A Body Scan For Coming Home

A different kind of body scan. We are not going to try to relax anything, release anything, or scan for problems to fix. We are going to walk slowly through the body and speak to each part. Not about it. To it. As if it were someone you had been away from for a long time, and you were finally coming home. Throughout, we assume one thing: that every part of you that is doing something, holding tension, aching, going numb, gripping, hiding, is doing it for a reason. The body is not malfunctioning. The body is reporting. Most of us have spent our whole lives ignoring our bodies or managing them. This practice is a third way. We are going to listen. From the crown of the head to the feet and back, each part receives acknowledgement and the simple, often missing sentence: I see you. I am here.

Transcript

So, Welcome everyone. And thank you. Thank you for listening. So this is going to be a different kind of a body scan. We are not going to try to relax anything. We are not going to release anything. And we are not going to scan for problems to fix. We are simply going to slowly walk through the body. And speak to each part. As if it were someone you had been away from for a long time and you were finally Coming home. Most of us have spent our whole lives speaking to our bodies in two ways. Either we ignore them entirely until they make us or we manage them. Tell them to be quieter. Tell them to sit still. Tell them to look different. So for the next few minutes. . . We are going to try a third way. We are going to just listen. And we are going to assume throughout just one thing. Every part of you that is doing something. Holding tension, Aching. Throbbing, Hiding, Going numb is doing it for a reason. The body is not malfunctioning. The body is reporting. So find a position you can stay in for a while. Lying down is fine. Sitting is fine. Half sitting half lying is fine. The only requirement is that you can be still without working too hard at it. Take a moment now to arrive. Now before we go to any one part. I want you to greed the whole thing. Without asking anything to change. Bring your attention gently to your entire body now. The whole shape of you. Lying or sitting wherever it is. And in your own time internally say to it. I am here. I am here. That's all. I am here. No. Slowly, Gently. Bring your attention. To the top of your head. The place where even when you were very small. You were soft. And just notice now whatever is there. Is there pressure? Is there lightness? Or is there nothing in particular? All of it is fine. And whatever you find. Internally, Just say this to yourself. It's like you're speaking to the top of your head. I see you. I see you. Top of the head, I see you. You have been the highest point of me. The place that meets the sky my whole life and I've rarely thanked you for that. I see you. Now move your attention slowly to the forehead, The brow, Or the space between the eyebrows. What is there? Tension. Smoothness. Or a faint pulling. If there is any holding there. This part of you has been thinking for a long time. Sorting, Worrying, Calculating. Trying to figure out what to do. What comes next? What to say, What to feel, What to want. I want you to say this to your forehead now. Thank you for thinking so hard for me. You can rest. Nothing needs to be solved. While I'm here. Thank you for thinking so hard for me. You can rest. Nothing needs to be solved while I'm here. If it doesn't soften, That's fine. You're not asking it to. You're just letting it know what you've noticed. And that you're not going to demand anything more from it. And now your eyes. Inside the eyelids, Behind the eyes themselves. The small muscles around them. Your eyes have been working for a long time. They have been looking, Scanning, Reading, Watching. Looking for danger, Looking for approval, Looking for what to do next. Say this now to your eyes. You have seen so much. Thank you. You can stop looking for things just for now. You have seen so much. Thank you. You can stop looking for things. Just for now. If they are closed, Let them rest behind the lids. Let them know there's nothing they need to keep watch for in this moment. The room is here. You are here. And the watching can pause. And now the jaw. Of all parts of the body, The jaw is one of the most patient because it holds, It clenches. It grinds. Sometimes at night, Taking apart things you weren't able to say during the day. So if your jaw is holding something, And it almost certainly is. I want you to speak to it directly. I know. I know you've been holding it for me. The things I didn't say. The arguments I had silently. The frustrations I never named. I'm sorry I've been ignoring you. I'm sorry I've been telling you to relax, As if relaxing was something you could choose. When you were doing exactly what you were built to do. With everything, I couldn't process any other way. I am sorry I have been telling you to relax. You don't have to soften now. You are allowed to keep holding. But I want you to know that I see you. I see how long you've been working. And whenever you're ready to let some of it go. I'll be here. And now your throat. The whole channel of it. Front and back. Your throat is where the words go through. The said and the unsaid. The cries that came out and the cries that didn't. If your throat is tight. There's a reason. Something has been waiting there. Something that wasn't safe to say. Or wasn't welcome. Or wasn't believed when you tried. Whatever you're seeing, Sensing, Observing in your throat, Let's speak to the throat now. Throat I see you. I am sorry for what you've been carrying. I am sorry I have sometimes been ashamed of you, Of how you sound. Of what wants to come out. Of the way you catch when something true is trying to be spoken. You don't have to release anything. You don't have to make any sounds. I just want you to know. That whatever you've been holding in your time without rushing. I am willing to know it. Now let's go to the shoulders. If anywhere in the body knows about caring, It is the shoulders. The world tells us this from when we are small. We say, Carry the burden on your shoulders. We say, The weight of the world on your shoulders. So the language knew before we did. Your shoulders have been carrying things for you. Not just your bag, Your work, Your obligations. Older things. Things you took on when you were small and didn't know you didn't have to. Things people gave you that weren't yours. Things you offer to carry so the people you love wouldn't have to. Shoulders, I see you. I see what you've been carrying. And I'm sorry. Because some of it was never yours to begin with. Sure as I see you. I see what you've been carrying. And I'm sorry. Because some of it was never yours to begin with. Now if you want to let any of it down you can. And if you're not ready, That's alright too. I am not asking you to drop anything you are not ready to drop. I just want you to know. That I see how heavy. This has been. Now behind the shoulders is your upper back. The place between your shoulder blades. If anything has lived there for a long time. It's the place we cannot reach. The place that holds what we don't get to look at directly. The place behind us. Upper back, I see you. I see the parts of me that have been gathering there. The things I couldn't face. To things that piled up behind me while I kept moving forward. Upper back, I see you. I see the parts of me that have been gathering there. The things I couldn't face. The things that piled up behind me while I kept moving forward. I am not asking you to release anything. I'm just acknowledging. That you've been the keeper of what I couldn't carry in the front. Thank you. Now slowly bring your attention to the chest. The whole front of you. The ribcage, The soft tissue, And underneath it, The heart. The chest is the most defended part of the front of the body. We armour it. We hunch it. We brace it. And we've been doing this since we were very small. The first time someone laughed at us. The first time we trusted someone we trusted disappointed us. The first time we offered ourselves to somebody and we were not met. Chest. I see you. I see how much you've been protecting and I see why. I've been fighting you sometimes, Telling you to open. Telling you forcefully to let love in. I am sorry. You knew what you were doing. You were keeping me safe in conditions that were not yet safe to be open in. Thank you. And now to the heart underneath, The actual heart. Doing its quiet work for as long as I've been alive. To my heart I say, I see you. You have been beating without my permission and without my thanks for decades. You have kept going through things that should have stopped you. You have done this without asking for anything. I am so grateful. I see you. You Now your belly. The soft round of it. The place that most of us have been at war with all our lives. We have held it in, We have sucked it up and we have been ashamed of it. We have starved it. We have stuffed it. We have rarely if ever simply let it be. Belly, I see you and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the years I treated you as a problem. I'm sorry for the things I refused to feed you. I'm sorry for the times I fed you too much because I couldn't bear to feel what was underneath. You have been carrying my appetite, My hunger, My fullness, My grief, My anxiety, My excitement and my fear. All of it has passed through you. And I've really thanked you. For being the place where so much was processed. And just for now. . . Let your belly be soft. Not because it should be. Just to see what it feels like for a moment to not be at war with it. And now your lower back. Behind the belly, The lower back. The place that takes so much of what the body is asked to carry. If your lower back hurts often, It's been doing the work of holding you upright in conditions that were not designed for a body. Long hours of sitting. Pressure that was not physical, But you carried it physically anyway. Lower back, I see you I am sorry for what I've asked of you. You have been my structure when there was no structure available. You can keep holding for now. I am not asking you to release anything. I just want you to know that I notice you. And I am grateful for what you've been doing without my asking. Hmm. And now lower into the pelvis. The whole bowl of it. Hips. Base of the spine. And the soft tissue of the groin. The pelvis is where the body sits in the world. It is where safety registers when there is safety. It is where run safety registers. It is also the foundation. So for many of us, The pelvis has been a complicated place. The sight of pleasure, Vulnerability, Shame, Disconnection, Things that happened that we didn't fully consent to, Things we did consent to but we couldn't be fully present for. It's all there. Taking your attention there now. Pelvis I see you. I see what you've been holding. I'm sorry for the parts of you I've ignored. The parts I have not been able to claim. The parts I haven't yet been ready to fit. I am just here. You are a part of me. I am just here. You are a part of me. I am just here and you are a part of me. And now. . . The legs. Your legs have been carrying you everywhere. To the places you wanted to go. To the places you didn't want to go to. Towards the people who loved you. Away from the people you were afraid of. They've been doing this since you first learned to walk. Legs, I see you. I see how much you have moved me. Thank you. Legs I see you. I see how much you have moved me. Thank you. If you're holding tension in your legs. I see that too. Sometimes the legs hold what wanted to flee but couldn't. The impulse to run from something that wasn't a thing you could run from. That energy stays in the legs, Sometimes for years, Sometimes for generations. I see that. I am not asking you to release it. I am just here. Now just be present with your legs, Your knees, Your calves, Your feet. Your legs, Your knees, Your calves, Your feet. Now if you need to spend more time in this space, If any particular part of your body is speaking to you, Needs you, You're very welcome to pause this and stay with the body, Stay with the part. Now very slowly, Very gently Bring your attention to your hands. Move them, Feel them, Sense them. Now. . . Your attention back to the whole body. The whole shape of you. Lying, Sitting, Walking, Wherever it is. And just notice that you've spent the next 30 minutes. Just saying hello. To your body. A body you've been living inside your whole life. And you've rarely actually met. This is the body that has held you. That is holding you now. And that will continue to hold you in whatever ways it can for whatever time you have left. Whatever has been fighting, Whatever has been bracing, Whatever has been keeping you safe, At a cost you didn't choose to pay. I want you to say this one last thing to your body, Internally. You can just receive my words. Or you can repeat it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Now, You can stay where you are for a few more minutes. If anything has shifted, Let it shift. If nothing has shifted, That is also fine. The body needs to be visited many times before it begins to believe that the visiting is real. And you're not there for a reason with some conditions, With some demands. If you want to return to this practice, Please come back. Make it weekly, Daily, Monthly, Whatever. Make it whenever you are tired of being at war with your own body. Because the body remembers being met. Each time you return, You build something. If your eyes were closed, You can open them. Just bring yourself fully back. Take one slow deep breath with me. Thank you. Take gentle care of yourself for the rest of today. Don't rush back into doing anything. The body has just been met. Let it have little time to register what that was like. Thank you for spending this time with yourself. Thank you for letting me be your guide. And thank you for being willing to come home. Namaste.