Body Scan Sitting

The body scan is a form of vipassana meditation that improves mind-body connection and awareness. It often has the secondary benefit of soothing the nervous system. This one is a shorter practice with the invitation to do it in a seated posture.

Transcript

Finding yourself a comfortable seated position, Ideally on a dining room type chair, With your back reasonably straight but not too rigid. Perhaps that sense of the string coming out of the top of your head. Shoulders relaxed downwards, Perhaps shifting from side to side, Back and front to find a nice balanced sitting position, Not too tight, Not too loose. Sensing the whole body sitting on the chair, Noticing the contact of the feet on the floor, Bottom of the seat, Noticing contact of the clothes on the body, Perhaps the sense of jewelry or hair touching the body, The feeling of the air on exposed skin, Parts of the body touching other parts, Perhaps fingers touching the fingers, Lips touching, Eyelids touching, Perhaps under your arms, The inner arms touching the sides of the chest, Noticing the general sense of sensations in the body, Areas of heat or cool, Heaviness or lightness, Some sensations might feel very vivid, Others quite vague, Maybe there's a sense of movement in the body, Pulsation or throbbing or tingling, And noticing the emotional tone that's present right now and any thoughts that are present, Knowing that the mind will continue to think throughout this practice. Now our job is to simply notice the thoughts and bring us attention to the instructions, Gently but firmly, Taking the attention into the left foot now, Noticing sensations in the left big toe, The top, The bottom, The sides, Any throbbing or tingling, Pins and needles, Sense of dampness or dryness, Or perhaps you're drawing a blank, Noticing whatever sensations are there to be noticed, The direct experience of them rather than thinking about the toe or imagining the toe, And then moving to the other toes on the left foot, Tops, The bottoms, Where they're touching, Moving the attention to the left foot, The ball of the left foot, The bottom of the arch, The heel of the left foot, The sense of contact of the foot with the floor, The sides of the left foot, The top of the left foot, The left ankle, Front, Sides and back, The left shin, Perhaps sensations in the skin, Perhaps sensations in the bone close to the skin, The sides of the left lower leg, And the left calf, Moving the attention to the left knee, Noticing the angle of the knee, The kneecap, The sides of the knee, The back of the knee, Moving to the left thigh, Front of the left thigh, Back of the left thigh, Inside and outside of the left thigh, Perhaps investigating deep inside the thigh, The bone, The muscle, And the left hip, Where the leg joins the pelvis at the groin and the side of the hip, And the left buttock, And then on an in-breath, Filling that leg with awareness, Noticing the whole length, Weight and volume of the left leg and foot, And on an out-breath, Letting that go, And taking the attention now down into the right foot, Noticing the contact of the right foot with the floor, The toes on the right foot, The tops, The bottoms, The insides of the toes, The right ball of the foot, The arch of the foot, The right heel, Sides of the right foot, Top of the right foot, Right ankle, Top, Sides and back, Achilles tendon area, The angle of the right ankle, Moving your attention to the right lower leg, The shin, The sides, The calf, And into the right knee, The kneecap, The sides of the knee, The back of the knee, The angle of the right knee, The right thigh, Front, The right thigh, The sides, The back of the right thigh, Feeling of contact with the chair, And the right groin, And hip, And buttock, And then on a breath in, Filling that whole right leg and foot with awareness, Breathing out, Letting that go, Moving now to the pelvis, So noticing the genitals, The anal area, The area around the sacrum, Noticing any strong sensations in this area, Noticing the coccyx area, And the buttocks, Perhaps where the buttocks become the lower back, Any strong sensations here in the lower back, Perhaps burning or sharp sensations, Sensations, Moving the attention to the small of the back, The middle of the back, The upper back, And the shoulder blades, Noticing the pubic area, The abdomen, Perhaps you can sense the breath coming in and out of the abdomen, Moving attention to the diaphragm, Noticing it, Rising and falling with the breath, And the chest area, Sensation in the skin of the breasts, And the chest wall, The muscles, And perhaps even into the heart and the lungs, Maybe you might have a sense of the heart beating, Or the lungs expanding and deflating, And moving your attention to the shoulders, Sensing the shoulders from the inside out, And then on a breath in, Noticing the whole of your torso and pelvis, It's three-dimensional nature, The weight, The volume, And on a breath out, Letting go of that area, And moving now to the fingers of both hands, Noticing sensations in the fingertips and the thumb tips, Any tingling, Numbness, Throbbing, Sensations in the fingers, Perhaps where they're touching, In the palms of the hand, Any tightness or dampness, Dryness, The backs of the hands, Noticing whether you can pay attention to both hands at once, Or whether your attention oscillates, And neither is right, Just noticing, Taking your attention to the wrists, The fronts, The backs, The sides of the wrists, Resting your attention now in the sensations in the forearms, The fronts of the forearms, The backs, The sides, And the elbows, Fronts, The sides, The backs, The angle of the elbows, The upper arms, The biceps muscle, The triceps muscle, Outer and inner upper arm, Perhaps a sense of the heaviness of the bones there, Hanging from the shoulders, And on a breath in, Filling both arms and hands with awareness, Sensing the weight, The length, The volume, And on a breath out, Letting that go, Moving to the collarbones, Noticing any sensation there, Are you able to rest the attention in the sensations, Are you able to have the attention there, Not wishing it to be any different, And if you do notice thoughts and judgments, That's absolutely fine too, Moving the attention now to the neck and throat, The fronts, The sides, The back of the neck, Any tension, Tightness there, Sensations in the throat, Itchiness or dryness, Dampness, Moving the attention now up the scalp, The back of the scalp, The top of the scalp, The sides of the scalp, Perhaps you can sense deeper in into the brain or the bone of the skull, Noticing the ears, Any sensations in the outside of the ears, The inside of the ears, The inside of the ears, Noticing the sounds as they reach the eardrum, Pausing now for a moment to notice what's going on with your thoughts, What's going on with your emotions, Are you able to acknowledge whatever's going on, And gently move back to the instructions of the body scan if that feels right for you, So taking your attention into the face now, The forehead, Any tightness or tension in the forehead, Perhaps softness, Relaxation, The temples, The eyebrows, The area between the eyebrows, The eyebrows, The eyes, Eyeballs, The eyelids touching the eyeballs, Any subtle movement in the eyes or eyelids, The eyes picking up the visual signals from behind the closed eyelids, Or it's fine to have your eyes downcast and not closed if you prefer, Noticing sensations in the nose, The nostrils, Perhaps noticing the air coming in and out of the nostrils, The cheeks, Noticing sensations in the lips where they're perhaps touching, Touching themselves, Touching the inside gums and teeth, Noticing where your tongue is resting in your mouth and seeing if you can notice sensations from the tip of the tongue right down to the root, The dampness, Anything else you can feel in the tongue, Moving attention to the chin and the jaws and now filling up the whole of the head and the neck area with a breath in, Becoming really aware of the three-dimensional aspect, The weight, The volume of the head sitting on the shoulders and on a breath out letting that go, Noticing the whole body sitting on the chair, The whole body, Coming back to a general sense of how the whole body feels, The posture of the body, The expression on the face, Sensations in the skin of the body from top to toe, Sensations within the body, Noticing any urges that the body has to move, And once you've noticed these, Perhaps doing the wise and kind thing and gently and mindfully moving position to make your body more comfortable and if you haven't already moved, Perhaps now gently starting to move fingers and toes, Hands and feet, Perhaps scrunching your shoulders up to your head, Moving and stretching the body whichever way feels right and slowly and mindfully moving on to whatever comes next in your day.