Body Scan For Relaxation

This classic body scan invites the meditator through the process with gentle attention to the body. Including the a trauma sensitive introduction. The meditation is without background music and has periods of silence. Chimes at conculsion.

Transcript

Greetings,

And thank you for joining us.

We're going to do a body scan practice today.

So the body scan practice will last for about 20 minutes,

Give or take.

And through this practice,

We bring attention to the sensations and awareness within the body as a way of not only creating self-awareness,

But also acceptance of our feelings and emotions that are connected with our physical body.

We're trying to bring positive energy and attention to the body,

And this helps open us to strength and healing.

We're trying to let go of judgment and criticism and see things just as they are,

So that we open in a positive way to the aliveness of the body.

So we'll begin by finding a quiet place to practice.

You may choose to lie on a mat on the floor.

You may include having a blanket with you.

You could also lie on a bed if you like,

And you can also do this practice seated if it is more comfortable and feels safer for you.

I do suggest that you turn your phone off for the duration,

And you practice somewhere where you won't be disturbed,

And you can keep the door closed.

So we'll just begin by noting the position of the body in relation to the space that we are in.

You might become aware of the contact with the floor or the chair or the bed below you,

And just feeling the places where your body is situated,

Noting how your limbs are positioned,

Perhaps turning the feet and hands outward for greater relaxation if that's comfortable for you,

And perhaps coming into awareness of the breath.

So you might notice the sensation of the breath passing over the upper lip,

In and out gently through the nose and mouth.

You might also note how it feels as we breathe in and out,

Right down from the nose and mouth through the throat into the belly and diaphragm.

If we feel the diaphragm muscle rising and falling in the chest,

Do we feel our belly expanding and contracting with each breath?

So just connect with the breath for three or five deep breaths.

And throughout this practice,

I'll ask you to follow my voice,

But I will allow for periods of silence and for you to just note your own sensations as well.

These will last for just a minute or two here and there throughout the practice.

Remember throughout the practice that if you are uncomfortable at any time,

This is not meant to be something that makes you feel very uncomfortable.

So you may shift,

You may change position,

You may open or close your eyes,

Or bring a hand to the belly or chest if that feels more grounding for you during the practice.

We also in meditation have been talking about neutral points of awareness.

So this is a place in the body that is not associated with any strong emotion or sensation of pain for you.

So this may be your hands or feet,

For some people it may be their heart or belly,

But at any time during the body scan,

You can bring your attention and focus back to a place that is neutral for you in spite of what the directions are with the body scan.

This is a way for you to remain grounded in this practice and to avoid being overly triggered by a sensation that might arise in the body scan.

So we'll now just try to sink into relaxation,

Being aware again of the expanding and contracting of the breath.

And we'll start by bringing awareness to the forehead.

So we'll just notice any pressure,

Any tension on the surface of the forehead.

Do we feel any sense of temperature there?

Is there coolness in air movement across the forehead?

This will allow us to begin from that point of attention on the forehead,

Expanding outward to encompass the eyes.

And you may close or open your eyes at this point in the practice,

Whichever is comfortable for you.

But if you have your eyes open,

I encourage you to keep your eyes softly focused on a neutral point in your space.

And if you close your eyes,

You may be better able to bring awareness to the small muscles around the eyes,

Just allowing them to soften and to relax.

If you do notice tension there,

Just note it and move on,

Remembering that we are trying to practice non-judgmental attention.

So we're not judging any sensation to be good or bad,

Just noting it.

And allowing that attention to expand from the eyes,

Moving down to the cheeks and the ears,

Coming back into the jaw.

And at this point we might again soften and relax the jaw,

Allowing the jaw to drop open just a little bit more than it might have been for a slight gap between the teeth.

And we will notice the small muscles around the mouth,

If we can bring a softening sensation to them.

Noticing the sensations inside of the mouth,

The moisture or perhaps dryness there.

Sensation of the tongue inside of the mouth.

Is there any subtle sensation that you feel there?

Is it pleasant or neutral?

And just resting with the sensations of the face,

Encompassing the forehead,

Eyes,

Cheeks,

Mouth,

Jaw.

And at this point we note the quality of our sensation.

Is it comfortable?

Is it neutral?

Again,

We are not trying to bring any kind of judgment to that.

So allow our awareness now to travel down to the neck and being aware of the spinal cord from the base of the skull all the way to the tailbone,

All the way down the back.

And again,

As you travel down the back,

If you find a spot that is overly activating for you,

Remember you can shift your attention to a neutral place or take a break from the practice.

So we'll note our feelings in the neck.

Is there any tension?

Do we feel a hardness there?

Is there any discomfort or tightness or fatigue?

This can be a reservoir of tension,

We can allow those shoulders to relax,

Letting that sensation slip down to the shoulder blades,

Outward to our shoulders.

Just letting the shoulders rest just a few more degrees back onto either the back of the chair or the mat that you're resting on.

And letting your attention shift down to your biceps and forearms and coming into the hands.

And notice the dimensionality of that attention.

We've been noticing the state of the muscles,

But with the sensation in the hands,

Do we feel a pulsation in the wrist?

Do we feel warmth,

Coolness,

Moist or dry?

And we feel the sensations as we come down the arms,

Feeling from the surface of the skin to the air moving over the skin,

Down into the muscles,

Right down into the bones.

Feeling the bones and the fascia around the bones relax.

Just coming into a deeper awareness there of the body.

And just a reminder again that we are trying to be kind and reassuring in our contact with the body.

So if it's helpful to you to move a hand to your heart or belly at this time to ground yourself,

You can be.

But the quality of our attention should be one of kindness to the self.

And perhaps you've moved your hand to your belly,

To ground,

But if you can just come now to the abdomen and bringing awareness to the belly and the stomach,

Do we feel the rising and falling of the breath?

What are the interior sensations?

Do we feel a feeling of fullness or perhaps emptiness in the belly?

Is there an awareness of process of digestion,

Sometimes the gurgling of the stomach,

Perhaps a sensation of air moving through the digestive tract?

Is there an ease there?

And that same awareness can travel through the belly to the low back and coming into the hips and the pelvis,

Just feeling an awareness there,

Noting whether we have feeling versus lack of feeling and know that this is normal.

Some people feel a lack of sensation in the body.

Hopefully through this practice,

You will be able to build a positive relationship with sensation in the body.

So just dissolve into some relaxation into that low back and hips,

Moving down into the legs,

Into the quadriceps,

Letting those big muscles soften with our attention.

Noting if our sensation is pleasant or neutral and coming into the knees and calves.

The knees are a place where some people do feel pain,

So we're trying not to dive into the sensation of pain,

But just having a kind curiosity about any pain you might be noting.

If it is there,

Noting the quality of it.

Is it throbbing or burning?

Is it something that you can turn towards?

We often unconsciously try to push pain away,

Which may actually increase our notice of it.

In this practice,

I want you to experiment a little bit with dialing that sensation up as you bring awareness to it and dialing it down as you move your awareness to a more neutral part of the body.

If you don't have pain in that part of the body,

You can also work with a place where you may experience pain.

If you are free of pain,

Then you are very fortunate,

But we're not going to go deeply into the work with the pain.

Just being aware that we can change the type of attention that we bring to the sensation of pain.

I want you for a moment right now in this body scan to be aware that you are using the body scan to explore your body in this moment,

That you are engaging in this practice.

Thinking about that awareness as to where you are right now and what time of day it is and just orientate yourself to the fact that you are here now in this practice.

After settling with that,

We will now move the sensation from the knees and the calves moving down into the feet.

We'll think bringing our awareness to the tops of the feet.

Do we feel coolness or warmth there?

Do we feel socks or shoes?

And also thinking about the soles of the feet.

Is there a sensation of tingling,

Perhaps an itch?

Is there a feeling of moisture or dryness with our feet?

Just allowing that sensation and coming into a deeper sense of relaxation,

Taking a whole breath here,

Sometimes described as allowing the breath to travel right through the body as though you were breathing in and out of the soles of the feet,

But now feeling a unified sense of the entirety and whole of your body.

Feeling those many,

Many parts working together,

How the breath is sending oxygen out through the lungs,

Through the bloodstream,

Moving out from the center and core of the body to the peripheral parts,

The hands and feet,

And fueling and cleansing the body and gathering up carbon dioxide and bringing it back to the lungs to breathe out.

So we are detoxifying,

Constantly feeding our body through our breath and cleansing the body with awareness of this practice.

So just take three or four deep breaths,

Working with that sensation of the whole body breathing.

Settling in with that whole body sensation,

Again,

Allowing yourself to feel with kindness and compassion the sensation here in the moment.

Now some permission to shift.

We're going to stretch if you like,

Stretching out the arms,

Stretching the legs,

Flexing the feet and hands,

Perhaps moving a hand to the heart or belly,

Or moving the hands outward from the sides,

Stretching them as wide as you can go,

Wiggling your fingers and toes,

Bringing your eyes softly open,

Focusing on the room,

Shifting into presence in the moment as we come out of the practice of the body scan.