Body Scan (Short)

A shorter version of the most widely used mindfulness practice in the world. Suitable for those who have less time and want something powerful, long lasting and grounding to anchor themselves for the day, to prepare for the evening or to sleep better at night.

Transcript

Make sure you're in a comfortable position.

A good rule of thumb is to be in a dignified and comfortable poise.

You can lie on the floor,

With your legs up on a chair perhaps,

Or you can sit in a seat.

But wherever you are,

You're going to use your physical mechanism as a point of focus.

Despite what we might think when we look in the mirror in the morning,

We are all of us walking around in a bona fide miracle of life.

So we're going to use this incredible vehicle that you're inhabiting to help us practice this meditation.

Take a moment to check in with your feet.

Perhaps give your toes a bit of a wiggle,

And really feel the sensation of that extremity.

When you've done that,

Perhaps feel your bum on the seat.

Feel that sensation of gravity working,

Pulling you down,

And the seat pushing up against you.

And then when you've done that,

Perhaps place your hands on your thighs,

And move them to get that sensation of your hands in contact with your legs.

While it is possible to meditate with your eyes open,

It's much easier to do with your eyes closed.

So allow your eyes to close,

And allow that act itself to bring your focus inside your body.

Breathe in 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 it's the easiest way for you to become instantly,

Physiologically aware of the breath.

And you're not taking any particular kind of breath.

You're simply observing the breath doing its normal and natural thing.

You might want to occasionally take an extra deep breath just to bring focus back.

This is absolutely fine.

But remember,

The point of this is to be in observance of the physical sensation of the breath.

Not to be thinking about the breath,

Or thinking about thinking about the breath,

But simply to observe and be in awareness of the physical sensation of the breath,

Wherever you feel that the most.

Whether it's in your nose,

Whether it's in your chest,

Whether it's in your tummy,

Or whether it's in your little toe,

It really doesn't matter.

Wherever you feel the breath the most is where you feel it.

So when you feel comfortable,

When you feel relaxed,

Just briefly check in with the way your arms are perhaps dangling,

Or perhaps with the way your head is just standing up like it is.

And when you feel ready,

Take all of your attention and all of your awareness to the tips of your toes.

And as you breathe in,

Allow yourself to feel the sensation that is in the ends of the tips of your toes.

That might be a light tingling sensation,

It might be a vibrationary sensation,

It could simply be the touch of the cloth on your skin,

It could be a warmness,

It could be a coldness,

It could even be a numbness,

And it can even be no sensation at all.

But all you need to do is to hold your attention and hold your awareness in the tips of your toes as you breathe in gently and breathe out gently.

And when you feel ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

Take all of your attention and all of your awareness to the tops of your feet,

To the soles of your feet,

To the rest of your toes,

To your heels and to your ankles.

And just as before,

When you breathe in,

Just hold your awareness in this part of the body.

And as you breathe in and as you breathe out,

Simply allow yourself to feel that physical sensation of being in your heels,

In your ankles,

In the tops of your feet,

In the soles of your feet and in all of your toes.

And when you feel ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

Take all of your attention and all of your awareness to your shins,

To your calves and to your knees.

And remember,

With this kind of mindful practice,

You always look at these things like you're seeing them for the first time.

Everything inside,

Everything outside.

The bones,

The muscles,

Cartilage,

The skin.

Really seeing everything with the beginner's eye,

With the child's mind.

So as you breathe in,

Just hold your awareness and hold your attention in your shins,

In your calves and your knees and allow yourself to feel whatever sensation may crop up.

Always bearing in mind the non-judgmental tenet of mindfulness and also bringing to the table the idea that all things must pass.

And when you feel ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

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

To your hips and to your pelvis.

And just as you've done before,

When you breathe in and when you breathe out,

Hold all of your attention and all of your awareness in these parts of the body,

Allowing yourself to feel whatever sensation might be there.

Whether it's a tingle,

Whether it's a coldness,

Whether it's a numbness,

Whether it's a sort of vibrationary sensation.

And even if it's no sensation,

Just allow yourself to feel whatever happens to be there.

And if you like,

If you feel no sensation,

You can allow yourself to linger there a little bit longer until you do feel something.

But if you continue to feel nothing in those parts of the body,

Then simply allow yourself to move on,

Again bearing in mind equanimity,

Again bearing in mind impermanence.

And when you feel ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

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

Again looking at everything inside and everything outside.

The vertebra in the back,

The ribs,

The lungs,

The intestines,

The liver,

The kidneys,

Everything.

And as you breathe in and as you breathe out,

Simply hold all of your awareness and all of your attention in these parts of the body,

Always bearing in mind equanimity and impermanence,

Allowing yourself to feel that physical sensation of being however it may manifest.

And when you feel ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

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

To the tops of your hands,

To the palms of your hands and to your wrists.

And as you breathe in,

Allow your attention and your awareness to rest in these parts of the body.

And as you breathe out,

Really allow yourself to feel that physical sensation of your hands,

Your fingers and your wrists.

And when you feel ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

Take all of your attention and all of your awareness to your lower arms and your elbows.

And as you breathe in,

Allow yourself to feel that physical sensation of being that exists however it may occur in your lower arms and your elbows.

And as you breathe out,

Again allow yourself to feel that physical sensation,

Whatever it may be,

The touch of the wind on your skin,

Touch of the clothing,

Tingling,

A warmness,

Coldness,

A dryness,

A moistness.

Whatever it may be.

And when you feel ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

Take all of your attention and all of your awareness to your upper arms,

To your shoulders and to your neck.

And as you breathe in,

Just as before,

Really allow yourself to feel that physical sensation of being in your upper arms,

In your shoulders and your neck.

And as you breathe out,

Do exactly the same thing,

However it may occur,

Always bearing in mind equanimity and impermanence.

And let's just take a brief moment to really be with the whole body from the neck down to the tips of the fingers and the tips of the toes and everything in between.

And perhaps really feel that sensation of the whole entire body as we breathe in and breathe out.

And when you feel ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

Take all of your attention and all of your awareness to your forehead,

To your eyebrows,

To your eyes,

To your cheeks,

To your nose,

Your lips,

Your chin,

Your whole entire face in fact.

And as you breathe in and as you breathe out,

Just as you did before,

Really hold your attention and your awareness long enough perhaps to feel that physical sensation of being that is in your face,

Whatever it may be,

Whether it's a tingling,

Whether it's a warmness,

Coldness,

Whatever it may be.

And when you feel ready,

When you feel comfortable moving on,

Take all of your attention and all of your awareness to the top of your head,

To the sides of your head,

To the back of your head,

To your ears and to your jaw.

And as you breathe in and as you breathe out,

Really allow yourself to feel the physical sensation of your whole entire head,

However it may manifest,

Always bearing in mind the concept of equanimity,

I.

E.

Non-judgment and impermanence,

I.

E.

All things must pass.

Now I'm going to take a very brief 60 second pause and just allow you to enjoy the sensation of the whole entire body and the feeling that that may give you,

Whether it be waves or whether it be vibrations or whether it be coldness or a warmness or whether it be the touch of the clothing on the body or whether it be the air against the skin,

However it may manifest,

Just to give you 60 seconds to really feel the sensation of the whole entire body from the top of the head to the tips of the toes and the tips of the fingers and every single thing in between.

So just before we finish,

In your mind's eye just take a very brief moment to thank yourself for just doing what you did.

It's very rare in our busy lives that we get this much time to spend with the mind and the body in the same place at the same time.

So simply thank yourself and slowly but surely allow yourself to come back to clock time.

You can wiggle your fingers,

You can wiggle your toes,

You can come back quick,

You can come back slow.

There's no rush.

Reviews

Lovely body scan, thank you! Namaste 🙏

Namaste 🙏🏼

Thank you 🙏🏻 just what I needed to start my day today

Your voice is very relaxing and creates an ease in the meditation. This was nicely done. Thank you for this.

Hey! Great guidance! Short BS are so useful and so much easier to “prescribe”, I love your voice...

Wonderful scan experience and pacing. Lovely voice and vibe. Thanks!

Great body scan. Only complaint is it ends abruptly.

Beautiful restful speaking voice x

Great morning wake up body scan. Helps me bring awareness to each fiber of my body while working on breathing.

Thank you so much for this wonderful body scan meditation.. it was amazing. I'm so relaxed.. definitely will come back to it again and again🙏💕

Fantastic. Relaxed. While body buzzing with warm

Just what I needed this morning. Thank you.

Wonderful body scan meditation! Really enjoyable! Thank you!

Thanks! Struggled with distractions. will do again.