Body Scan (Dissolve)

Another version of the world's most popular mindfulness practice. This version has you dissolving parts of your body rather than simply holding your attention in parts of your body. It is very useful for those who find the regular body scan lacks a visual or suggestive approach.

Transcript

I'd like you to sit in a comfortable position with your back straight,

With your hands on your thighs,

Your feet on the floor and your bum on the seat.

The reason I mention these points of contact is because I want you to focus your physiology.

Your eyes provide you with so much information that it's much easier to do this with your eyes closed.

And come to your breathing and allow yourself to come inside a little bit.

And allow those points of contact to allow you to get in touch with your physiology.

Breathe through your nose.

Breathing through your nose connects you instantly with your brain via the olfactory nerve.

And by engaging your diaphragm in a focused way like this,

You tap into your wandering vagus nerve thereby connecting you with your lungs,

Heart,

Gut and back again to your brain.

So when you breathe through your nose you become instantly physiologically aware of your breath.

Allow your breathing to lengthen,

Allow your breathing to deepen and allow your breathing to slow.

Now let's get back to these points of contact.

I want you to really feel your feet on the floor,

Really feel your bum on the seat and really feel your hands on your thighs.

Really observe the air entering the boundaries of your body and really observe the air exiting the boundaries of your body.

Now this time while you're breathing in I want you to turn all of your attention and all of your awareness to your toes.

I want you to observe your toes in your mind's eye as though you're a child looking at them for the very first time.

Picture the air in your lungs reaching all the way down through your body,

Past your pelvis,

Past your knees,

Past your ankles and right into your toes.

Literally picture yourself breathing all the way down into your toes and filling up every single particle with air.

And when you breathe out,

Allow your toes to completely dissolve away just leaving an outline behind.

When you're ready with the same child's eyes turn your attention to the tops of your feet and to the soles of your feet.

Again breathe in all the way down through your body,

Right into the tops of your feet and right into the soles of your feet.

And when you breathe out do the same thing you did before and allow the tops of your feet and the soles of your feet to completely dissolve away just leaving an outline behind.

And when you feel ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

Allow all of your attention and all of your awareness to go to your ankles and to your heels.

And when you breathe in allow the air to come all the way down through your body,

Past your pelvis,

Past your knees and all the way down through your body,

Past your pelvis,

Past your knees,

Right into your ankles and your heels,

Filling up every single particle with air.

And when you breathe out,

Allow your ankles and your heels to completely dissolve away just leaving an outline behind.

And when you feel ready,

When you feel comfortable to move on,

Don't let me rush you and don't let me hold you back.

Turn all of your attention and all of your awareness to your shins and to your calves.

And when you breathe in,

Allow the air to come all the way down through your body and fill up every single particle of your shins and your calves.

And when you breathe out,

Allow your shins and your calves to completely dissolve away just leaving an outline behind.

Don't worry about the air coming down through your body,

Don't worry by the way if some parts of your body are more stubborn than others,

That's completely normal.

Just allow the air to flow through them or round them,

Doesn't matter.

So when you feel comfortable,

When you feel ready to move on,

Turn all of your attention and all of your awareness to your knees.

Look at your knees with a beginner's mind like you're a child looking at them for the first time.

Look at that mechanism,

Everything inside,

Everything outside.

Look at the ligaments,

The bones,

The muscles,

The cartilage,

Nerves,

Everything.

And when you're ready,

Breathe in all the way down through your body,

Right down into your knees,

Filling up every single particle.

And when you breathe out,

Just watch,

Just watch as your knees completely dissolve away,

Just leaving an outline behind.

And when you're ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

Take all of your attention and all of your awareness to your thighs.

Breathe in all the way down through your body,

Filling your thighs up with air.

And when you breathe out,

Allow your thighs to completely dissolve away,

Just leaving an outline behind.

When you're ready,

Turn all of your attention and all of your awareness to your knees.

Turn all of your attention and all of your awareness to your pelvis,

Your hips,

Your abdomen.

As you breathe in,

Allow the air to come all the way down through your body,

Filling up every single particle of your pelvis,

Your hips,

And your abdomen,

Everything inside and everything outside.

And when you breathe out,

Allow your pelvis,

Your hips,

And your abdomen inside and outside to completely dissolve away,

Just leaving an outline behind.

When you're ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

Take all of your attention and all of your awareness to your chest.

Everything inside,

Everything outside.

Every vertebra in your back,

Your lungs,

Your heart,

Your ribs,

Everything.

And as you breathe in,

Breathe in all the way,

Filling up every single particle with air.

And as you breathe out,

Allow your whole entire chest,

Inside and outside,

And every vertebra in your back to completely dissolve away,

Just leaving an outline behind.

You'll be amazed how little breath you need when your body is at rest like this,

So allow your breathing to slow.

When you're ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

Turn your attention to your shoulders and to your neck.

And as you breathe in,

Fill your shoulders and your neck with air.

And as you breathe out,

Allow your shoulders and your neck to completely dissolve away,

Just leaving an outline behind.

And when you feel ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

Take all of your attention and all of your awareness to your fingers.

And when you breathe in,

We do the same thing,

Allow your breath to come all the way down through your arms,

Past your elbows,

Past your wrists,

Right into your fingers,

Filling up every single particle.

And as you breathe out,

Just allow your fingers to dissolve completely away,

Leaving an outline behind.

And again,

I say,

If there are any parts of the body that are more stubborn than others,

Just allow the air to flow through them or around them,

It really doesn't matter.

When you're ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

Turn all of your attention and all of your awareness to the tops of your hands and to the palms of your hands.

And as you breathe in,

Allow the air to rush down your arms and completely fill up the tops of your hands and the palms of your hands,

Every single particle.

And as you breathe out,

Do the same thing,

We'll allow the tops of your hands and the palms of your hands to completely dissolve away,

Just leaving an outline behind.

And when you're ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

Turn all of your attention and all of your awareness to your wrists.

Look at the eight bones inside your wrists,

Look at the remarkable mechanism that exists there when you breathe in,

Really feel the air filling every single particle of your wrists.

And as you breathe out,

Allow your wrists both to completely dissolve away,

Just leaving an outline behind.

And when you're ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

Turn all of your attention and all of your awareness to your lower arms and your wrists.

And as you breathe in,

Allow the air to rush down your arms and completely fill up every single particle of your lower arms and your elbows.

And as you breathe out,

Do the same thing,

We'll allow the tops of your hands to completely dissolve away,

Just leaving an outline behind.

And when you're ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

Allow all of your attention and all of your awareness to go to your upper arms.

And as you breathe in,

Allow the tops of your hands to completely dissolve away,

Just leaving an outline behind.

Allow all of your attention and all of your awareness to go to your upper arms.

As you breathe in,

Allow your upper arms to completely fill with air,

Every single particle.

And as you breathe out,

Allow your upper arms to completely dissolve away,

Just leaving an outline behind.

And let's take a brief moment to enjoy the feeling of your body dissolved from the neck down to the tips of the toes and the tips of the fingers and everything in between.

Breathe in nice and slowly and deeply all the way down to the tips of your toes,

The tips of your fingers and everything in between.

And as you breathe out,

Just watch,

Just watch as you let go and let your whole entire body from the neck down completely dissolve away,

Just leaving an outline behind.

And when you feel ready,

When you feel comfortable to move on,

Turn all of your attention and all of your awareness to your face,

Your eyes,

Your forehead,

Your eyebrows,

Your eyelashes,

Your nose,

Your chin,

Your lips.

Breathe in nice and deep,

Nice and slow and fill up your entire face with air.

And as you breathe out,

Just allow your entire face to completely dissolve away,

Just leaving an outline behind.

And when you're ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

Again,

Don't let me rush you,

Don't let me hold you back.

You can go at your own pace.

Turn your attention to the rest of your skull,

To the back of your head,

The top of your head,

Your ears,

The sides of your head,

Your jaw.

Breathe in nice and deep,

Nice and slow and fill up the rest of your head with air.

And as you breathe out,

Allow the rest of your head to completely dissolve away,

Just leaving an outline behind.

Let's take another moment,

Longer this time,

Breathing into your entire dissolved body or your partially dissolved body,

Or perhaps taking the time to work on any parts of the body that may have been more stubborn than others.

Just allow the air to fill up every single particle of yourself,

Just allowing the air to fill up your entire body.

And as you breathe out,

Let's take another moment,

Allowing the air to fill up your entire body,

Just allowing the air to fill up every single particle of yourself.

And as you breathe out,

Really let go,

Really allow yourself to completely dissolve away,

Just leaving an outline behind.

Let's take another moment,

Letting the air to fill up every single particle of yourself.

Let's take another moment,

Letting the air to fill up every single particle of yourself.

Okay,

I'd like you to thank yourself and your mind's eye for this time you've spent in calm,

Peaceful stillness with your body.

It's very rare in our busy lives that we get the moment like this to share in genuine peace and calm with our bodies and our minds together in the same place at the same time.

Slowly let yourself come back to clock time,

Come back to the room,

Slowly open your eyes,

Do all the things you need to do to come back to the room,

Stretching out in your chair perhaps,

Really feeling yourself stretch,

Really feeling your physiology.

You can wiggle your fingers,

You can wiggle your toes,

You can come back quick,

You can come back slow.

There's no rush here,

It's entirely up to you.

And that completes the body scan,

So well done.

Reviews

AJ, what a perfect way for a power nap. Thank you for this incredible meditation.

Excellent ... ❤ ... Thank you

Thank you for this clear, articulate variation of the body scan practice. I like the concept of dissolving the body parts once they have been considered X

I felt very good during the body scan. I loved bringing my attention to every part of my body. Thank you.