MBSR Body Scan For Mind-Body Connection

Recorded live on Zoom in Woonona, Australia during the Pandemic. This body scan is a form of Vipassana meditation that improves mind-body connection and awareness. It often has secondary benefits of soothing the nervous system.

Transcript

This body scan practice was recorded by Adele Stewart,

MBSR teacher in Wununu in April 2020.

A reminder that the body scan is focusing mainly on the felt sense of sensations in the body.

No need to visualize body parts or analyze or imagine them in any way.

So finding yourself a comfortable seated or lying position for the practice of body scan.

Starting off by noticing what's present now.

What have you brought to this online meditation?

Let's see if for 15-20 seconds you can open yourself to any experience that's here right now.

The racing mind,

The calm mind,

Whatever mood state is present,

Whatever emotion might be present,

Whatever obvious body sensations are present.

And noticing the whole body,

The posture,

Expression on the face,

The space in the room that the body takes and noticing the breath,

Noticing where the breath is most obvious.

In the nostrils,

In the throat,

In the chest or in the abdomen.

Noticing the effect that the breath has on the body.

Perhaps now having a sense of that breath travelling right down the left leg into the left big toe.

Noticing any sensations in the left big toe,

Perhaps tingling or pins and needles,

Perhaps dampness or dryness,

Subtle movement.

The top and the sides and the bottom and the tip of the left big toe.

Not often that you pay that much attention to one tiny part of the body,

Unless it's in pain.

Or perhaps you really have a sense of not feeling anything in the toe.

And that's absolutely fine because what we're doing here is wiring the brain to notice whatever the feeling is.

So just noticing no feeling helps wire the brain.

Moving the attention now to the other toes on the left foot,

The tops,

The tips,

The bottoms of the toes,

Where they're touching,

Where they're touching each other or your socks or shoes or floor.

And moving now to the rest of the left foot.

The ball of the foot,

The bottom arch of the foot,

The heel of the left foot,

The sides of the left foot and the top arch of the left foot.

Perhaps noticing any sensations within the foot.

Moving now to the left ankle.

Noticing the position of the left ankle in relation to the foot.

Noticing any sensations at the front of the ankle,

The back,

The Achilles tendon area,

The little bones at the sides.

Any sensations within the joint itself.

And moving the attention now to the left lower leg.

So the left shin.

Noticing how close the skin is to the bone here.

The left calf,

The size of the muscle,

Any contact of the muscle.

And the sides of the lower leg.

Moving to the left knee,

The kneecap,

The back of the knee,

The sides of the knee,

The angle of the knee.

How can you tell what angle it is without moving or looking?

What you can notice about the joint within the left knee.

And moving up to the left thigh,

The bulky muscle at the front of the left thigh and the back of the left thigh.

The inner left thigh and the outer left thigh.

The sense of weight of the left thigh.

And anything you can notice about the muscle or bones within.

Noticing the left groin and the area where the back of the thigh joins the buttock.

And perhaps on a breath in,

Feeling the whole of the left leg and foot with awareness.

On the breath out,

Letting that go.

And moving now,

Moving the breath right down the right leg into the right big toe.

Noticing if there's any difference between the right big toe and the left big toe.

Noticing points of contact,

Any other sensation in the top,

Sides and bottom of the right big toe.

And noticing the other toes on the right foot,

Where they're contacting the tops,

The sides,

The bottoms,

Dampness or dryness,

Perhaps temperature,

Warmth or cool.

And moving to the rest of the right foot.

So the top arch,

The sides of the right foot,

The ball of the right foot,

The bottom arch,

The heel of the right foot.

And the right ankle,

Fronts,

The sides,

The back of the right ankle.

Anything you can sense in the right ankle joint.

And moving to the right lower leg,

The shin,

The sides and the back of the right lower leg.

The right knee,

The kneecap,

The back of the knee,

The sides of the knee.

The right thigh,

Any sensations in the skin of the front of the thigh,

The back of the thigh,

The inside and the outside of the thigh.

Any sensations within the thigh and the muscles,

Even in the bones,

Maybe the heaviness of that big leg bone.

Noticing any sensations in the right groin and then the top of the right thigh where it joins to the buttock.

And then on a breath in,

Filling that whole right leg and foot with awareness.

And on a breath out,

Letting that go.

Moving the attention now to the pelvic area.

So noticing the pelvic bowl,

The area around the pubic bone,

Just above it.

The genitals,

The anus,

The buttocks.

Noticing if any thoughts come up or any emotions come up.

It's allowing them as best you can.

Remembering throughout the body scan,

Any thoughts or emotions that arise are absolutely not barriers or obstacles.

They're part of the meditation.

Gently noticing whatever comes up.

And perhaps often the appropriate thing is to come straight back to the instructions.

And sometimes your own wisdom might allow you to just stay with an emotion for 30 seconds or so.

Noticing how it manifests in the body.

So noticing the whole of the pelvis and buttocks.

And moving up to the waist area.

So noticing the abdomen,

Clothing in contact.

Any sensations within the abdomen.

The sides of the waist.

The lower back.

A place that a lot of us have quite a lot of strong,

Intense sensation.

If you're one of those,

Noticing what does that sensation feel like?

Can you bring that kind,

Friendly curiosity towards the sensations?

Maybe even penetrating right deep into them.

As much as feels wise.

Moving up now to the diaphragm.

Noticing the diaphragm moving with the breath in and out.

Maybe that sense of pressing down on the abdominal contents with the breath in.

And releasing on the breath out.

And moving to the chest area.

So noticing the breasts.

Having a sense of the lungs breathing and possibly the heart beating.

And the upper back area.

The area around the shoulder blades.

Any tightness or softness.

Contact of clothing.

And noticing the sides of the body.

Right up into the armpits.

Perhaps noticing dampness or dryness.

And noticing the shoulders now.

The joints.

The angle of the arms in relation to the trunk.

Any tension in the shoulders.

Or perhaps they're quite relaxed.

And then on a breath in,

Noticing the whole of the torso,

Abdomen and pelvis.

Noticing the three-dimensional nature of space it takes up in the room.

Effect of the breath.

And on a breath out,

Letting that go.

Moving the attention to the arms now.

So starting with the upper arms.

Noticing is it possible to be aware of both arms at once or does the attention want to oscillate between them?

Either's fine.

Noticing whatever there is to notice about the upper arms.

The biceps muscle.

The triceps muscles.

The outside and inside of the upper arms.

Perhaps contact with the chest.

And moving to the elbows.

So the tips,

The points of the elbows.

The inside of the elbows.

The outside and the angle of the elbows.

Any sensations within the joints.

And moving to the lower arms.

Noticing sensations in the outsides of the arms,

Lower arms.

The insides of the lower arms.

The sides.

Sense of the bones and muscles within.

And moving the attention to the wrists.

The angle of the wrists.

The fronts,

The backs,

The sides.

The joints themselves.

And noticing now the hands.

The palms of the hands.

Dampness or dryness.

The backs of the hands.

Position of the thumbs and fingers.

Any points of contact between them.

And noticing if there's any sense of tingling,

Pins and needles,

Vibration within the fingers.

And then on a breath in,

Filling the whole of the arms and hands with awareness.

And on the breath out,

Letting that go.

And moving the attention up to the neck.

The front,

The sides,

The back of the neck.

Any tightness.

Noticing within the neck,

In the throat.

Dampness,

Dryness,

Scratchiness.

Tightness.

And moving up now to the face.

So noticing the chin,

The jaw joints,

The lips.

Any contact.

The lips with each other.

Dampness,

Dryness.

Vibration,

Tingling.

Noticing the inside of the mouth.

The gums,

The teeth.

Inside of the cheeks and lips.

Dampness there.

And noticing the tongue.

Any sensations from the tip right down to the root of the tongue.

Moving now to the cheeks.

And the nose.

The outside of the nose and within the nostrils.

Perhaps noticing the breath on its passage in and out.

And then moving to the eyes.

The weight of the eyeballs in the eye sockets.

The eyelids touching the eyeballs,

Touching each other.

Any subtle movement in the eyelids.

Moving up to the eyebrows.

The area between the eyebrows.

The temples and the forehead.

Then moving to the back of the scalp.

So noticing the base of the scalp at the back.

Moving the attention gradually through the rest of the scalp.

Perhaps having a sense of feeling here.

Coolness or warmth.

Itching.

Any sensations that you can feel in the scalp.

And include the ears.

The whole of the outside of the ears.

Any sensations within the ears.

And noticing that sounds are a kind of sensation as well.

So noticing sounds that reach the eardrums.

Like thoughts,

We don't need to analyse the content of those sounds.

Just noticing the sense of hearing.

And then feeling the whole of the head and arms and hands with awareness on the breath in.

And letting that go with the breath out.

Noticing the whole body sitting or lying.

The whole body.

No need to control anything or change anything.

Simply noticing the whole body just as it is right now.

And perhaps again noticing any moods,

Emotions,

Thoughts.

Is there any difference from before the start of the practice to the end?

Yes.

Yes.

Early Edge