At Home In The Body

The body scan has proven to be an extremely powerful and healing form of mindfulness practice through systematically and intentionally moving attention through the body, attending to the various sensations in the different regions. That we can attend to these body sensations at all is quite remarkable. Without moving a muscle, we can put our mind anywhere in the body we choose and feel and be aware of whatever sensations are present in that moment.

Transcript

And through the practice of the body scan we've really learned to develop a greater intimacy with sensation through the body.

The capacity to open up to it and that's our awareness to it.

And as a result it's not uncommon to feel maybe a little frustrated,

A little anxious even if it's acute,

Even if it's a little more intense.

But the awareness of it really allows us to let it be just as it is.

To hold it just as it is without triggering too much emotional reactivity.

It's also super normal to move through the body scan and not feel much at all.

Even throughout the whole body.

Remembering that there is no goal to be achieved.

It's not meant to look or feel in any particular way.

All we're aiming for really is the cultivation of moment to moment awareness.

Whatever that may happen to be,

Whatever that may feel like to you.

So as you're ready you might now set yourself up in a position that feels comfortable.

Many people like to do this body scan either lying down on the floor or even on your bed.

My place some clothing or a blanket over you for a little more warmth if it feels good.

Unlike other practices like maybe a yoga nidra where the emphasis is really on relaxing the body,

This instead is really used as a tool to cultivate awareness.

To cultivate that non-judgmental moment to moment experience of exactly what's here.

So remaining awake as much as you can,

As best as you can as we move through this practice together today.

Removing yourself this time to just be fully with yourself.

Just showing up for all that's here.

So as you're ready and you find your position now,

You might choose to close down the eyes or just soften down the gaze as you drop into the fact that you are breathing.

Paying attention to each breath as it arrives in the body,

As it leaves the body.

As it enters in through the nostril,

Filling the entirety of the inner landscape.

Watching it again as it releases back out.

Just letting this flow of breath,

This rhythm,

This pace of the breath really start to ground you to anchor you in this moment just as you are.

Fully arriving into your practice.

And if it feels okay,

You might now start to notice where in the body that the breath feels most vivid,

Most alive.

Noticing the rise and the fall of the entirety of your shape and then zoning in right into that part where you feel it the most.

It might be right at the belly,

The rise and fall of the belly centre.

It might be the ribs or the chest or even the entry and exit point right at the tip of the nose.

Getting a little more consciously aware,

A little more acquainted with the entire cycles of breath.

If at any time the sensations that you start to experience through the body become uncomfortable or perhaps a little too much,

Just knowing that any time you've always got this breath there's a safe space to return back to,

A place to stay in until you feel ready to come back into the body scan.

Now as you're ready beginning to shift that awareness right from the breath all the way down into the bases of your feet.

Just noticing how you can shift that sense of attention right from breath and guide it all the way down the body right through the legs,

The inner seams of the legs all the way down into the feet and right down into the soles.

Just noticing your attention on both left and right side of the feet.

Seeing if you can notice anything that's maybe to be found here.

Maybe there's an aliveness,

Maybe you feel the texture of the material of your sock or your shoe and maybe the floor if you've got.

The fibres as they meet the skin.

Maybe for you there's an essence or a felt sense of a dryness or a moisture maybe they're feeling warm or they're feeling cool.

How tough or how soft even perhaps the skin may feel.

Maybe taking in both the inner arch and also the outside edges of your feet.

Then shifting that awareness now right up into the toes.

Maybe along the ridges of the toes getting again that felt sense of all ten of them here noticing what's showing up.

If the feet are bare maybe there's a breeze of the air or a heat against the toes.

Maybe that connection between each of them or maybe even a sense of energy,

Warmth that lies between each.

Enjoying the attention now onto the tops of the toes and again maybe there's a dryness or a moisture.

Then moving now the attention right onto the tops of your feet.

Exploring what can be felt or met or known here through the tops of your feet.

Maybe feeling the bones or the ligaments maybe the aliveness that comes almost as you feel from the inside outwards.

As you're ready now releasing that attention on the feet and slowly starting to draw your attention to the heels,

The backs of the feet and to the ankles,

The sides of the feet.

Maybe aware of where your feet are meeting,

What's beneath maybe the floor or the mat or a blanket.

Feeling the experience of gravity how maybe just the feet are falling apart.

Then moving that awareness right into the calves,

Into the shins.

As you leave now the feet tracing your awareness to the inner and outer seams of the legs right up to the knee.

Then getting a sense of the entirety of your body so this felt sense of the wholeness of the body.

Then narrowing your experience right back in.

Maybe it's just one tiny aspect or element of the experience that's met,

That's calling your attention.

Whatever it is just really exploring here these parts of the leg.

And when you feel ready maybe exploring the knees.

Really circling the attention around the knees,

Getting a sense of the kneecap,

Any sort of work maybe that's been felt in the knees.

Maybe even a noticing of how they've just been used,

They've been worked,

They've been operated.

Is there maybe a creakiness,

A stiffness,

An achiness or maybe there's not much at all maybe there's an unness.

And if you're not feeling too much or nothing at all here,

Not looking for any sort of felt experience just noting that this is your experience.

Noting a pushing away or wishing for something else just being with that experience of not an unness or nothingness.

Then beginning to let go of your knees and moving right into the tops of your legs.

Constantly exploring getting curious with this sense of openness,

That curiosity.

And into the backs of the legs where the hamstrings lie or the tops of the legs.

Maybe it's a clothing that you're sensing if it's jeans or trousers,

Leggings,

Shorts,

Skirts.

Maybe the legs themselves are exposed and if that's the case what does that feel like?

Moving up the inner seam as you trace that all the way up to the groin.

The outer edges of the legs all the way up into the hips.

Feeling that connectivity there,

How the legs are connected to the hips.

And again broadening the experience to taking the wholeness of the legs.

Really taking in both left and right side perhaps again as they fall out or maybe as the femur,

That bone through the legs,

How it lies within the hip socket.

The length,

The volume,

The gravity and then feeling it again from the inside outwards.

That aliveness that's perhaps felt there.

Maybe you can feel the breath as it travels down the body right into the legs.

The pulsating,

The aliveness,

The tingling.

The small vibration,

That hum that lies beneath the surface of the skin.

This aliveness,

Movement of life through the body.

Now when you're ready letting go of the legs and throwing your attention right to the base of your tailbone.

See if you can pinpoint the experience that you're meeting right in this space.

What's felt or known here is there may be a tension,

An achiness or is there ease,

Is there a sense of space?

A tensing,

A holding on or letting go.

Knowing that there is no right or wrong way to feel or experience.

It's just the experience that you're having.

Not trying to change or control it in any way,

Just showing up for what's here right now.

Knowing the awareness around the wholeness of the hips,

The weight,

The volume,

The heaviness of this part of the body.

The whole of the pelvis supported and held.

Noting if maybe you feel any sense of elimination or digestion as it takes place here.

Maybe there's a sense of the breath also here.

Then again when you're ready beginning to let go of this area,

The hips,

The pelvis as you soften it and your attention.

Making your way all the way now up through the back of the body.

Following from the base of your spine all the way up.

Starting to feel the middle of the back area,

The ribs.

Maybe that sense of expansion and retraction that comes with your breath.

Moving up into the upper back through the shoulder blades.

The entirety of the back area of the body.

Getting that felt sense.

Maybe again tuning into a specific spot that calls your attention,

Calls your name and then broadening the experience out to see what else is here.

Sometimes with this curiosity is there burning?

Is there a coolness?

Is there frustration,

Agitation?

What's here?

What thoughts are present?

What's the feeling tone of the heart?

The experience emotionally.

Maybe now it's a sense that you've noticed that the mind has wandered.

Maybe it's feeling restless or bored.

Just remembering that all that's asked of you here is just to show up.

Not changing,

Fixing,

Altering,

Controlling.

Just returning back to wherever we're at,

The entirety of the back.

And seeing if you can rest your attention on the weight of it here as it rests fully right back into the floor or your chair.

With this tension,

Noting where there's ease.

When you're ready now beginning to let go of the back and shift that awareness,

Your attention right back into the front of the belly.

Right down into the very pit of your belly.

Feeling that aliveness of the breath right at this part.

That sense of the ballooning out and the drawing back in that comes with each round,

Each unique round of breath.

Feeling the rhythm,

The pace without changing or altering it.

Just that felt sense of how the breath does and wants to move through the body.

Maybe there's a sense of hunger or fullness.

Maybe you can feel what else is here,

Other organs,

The aliveness from the inside outwards.

This living,

Breathing,

Sensing instrument,

This wisdom of the body as you just show up.

Beginning to move now the attention up towards the ribs.

Seeing how they protect vital organs like the lungs and the heart.

Maybe there's also a felt sense of the heart here as you tune into not only the degree of presence but also that felt sense of the heart.

Does it feel heavy?

Does it feel light?

Does it feel open or closed today?

Maybe it's just that beating of the heart,

That simple pulsing beating of the heart right beneath the surface of the skin.

And then beginning to move over the chest,

Right to the entire upper chest region.

The collar bones through the shoulders,

The neck.

This part of the body is often where we hold so much of our stress,

Often without even realizing it.

So just noting if there is that tension or tightness,

Any restriction,

Just in exploring what's here.

And if there is a named experience of tightness or tension,

Can you get a little more curious about what's here?

Does it feel hot?

Does it feel cool?

Does it change or does it stay the same?

Broadening the awareness right over to the backs of the shoulders,

All the way down through the arms,

The upper arms,

The elbows,

The forearms,

All the way into the wrists and into the hands.

Feeling into the fingers,

Right down into the fingertips.

Again is there that gripping?

Is there a tensing or is there a softness and ease here?

Just like the toes,

Is there a sense of being connected to one another,

That energy maybe that's between the fingers?

And then to the palms of the hands,

The backs of the hands,

The aliveness,

The coolness,

The warmth,

All the way from the inside out.

And slowly moving your way up to the wrists,

Into the forearms through the heaviness,

The ease,

Maybe again nothing much at all but just maybe even noticing if the elbows are bent or straight.

Whether the biceps and the triceps,

The fronts and the backs of the arms feel tired,

Maybe they feel work just like the knees.

You can feel into the muscles,

Into the bones,

The inner seam all the way in through the armpit as you feel it right here.

The outer all the way into the shoulder,

Right into the shoulder socket.

The whole entirety of the body and then narrowing right back in.

Just showing up,

Just experiencing it as it is.

Then moving into the back of your neck as you let go of the arms,

The base of your head feeling the heaviness of the head,

The weightedness supported by the shoulders,

Supported by the neck.

The whole region of the scalp,

The top of the head,

The back of the head,

The sides of the head,

Right into the forehead here.

Noting if there's a furrowing of the brow or tension,

Maybe it's a softness and ease.

Over the hairline into the sides of the cheeks,

Both left and right side.

The eyes,

The sockets,

Taking in the experience of what it feels like to have the eyes closed.

The jaw,

Whether it's tense,

Whether it's relaxed.

The mouth,

The tongue.

Coming back now right into the nose,

Right to the nostrils.

The experience of the breath right here,

Right where we began,

Right at the tip of the nostrils.

The experience,

The aliveness of the breath here.

Maybe for you there's even a slight difference in the temperature from the breath in right to the breath out.

The sensation of air,

The full unfolding,

The breath in and the breath out.

Just remaining breathing now.

Maybe as you inhale,

Traveling and experiencing the breath from the crown of the head all the way down into the soles of the feet.

As you breathe out from the soles of the feet all the way back up,

Now through the tip of the nose.

Inhale from crown of feet down to the soles of the feet.

Exhaling from the soles of the feet right back out through the nose.

Exhaling to watch,

To observe,

To witness.

Now up for all that's here.

Really taking in the wholeness of the body,

This entire living breathing vessel and seeing if you can stay with the experience with every breath just as it is,

Just as you are.

This moment.

And as this practice starts to near towards an end,

Beginning to gently start to deepen your breath.

Gently wriggling through the fingers,

The toes,

Finding some movement back into the body.

Just taking a moment here to thank yourself for spending this time to show up,

To nourish yourself in this way.

To make this intention to wake up a little,

This more aware way of being.

Just knowing that this practice,

These tools are available to you wherever you are,

Whenever you need,

Way past this practice and into each moment of your day.

As you ready,

Slowly start to blink open your eyes and make your way back.