30 Minute Body Scan

A mid-length body scan meditation to cultivate mindful awareness of the body. This meditation is performed lying down, so get comfy on a mat or your bed, using any props you need to support you. This meditation can be used at any time of day - if you would like to use it to drift off to sleep then pop sleep mode on and ignore the final instructions around waking up.

DISCLAIMER: Do not use this meditation while driving or doing anything which requires concentration. This meditation is not a substitute for mental health support - if you feel overwhelmed then come out of the practice and seek support if necessary.

Transcript

For this meditation,

We'll be lying down.

So finding a comfortable position,

Laying on the back if that feels comfortable for you,

And allowing everything to fall away from your midline.

Finding a balanced spine,

Perhaps the ankles gently falling outwards.

The palms can rest gently face up or maybe on the body,

Perhaps one palm on the heart and one on the belly.

Settling into your space,

Whether that's on a mat or a bed.

I'm beginning to get in touch with a sense of your breath in your body,

Starting by finding a place in the body where you notice the breath most.

That might be around the nose as you inhale cool air and exhale warm air.

Or perhaps this is around the chest or belly,

Feeling a gentle expansion on each inhale and a contraction on each exhale.

Finding that point where you can feel your breath in your body and just noticing the natural inflow and outflow of breath.

Seeing if you can be with the breath,

Witnessing the body breathing.

Not trying to change or to judge the breath,

But just to be alongside,

Bringing an attitude of friendly curiosity to the breath.

And on your next breath in,

Just turning the attention to the body,

Noticing the whole body lying here.

Perhaps getting in touch with the contact points between yourself and the surface underneath you.

Maybe noticing a quality of holding,

Of support.

We're now going to move the attention around the body,

Noticing body parts in turn.

As we move through each part of the body,

It might help you to imagine breathing into and out of the area we're focusing on.

But each part of the body,

As we move the attention,

Just noticing the sensations you can feel in that area.

And if you feel nothing at all in that area,

Then just notice that,

Remembering that there's no right or wrong.

The sensations we notice are neither good nor bad,

They just are.

Seeing if you can notice each sensation for its true qualities,

Rather than the judgments you're placing on it.

So bringing the attention now to the very crown of the head.

Noticing what you can feel in the top of your head.

You might want to imagine breathing into and out of the crown of your head,

Almost as if it were the blowhole of a whale.

Tuning into sensations you can notice.

And then moving the attention down to the back of the head.

Noticing any sensations around the back of the scalp,

Perhaps feeling the contact between the back of your head and the surface underneath you.

Maybe the touch of hair or a pillow.

Tuning into whatever you feel.

And then bringing the attention around the sides of the head now.

And then beginning to notice the ears.

Noticing any sensations you can feel in the outer architecture of your ears.

And then noticing if you can feel anything inside the ears.

Perhaps feeling the way the vibrations of my voice travel.

And then noticing your earlobes.

And then feeling around the head up to your forehead.

Noticing what you can feel in the forehead.

This is an area where sometimes we can carry tension.

So just noticing what you can feel.

And just notice if by turning your attention here perhaps there's a sense of smoothing or letting go.

By noticing tension we then maybe have the choice to release that.

So just noticing what you can feel.

Remembering that there's no right or wrong way to feel.

Moving the attention now to the eyebrows.

Noticing sensations in the eyebrow area.

Noticing now what you can feel in the temples.

And then moving the focus to the eyes.

Noticing the eye sockets.

And the eyeballs gently resting.

Noticing the eyelids.

And then moving the attention down to the cheeks.

Noticing the outsides of your cheeks.

The cheekbones.

And then moving the attention back up to the bridge of the nose.

Moving the attention down the bridge of the nose.

Noticing the whole of the outside of your nose.

Right down to the outsides of the nostrils.

And then maybe noticing the insides of your nostrils.

Can you feel the sensation of the air as you inhale?

Maybe the change of temperature as you exhale?

And then moving the attention down to notice the mouth.

Noticing any sensations in the lips.

Perhaps feeling the lips gently touching together.

And then turning the attention to the inside of the mouth.

Noticing the gums.

The teeth.

The tongue gently resting in your mouth.

And then noticing the whole of your jaw.

Noticing the top of your jaw and the lower jaw.

This is a place where sometimes we can carry tension.

So just tuning into that sense of whether there may be residual tension in your jaw.

And just notice what happens when you bring focused attention to the jaw.

Noticing now the chin.

Feeling all the way around your chin.

And under the chin.

And then taking a second to notice the entire face.

Just noticing whether maybe there are traces of expressions from your day or your week.

Trying not to label anything but just really being in the embodied experience.

Noticing your face.

And then moving your attention down past the jaw and the chin to the neck.

Feeling all the way around your neck.

Noticing any sensations you can feel.

And if your mind is beginning to wander,

Just see if you can gently bring it back to the sensations of the neck,

To my voice.

Remembering you can use the breath as an anchor to just gently come back when the mind wanders.

Moving the attention down now to the collarbones.

And then noticing the whole of the shoulder girdle.

Feeling all the way across the shoulders.

Really feeling into the full weight of your shoulders.

Gently resting on the surface beneath them.

Noticing any sensations across the shoulders.

And then bringing your attention to the left shoulder.

Noticing the ball and socket joint of the left shoulder.

Feeling all the way around the left shoulder.

And noticing the left armpit.

And now moving the attention slowly down the upper left arm.

Noticing any sensations you can feel in the left arm.

Moving all the way down the upper left arm until you reach the left elbow.

Noticing the inside and the outside of the left elbow.

And then washing the attention down the left forearm.

Moving the attention down until you come to rest on your left wrist.

Noticing the sensations all the way around your left wrist.

And then noticing the palm of your left hand.

And moving the attention to the base of the left thumb.

And then noticing from the base up through the knuckles to the tip of your left thumb.

Moving to the base of your left index finger.

And again moving the attention up through the left index finger all the way to the tip.

Noticing the left middle finger all the way from the base to the tip.

And noticing the left ring finger.

Then bringing the attention to the left little finger.

Moving all the way from the bottom to the top.

Then resting the attention on the tip of the left little finger.

If the mind has wandered,

Just seeing if you can bring that back to focus on the tip of your left little finger as if your life depended on it.

And then on an in-breath noticing the whole of the left hand.

And on another in-breath noticing the whole of your left arm.

And bringing the attention back up to the shoulders.

Moving now to the right shoulder.

Feeling into the ball and socket joint of your right shoulder.

Noticing all the way around the right shoulder.

Then feeling into the right armpit.

And then drawing the awareness down the right upper arm.

And coming to rest on the right elbow.

Noticing sensations on the outside and the inside of your right elbow.

And then moving the attention down the right forearm.

All the way to the right wrist.

Noticing the inside and the outside of that right wrist.

And then noticing the palm of your right hand.

Moving the attention down to the base of your right thumb.

And then moving up through the right thumb,

Through the knuckles,

All the way to the nail bed on the tip of your right thumb.

Noticing now your right index finger.

Noticing the right middle finger.

Noticing the right ring finger.

And then noticing the right little finger.

Bringing the attention to rest on the tip of that right little finger.

Bringing that real focus,

That single pointed awareness to the tip of your right finger.

And then on the next breath in,

Noticing the whole of your right hand.

And then noticing the whole of your right arm.

And now noticing both arms.

Just feeling into whether you can still feel the sensations that were there before.

Or whether there's a sense of shifting.

Coming back up to the shoulders now.

We'll begin to move the attention down through the torso.

Noticing any sensations you can feel in the upper chest.

Perhaps noticing the very subtle rise and fall of the chest as you inhale and exhale.

And moving the attention down to the mid chest.

Noticing the ribs.

Noticing the bottom of the rib cage.

Feeling into the solar plexus,

The diaphragm.

Expanding and contracting with each breath.

Moving down past the waist to the belly.

And again noticing if there's a sense of tension here.

Just seeing what bringing focused attention to the belly can do for that tension.

Perhaps a feeling of softness as you breathe in and out.

And then moving back up the body.

We'll move the attention down the back body.

Noticing first the backs of the shoulders.

Feeling into the upper back.

Any sensations you can feel around the shoulder blades.

Then noticing the mid back.

Coming down to the waist.

And then noticing anything you can feel in the lower back.

Moving the attention down now to the pelvis.

Perhaps getting a sense of the weight of your pelvis held and supported by the surface beneath you.

Feeling into the buttocks.

Noticing the front of the pelvis.

Then moving the attention to the top of your left leg.

Feeling into that left hip.

Noticing the ball and socket joint of your left hip.

And then slowly beginning to move the attention down your left thigh.

Noticing what you can feel all the way around the left thigh.

Moving down to the left knee.

Feeling into the knee cap and the back of the left knee.

And then moving the attention down the lower left leg.

Feeling all the way around the shin and the calf of the left leg.

Resting the attention on the left ankle.

Feeling into the ankle bone.

Feeling into the Achilles tendon at the back of the foot.

And then moving to the base of the foot.

Feeling into the heel,

The arch and the ball of your left foot.

Then moving the attention down the top of your left foot.

And bringing the attention to your left big toe.

Then noticing sensations in the next toe.

Seeing if you can isolate the individual toes.

Really feeling into sensations now in the middle left toe.

Feeling into the next toe.

And then noticing the left little toe.

Bringing the entirety of your attention all the way to that left little toe.

And then on a breath in,

Noticing the whole of the left foot.

On another breath in,

Noticing the whole left leg.

And then moving the attention to the top of the right leg,

To the right hip.

Feeling into the ball and socket joint of the right hip.

And then slowly washing the attention down the right thigh.

Moving the attention down your right thigh.

Noticing what you can feel.

And then coming to rest on the right knee.

Noticing the kneecap and the back of your right knee.

And now moving the attention down the lower right leg.

Noticing any sensations in the shin or the calf of the right leg.

Coming to rest on the right ankle now.

Noticing all the sensations in your right ankle.

And then coming to the back of your right foot.

Moving the attention down to your heel.

Noticing the heel,

The arch and the ball of the sole of your right foot.

And then moving the attention down the top of the right foot.

Noticing the right big toe.

Feeling all the way around that right big toe.

Then noticing the next toe.

The right middle toe.

The next toe.

And the right little toe.

Bringing your full awareness to the tip of your right little toe.

And then on an in-breath,

Noticing the whole of your right foot.

And as you next breathe in,

Notice the whole of your right leg.

Now noticing both legs.

Noticing both arms.

Noticing the front body,

The back body,

The pelvis,

The shoulders,

The head.

The neck and the face.

On your next breath in,

Notice the whole body laying here.

Perhaps a sense of breathing into the whole body.

Taking a few moments to rest in a sense of awareness.

Tuning into whether there's been a shift in your sense of awareness in the body.

If you're practicing before sleep,

At this point you may want to drift.

But to come out of the practice and back into wakefulness,

I invite you to first notice the contact points between yourself and the surface beneath you.

Perhaps taking a deeper breath.

Feeling that sense of waking up the body.

And then moving mindfully and with intention,

Bringing some small movements back into the body.

Perhaps taking a stretch.

Moving through the fingers or toes.

Taking any movements that feel supportive to you in this moment.

As you come back,

The practice is now complete.

Thank you for joining me.