Welcome to this brief body scan.
God created your body and this practice is an opportunity to nurture that creation through careful attention.
You can start by finding a comfortable position that allows you to be both attentive and also at ease.
Perhaps lying down on a firm surface with your arms at your sides,
Palms toward the ceiling,
Feet apart with toes falling away from one another.
Remembering that you have choice throughout this practice regarding your posture,
Where you focus your attention,
And anything else.
You're invited to adapt the practice as needed and to care well for yourself throughout.
So starting with a couple of deep breaths if you choose,
Feeling the rise and fall of your shoulders,
And then allowing your breath to return to its natural state.
And as your body settles and comes to stillness,
Receiving these words from 1st Corinthians chapter 6,
Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you which you have from God.
And so bringing your attention now into this temple of the Holy Spirit into your body,
Seeing if it's possible to notice your body with a gentle spirit of compassion and kindness.
Becoming aware of your whole body,
The sensations throughout your body.
Perhaps noticing points of contact with surfaces,
Clothing,
Air,
And moving your attention now all the way down into your feet.
Focusing on any sensations here in your toes,
The soles of the feet,
The tops of the feet,
And also the ankles.
Not searching for sensations,
Just becoming aware of whatever is there.
Maybe temperature,
Contact,
Pressure.
Bringing your attention inside of the toes and the feet and the ankles right down into the bones and joints.
Seeing if it's possible to be curious about whatever you might find there without judgment.
And if you find no sensations at all,
Just being aware of that.
And then moving your attention up into the legs,
Beginning with the lower legs,
The shins and the calves.
Feeling the muscles here,
The bones,
The surface of the skin.
Becoming aware now of the knees,
Noticing any sensations in these joints,
If those are available to you.
And moving attention into the upper legs if you choose.
The region between the knees and the hip joints.
Noticing whatever sensations are here in this moment.
And then broadening the attention to sense the whole of the legs,
All the parts of the legs joined together.
Perhaps feeling some appreciation for these legs that God has created for you.
Moving your attention now into the pelvic area,
Noticing sensations in the hip joints,
The pelvic basin,
Perhaps internal organs in this region.
And feeling the pelvic area as a whole right here in this moment.
Moving the spotlight of your attention into the abdomen,
Noticing shifting sensations in the lower and upper abdominal area as you breathe,
Both on the surface of the skin and inside.
Perhaps noticing the movement of the diaphragm up and down,
Helping to move the air in and out of the lungs.
Feeling that movement of the breath in the back if you choose,
Both the lower back and the upper back.
Noticing contact of the back with clothing or the surface where it rests.
Perhaps feeling the ribcage as it moves with the breath in the back and also in the front of the chest.
Shifting your attention here into the upper torso,
Sensing the breath coming in and going out of the lungs in your chest if you choose.
Each breath here given by God to sustain you in each moment.
Seeing if it's possible to detect the beating of your heart if that's available to you.
Moving the spotlight of your attention now onto your arms.
Sensations in the fingers and the hands,
The wrists,
Lower arms,
Elbows,
Upper arms,
Shoulders.
Feeling all of the hands and arms and shoulders as a whole and then shifting your attention into the neck region and the throat and then up into the jaw,
Mouth,
Cheeks,
Nose,
Eyes,
Forehead and face as a whole.
Becoming aware now of the skull,
The brain and the whole head and broadening your attention once again to the whole body here in this place,
Held together by your skin,
Your body sustained by the presence of God who dwells within you.
Taking a deep breath and gently opening your eyes with a prayer of thanks for this body that God has created,
This temple of the Holy Spirit.
Go in peace.
