from time to time tensions,

Tightness,

Pain.

And if you can allow any of these areas to soften,

Allow that to happen.

Remind yourself,

My body is my temple.

It's also important to know that if you're unable to soften an area of pain,

Your practice informs you to let it be.

Any tension,

Any ache,

Any pains,

Allow whatever sensations arise to arise and allow them to go wherever they need to go.

The same applies even to your thoughts and emotions.

Letting them be.

Gently allowing them to arise without trying to push them away.

Every time you become aware of a thought,

As opposed to being lost in a thought,

You experience the opening of the mind.

Now feeling into the back with awareness,

Letting the awareness begin to rise up into each of the shoulders and the shoulder blades.

Then gently bringing the awareness down each of the upper arms,

Into the elbows,

Into the forearms,

The wrists,

And the hands.

Feeling sensations from the shoulders to the fingertips and letting be.

Softening and releasing those shoulders if needed.

Withdrawing the awareness now from the shoulders to the fingertips and placing your attention to the stomach.

Feeling into the stomach with awareness.

Whatever sensations that may be felt,

Tightness,

Nervousness,

Unease,

Whatever is there,

Acknowledging,

Noting,

And letting be as you feel into the stomach with awareness.

Now letting the awareness rise up into the skin of the chest,

Into the breast,

To the sternum,

And rib cage.

Feeling into the great systems of ventilation of the lungs and circulation of the heart.

Feeling into the chest with awareness.

Letting any waves of thoughts,

Emotions,

Sensations arise and go to wherever they need to go.

Now bringing the awareness from the chest back up into the shoulders again.

Feeling the shoulders and its connections into the neck and throat,

Being present.

Now letting the awareness from the shoulders and neck and throat come up into the jaw.

The jaw is one of the most exercised joints in the body,

Home of communication,

Home of how we ingest our food.

Feeling into the jaw,

Into the mouth,

Into the teeth and tongue.

And letting be.

Now bring your awareness to the cheeks of the face,

Into the sinus passages,

Into the temples,

The head,

And the forehead.

Feeling into the eyes and muscles around the eyes.

Feeling into the facial structure,

Into the top,

Into the back of the head.

Feeling any sensations and letting be.

Feeling in through the ears,

Into the inside of the head and into the brain.

Feeling the face and head with awareness.

Now gently connecting the face and head with the neck and throat,

With the shoulders and arms,

The hands,

The chest,

The stomach,

The back,

The hips.

The legs and feet.

Feeling the body as a whole from head to toe.

As you breathe in,

Feeling the body rising ever so gently on the exhalation and falling.

As you're feeling into this body and mind,

You may at times continue to experience some anxious thoughts,

Worries,

Fears,

Or doubts.

There are times when you can use a practice of mindfulness,

Of inquiry,

Of investigation,

To potentially peel back those layers and slowly discover some of the underlying causes of these fears.

If it appears that even after practicing the body scan and mindful breathing that you're persisting with some anxious feelings,

Bring attention to those feelings themselves right now.

To acknowledge what's being felt,

Feeling into the fear.

Not pushing it away.

Seeing it with kindness and learning to be with rather than be without.

Imagine getting into a bath that hasn't yet reached the temperature you like.

You slowly dip your toes into the water and react to the temperature.

You continue to adjust the water and eventually,

With the gradual acclimation of dipping your toes in and out of the water,

You slowly adjust to the temperature.

Part by part,

Your body becomes accustomed to the temperature of the water and you fully submerge yourself.

Likewise,

You're very gently dipping your toes into feeling the fear.

Just acknowledging what's there and letting it be.

Feeling into it with awareness.

There's no need to try to push away or analyze.

Just feeling into the experience of feeling anxious,

Fearful,

Worried and letting be.

And whatever arises,

Equally acknowledging and letting be.

Feeling into the fear that you feel.

Listening with compassion.

No need to push yourself more than you can handle,

But just working with the edges.

Feeling into the anxiety and acknowledging.

As you continue to practice mindfulness,

You will learn to remain equanimous as your feelings arise.

You will learn to be with things as they are.

And now,

Gently withdrawing from the body scan,

Let's come back to the beautiful breath again.

What we always come back to.

Our breath is our best friend.

In and out,

Feeling the abdomen,

The belly expanding on the inhalation and falling on the exhalation.

Breathing in and breathing out with awareness.

Just staying present to each breath.

Now,

Just like watching the breath coming and going,

We can begin in this last practice to watch our thoughts.

Like watching the clouds flying by in the sky.

Like sitting at the edge of a river,

Just watching the water floating downstream.

Beginning to observe the mind and even the thoughts of fear as nothing but passing mental phenomena.

Like clouds,

Like water down the river,

Like the leaves that fall from trees.

Observing any fearful,

Anxious thoughts,

Simply as just mental events that come and go,

Being present to the mind.

They are only thoughts,

Just like any of the other senses of sight,

Of sound,

Taste,

Smell,

Bodily sensations,

All coming and going.

All showing impermanence.

Observing the mind,

Thoughts,

Noticing the ever-changing,

Fleeting nature of them.

Simply coming and going.

Simply watching your thoughts coming and going.

They are not yours,

They are just thoughts.

And now gently withdrawing your awareness from the mindfulness of thoughts,

Let's come back to the breath in the abdomen.

Breathing in and breathing out.

As we near the end of our practice working with fear and anxiety,

Let's take a moment to send some loving kindness to all those that are being challenged with these same feelings.

All those living with fear or worry,

Let us extend our well-wishes of healing,

Of peace to all of them.

And lastly,

We'll conclude with an appreciation practice.

An appreciation for all living and non-living beings.

May all living beings and non-living beings be well,

Happy and peaceful.

And finally,

An appreciation for yourself,

For taking time out of your day today to develop your mind,

To enjoy the merit of your practice.

May I be well,

Happy and peaceful.

And as you continue on with your day,

As you continue on with your week,

Your regular routine,

Thoughts of fear,

Anxiety,

Doubt,

Worry and stress will undoubtedly arise.

At times like this,

You may feel like nothing can help you,

But I want you to remind yourself of this practice.

And remember,

You have access to resources that you may not have realized were with you all along.

A stillness at your core.

You may now gently open your eyes or raise your gaze in your own time.