Mindful Awareness Of Body & Breath- Live Group Recording

This meditation was recorded during a group session. Lie or sit down for this practice, scanning the body and being aware of any sensations, then moving to feeling the flow of breath. Settle in and enjoy.

Transcript

Just begin by getting a sense of our body and noticing if there's any tension held in the body at this moment.

Perhaps in the shoulders or the jaw,

Just let them ease if they're feeling a bit tight and tense.

If you're lying down,

You can have your hands on your belly or by your sides.

Just having your legs uncrossed if you are lying down,

Letting your feet fall gently to the sides.

And if you're sitting,

Allow your spine to be straight but soft,

Almost like a piece of string is pulled through your spine to the top of your head.

So just the gentle straight posture.

And you may wish to have your hands on your lap or cupped,

Whatever is comfortable for you.

And if you have a moment for yourself now,

Just to even make yourself 5% more comfortable,

You can do that.

As we begin,

Let's begin by noticing sounds that come from inside and outside of the space that you're in.

Allow your awareness to shift from one sound to the next.

Notice your body and the way it rests on the surface beneath you.

Notice all the points of touch between your body and the surface.

Perhaps you notice a temperature or a texture to the surface that you're resting on.

Just a gentle noticing.

Noticing the way your clothes feel around your body.

Perhaps you notice the different temperatures between where your pieces of clothing cover your body and the areas that are bare.

Take your awareness now to the top of your head.

Notice all the sensations that arise in this space.

Perhaps you notice tingling or a vibration,

Heat or coolness.

Perhaps you don't feel a sensation,

Perhaps just the knowing brings this area center stage for you in your awareness.

We'll continue to move down the body,

Scanning the body and noticing all the sensations.

The mind begins to wander in thought.

Know that is perfectly okay.

Allow it just to move by like clouds in the sky.

Then move back to the practice of the body scan.

Gentle moving from the space of thought back to the body.

It's part of the practice and it's okay.

No need to judge yourself.

No need to think that it's right or wrong.

Just allowing it to be as it is.

Now noticing your forehead.

Noticing all the sensations in the forehead,

Eyebrows,

Your eyes.

And perhaps if the eyes are open,

You may wish to close them at this point.

You may feel the sensation of the top lid touching the bottom lids,

Temples,

Ears.

Noticing all the sensation,

The back of the head,

Your neck,

Shoulders.

Notice all the sensations in the shoulders.

Moving your awareness now down your left arm,

Down your bicep and tricep,

Elbow,

Forearm,

Your thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger and little finger,

The top of your hand,

The palm of your hand.

Then noticing the whole arm,

Right to the tips of the fingers.

Notice all the sensations that are here.

Allowing this whole left arm to be center stage in your awareness.

Knowing sensation is as it is,

No right or wrong.

And allowing your awareness to move down your right arm and the bicep and the tricep,

Notice all that is there.

Elbow,

Forearm,

Thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger and little finger,

The top of your hand,

Noticing the palm of your hand.

Now noticing the whole right arm,

Allow the whole right arm to the tips of your fingers.

Be center stage in your awareness.

Bringing the awareness now to the top of your back,

Moving down to the mid back.

Notice all the sensations in the lower back.

Now noticing the whole back,

Noticing all that is there.

If you notice any tension or pain,

You can look at this with a gentle curiosity.

Notice if there's a heat or a coolness to this or if it moves in a certain way.

And then moving down to your hips,

Your left thigh.

Notice the whole left thigh,

The top and the bottom.

Notice all the sensations that are here.

Top of the left knee,

Behind the left knee,

Your shin,

Calf,

The left ankle,

The heel,

The foot,

The arch of the foot,

The ball of the foot.

Notice seeing any sensations now at the top of the foot or the simple awareness being center stage.

The big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe and little toe.

And placing center stage in your awareness,

Your whole left leg on the top of the thigh all the way to the tips of those toes.

Notice all that is there.

Placing our awareness now to the right thigh,

The top of the thigh and the bottom of the thigh,

Top of the right knee and behind the right knee,

The shin and the calf.

Awareness now to the ankle,

The heel of the foot,

The arch of the foot,

The ball of the foot,

The top of the right foot,

The big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe and little toe.

Bringing center stage now the whole right leg from the top of the thigh to the tips of the toes.

Shifting now your awareness to the chest.

Notice all the sensations here.

Perhaps you may feel the movement of the breath that flows in and out of your body.

Gentle awareness here,

Noticing that movement,

Noticing the sensations just as they are.

Noticing the sensations now at the belly,

Noticing the rise and fall of the breath.

Notice all the sensations at the belly.

And now allow yourself to bring awareness to the breath through the nose,

The flow down to the belly and the chest,

The flow out back from the belly and chest back out the nose,

The inflow and outflow,

The moment to moment awareness of the breath,

Letting go of the breath that happened before,

Not worrying about the breath that comes later.

Just living with this breath and then this breath.

Allow the breath to ground you in this moment.

The thoughts do arise.

Know that this is okay.

You can use your breath as your anchor to bring you back to the present moment.

Thoughts do arise.

Just be gentle with yourself.

Perhaps you might like to put a little label on that thought just like the label thinking,

Acknowledging that thought and then moving back to the breath,

Returning to this moment,

Returning to this breath,

The inflow and the outflow.

Bring your awareness to wherever ever the breath is the strongest for you.

Could be at the nose or the chest or the belly or perhaps it's the feeling of the whole body breathing inflating like a bloom and then letting go again on the out breath.

Flow in and out,

Grounding you in this moment,

Riding the flow of each inhale and exhale.

No need to change the rhythm of the breath.

Just allowing it to be as it is,

Allowing it to move through you breath by breath,

Moment by moment.

I will allow some space now for some silence so you can do this practice on your own.

Perhaps you'd like to pop your hands on your belly if you find that will help you or you may play with the breath and move from the awareness to the nose,

To the chest or the belly,

Whatever brings most comfortable for you.

And I'll let you know when it's time to let go of the breath.

Notice how your body is feeling in this moment,

The sensations of the breath moving through you.

Take a deep breath in,

Let it go.

Deep breath in,

Letting go.

Allow yourself now to bring some gentle movements back to the body,

Wiggling the fingers,

Toes,

Moving your head from side to side.

When you're ready,

You can open your eyes.