Mindful Body Scan: A Journey Into Presence

Take 20 minutes to gently reconnect with your body, release tension, and invite calm awareness. In this guided body scan, you’ll be led step by step through each part of the body, cultivating presence, relaxation, and a sense of grounding. Whether you’re new to meditation or experienced, this practice is designed to help you unwind, restore balance, and carry a deeper sense of mindfulness into the rest of your day.

Transcript

To begin the guided body scan,

Bring your body into a position that feels comfortable and relaxed.

You can be seated or lying down and just make sure that your spine is straight.

If you're seated,

You can have your feet on the floor or your feet tucked under you in a cross-legged position.

And if you're lying on your back,

Just place your arms alongside your body.

Feet slightly spread apart.

And bring your neck in alignment with your spine.

And just bring your attention to your body resting in the chair or resting on the bed or the mat.

And begin the body scan by taking three cycles of breath.

Just observe your breath moving in and out for three cycles.

You don't have to force the breath in any way.

Just allow your body to breathe.

And allow these three breaths to bring your attention more into the present moment.

Begin to let go of any thoughts or distractions about the past or the future as best you can.

And throughout this practice,

If your mind wanders to the past or the future,

Just remember to bring your mind back and follow the instructions as best you can,

Staying as alert and awake as you can mentally while relaxing as deeply as you can through the body.

So now bring to mind your intention for the practice today.

This can be a one-word statement or a statement that you've written down.

Remind yourself of your intention for practicing mindfulness and specifically the mindful body scan.

And just repeat your intention to yourself internally three times.

And now with your intention clearly stated,

Bring your awareness to the top of your head.

And imagine a space of awareness at the top of your head about the size of the palm of your hand.

And see if you can just begin by being aware of this surface of your head.

Notice any sensations there.

You might notice tingling or warmth.

And now allow this field of awareness to move from the top of your head down to your face.

And then let this space of awareness cover your whole face.

So become aware of your whole face without making a mental picture internally of your face.

Just be aware of the sensations that you feel at the surface of your face.

And then let this one-dimensional field of awareness begin to scan through the field of your head from your face through the space of your head to the back of your head until you are fully aware of the back of your head.

And then scan forward again from the back of your head through the space of your head to the front to your face.

And once again from your face back through the field of your head to the back of your head.

And from the back of your head forward to your face.

And as you're scanning through the body,

Remember that you're just observing sensations in the tactile field,

Sensations of the air on your skin,

Temperature or pressure,

Areas of spaciousness or areas of tension.

And without any judgment or without trying to change anything,

You're just noticing what's present in the field of your body.

So notice your head now scanned from front to back and from back to front.

And then let your awareness descend down into your neck.

And let your awareness kind of roam throughout the internal space of your neck,

Around the back,

The sides of your neck,

And to the front of your throat.

Just scanning through the throat and the neck internally and externally,

Noticing whatever is present there.

And now from the space of your neck,

Let your awareness descend down over the tops of both shoulders.

Scan through the tops of your shoulders and then let your awareness descend down to the front of your chest,

Like a field of awareness that takes in the whole front of your chest.

And then just like you did with your head,

Allow this field of awareness to move from the front of your chest through your chest,

Through the upper torso,

And then back to your upper back.

Scan from front to back and then take in your whole upper back.

Be aware of the movement of your upper torso as you breathe without forcing the breath in any way.

Just observe your body breathing.

And then scan from your upper back forward through your upper chest to the front of your chest.

Being mindfully aware of any sensations on the external of your chest,

The skin touching your clothing,

As well as internal sensations and the movement of your chest as you breathe.

Perhaps you can detect the beating of your heart.

And then one more time,

Scan from the front of your chest through the middle to the back,

Taking in the whole field of your upper back and from the upper back forward to the front.

And now notice for a moment,

Take a moment of awareness just to perceive how your head,

Your neck,

And your chest and your upper back feel having scanned through these regions of your body.

What do you notice?

Do you notice any difference in sensation?

And now coming back to your shoulders,

Starting at the top of both shoulders,

Allow your awareness to descend down through your arms,

Your upper arms to your elbows,

And down from your elbows through your forearms to your wrists and into your hands.

Just become aware of any sensation in your upper arms,

Elbows,

Forearms,

Or hands.

And then from your hands,

Let your awareness come down to the front of your abdomen,

Your belly.

Let your awareness spread out again to perceive the front of your belly.

And then as we did before,

Scan from the front through the middle of your abdomen into your lower back,

Your middle back.

And then from the lower middle back forward through to the belly.

And as you scan through the belly,

Once again,

Take three conscious breaths,

Three mindful breaths,

Observing the movement of your belly as you breathe.

And if you ever find your mind wandering away from the body scan during the practice,

Just simply catch yourself,

Catch the mind,

Bring your attention back to this field in the space of your body.

Let your mind relax mentally.

And see if you can bring more interest,

Curiosity,

And awareness to the space of your body.

And now from your belly,

Allow your awareness to descend down,

Scanning down into your hips and your pelvic region.

And from the hips,

Let your awareness begin to scan down through your legs,

Feeling the backs of your legs,

Resting on the chair or on the bed,

The tops of your legs,

The internal space of your legs,

From the upper legs down through the knee joints,

And from the knee joints down through the lower legs into your ankles,

All the way down into your feet and into your toes.

And now from the tips of your toes to the very top of your head and out to the tips of your fingers,

See if you can bring your full body into your awareness all at the same time,

Full body awareness.

And with full body awareness,

We'll conclude the guided body scan with three breaths.

And again,

Don't force the breath,

Just observe your body as it breathes three cycles.

And see if each time you practice,

You can perceive more and more subtle sensation of the movement of the breath throughout your body.

And now after the three final breaths,

Just take some mental notes,

Notice how you feel after completing the body scan.

Have you noticed any changes in the feel of the body?

Have you noticed any changes mentally,

Emotionally,

Spiritually?

Just check in with yourself,

Paying attention to any changes that may have occurred through your practice of the body scan.

And after making mental notes about the changes that you notice,

Also remind yourself of your intention,

Your reason for practicing mindfulness today.

And congratulate yourself for committing to this practice and for following through on your intention to practice mindfully just for today.

And see as if you go through your day today,

You can bring a little more body awareness to your day and see how that supports you as you move through the challenges and the joys and the ups and downs of your day.