Practicing Presence, A Body Scan

This guided body scan invites you to arrive fully in the present moment. With gentle awareness, you’ll explore sensations from head to toe, noticing how the body holds and supports you. A steady practice of presence, grounding, and belonging.

Transcript

Welcome. Let's begin by simply noticing that you're here, In this room, And in this moment, In this body. You might take a gentle look around your space, Just letting your eyes land on a few things that remind you that you're present. You're here. Notice shapes and quality of light, Maybe shadows, And then if it feels comfortable, Allow your gaze to lower or your eyes to close. So without needing to change anything, Begin to sense the contact points of your body. Notice where you meet the ground, The chair, The earth, And feel how you are held. Notice the shape of your body right now, The way your arms are resting, The weight of your legs, The curve of your spine. There's no need to shift, To fix, But you can always move any time you need to. By simply noticing just what it feels like to arrive, To notice your body. And then from this place of noticing, Bring your awareness towards your breath. Again, Not changing it, Just listening, Just witnessing your body, Breathing you. Just watching, Feeling, Sensing. We're going to move our awareness through our body. And so the breath, It can be your bridge, Just connecting you to each place that we visit. And so bring your awareness to your head. Notice all of the sense organs of the face, Hearing, Your eyes, Maybe seeing, Moving, Your nose, Breathing, Smelling, Your mouth, Talking, Tasting, And just sensing. You might inhale and just connect a little more to your face, Your eyes, And exhale, Just letting the space around your eyes soften. And then you might breathe in and feel the nose and exhale and feel your forehead smooth. As you breathe in, You might just sense your expression and take a breath out and let your cheeks hollow. Soften. And sensing into your throat, This pathway for breath, For your voice. Can you feel the breath across the back of your throat? Maybe the movement, The temperature. And take a nice long breath out. Just feel your throat, Your throat muscles soften. Just bring your attention now down into your shoulders. You might notice how they're resting, If there's any contact points, Resting back. Perhaps you can sense into the muscles. Looseness, Tension, Connection, Even absence of connection, It's okay. Just notice. And just take a nice breath in gently. Just feel a sense of space, Any amount, Just across the shoulders. And again, As you take your next breath in, Gently just feeling the sense of space across the front of the chest, The shoulder blades, The back. As you exhale, Just let the shoulders soften. Just a few more times, Take breath in and out, Just noticing that you can sense into your shoulders, The tops, The backs, The front. And as you exhale, You can allow the release of the out-breath, Exhale, To support you in releasing any tension. So let's move our attention into our arms. So take your mind, Your mind's eye, All the way into your hands, Into the palms of your hands. You might notice if the air can be felt or if your hands are down or on your body, Maybe the temperature of what you're touching, The contact, The weight. Sensing the backs of the hands and the fingers. Maybe a certain place stands out. But feeling the hands, Left and right, Both hands. On the wrists, The soft underside. Moving your attention into your lower arms, Long bones, Skin sunned on the top, Perhaps. Tender, Soft, And light on the underside. Bring your attention in towards the elbows, Perhaps sensing the bend, The angle. A moment just to feel the connection between the lower arm and the upper arm, These joints, These elbows. And let your attention move now into your upper arm, The tender underside leading to the armpit, The outer arm, Sun-kissed, Moving to the shoulder tops. I might have a sense of strength here, A sense of length, Your wingspan. I'm just breathing into your arms. Just breathing in, Sense your arms, Breathe out. Just let any effort move to ease. Just release any effort. Let your hands soften, Your fingers. Uncurl. Bringing your attention into your shoulders again and now towards your chest, Your ribs. On the inside, Your lungs, Your heart, Organs. You might notice movement here, The breath. Lift and rise, Expansion. Noticing the way the breath moves out and in, Side to side, North to south, East to west. Letting your attention move into your belly, Soft, The back, Sturdy. Just taking a few breaths, Just being here, Dwelling in this, This part of your body, Just connecting, Connecting to your stomach, Letting it be soft as you breathe, Connecting and listening to any messages this part of your body has for you today, Feedback, Feedback. Just breathing in, Just belonging here. Breathing out, Just letting the body be soft. Just letting awareness move further down, Down towards your pelvis, Your hips, Your root. Inhale and sense spaciousness here. And exhale and feel grounded, Supported, Let your hips feel heavy. And as you breathe in, Feel that spaciousness as though the breath can reach throughout the entire bowl of your pelvis. And just exhale and feel support beneath you, Steady, Dependable. Let's bring some curiosity here to the hips, To your glutes, Noticing the balance of weight and the contact points. You might inhale and notice how breath can move into the back, Into the sacrum. And exhale and sense the connection with the ground. And breathe in. And just noticing the strong foundation and exhale, Sensing this support. It's always here. And as you let your attention just sort of dwell in this root of your body, You might sense your quiet strength. Your breath might feel subtle here, Just a gentle expansion as you breathe in, A return with your exhale. Observing how the spine rises from this root, Stable, Like a trunk growing from the ground. Breathing in, Sense steadiness. And breathe out and feel into connection. And then breathe out and feel the connection. Breathe in and just sense presence. And breathe out and feel belonging. Here at the root, Both grounded and alive. Let's bring our awareness into our legs, Into your legs, Your knees. And then to your feet. Just sensing into both feet, The soles, The toes, The space between the toes, The top of the foot, The bony parts, The arch, Your heel. Just a sense of your feet. A sense of the lower legs. A sense of the knees. A sense of the upper leg. Noticing what your attention wants to explore in the lower body. Perhaps spending time going in, Going within. More time at the hips or the thighs, Your knees, Shins, And calf. Your ankles and your feet. Now sensing your body as a whole, Your whole body from head to toe. Just taking in this fullness of your shape, The way all of your parts come together in this moment. The crown of the head and how it relates to your shoulders and your arms. Resting from the space where your heart is and the spine rising from the pelvis and the legs connecting and extending into the ground. Noticing the continuity of your body, Not as a separate parts or regions, But as this one and connected whole. The subtle lines of relationship, Head to feet, Left to right, Front to back, Inside to outside. Just feeling and noticing how your body organizes itself in space and how it's held and supported. Your structure, Steady, Strong. And just holding your awareness in this widened state so you can sense your entire being at once. The steadiness of the bones and the softness of the tissue. This quiet aliveness that threads everything together. You're not fragments, You're complete. And here in the wholeness, Notice the belonging of body, Earth and presence all at once. This is you connected fully, Fully here. Just feeling yourself fully, Your whole self, Your whole body. Just taking a nice breath in, Nice steady breath, And exhaling long and soft. You belong here inside your body in this moment. Let's breathe in again, Breathe in your nose. Nice full breath in, Opening your mouth when you're ready. Exhaling long, Soft, Quietly. And if you'd like, Bring a hand to your heart and one hand to your belly. And just pause here, Simply just notice the warmth, The weight of your own touch, The gentle contact of your hands. Just reminding yourself this breath, This body, This belonging. Let's take a slow, Steady inhale through your nose, A long, Soft exhale out your mouth. Just rest for another moment, Just sensing how your body and your breath move together and how you're held from within and supported from below. Looked over from above. Just notice how your body's feeling, Gently starting to move. You might wiggle your toes or stretch out your hands, Turn your head left to right, Breathing and opening your eyes a few times. Just notice how you're feeling, Feeling perhaps connected or noticing space, Your space that you're inhibiting. And just let yourself receive that. Take a look around your room again, Let the light come in, Take in the shapes, The colors, The familiar objects around you. Just sense yourself here in the space, Fully present. Might walk your feet in or left to the side, Take a seat. Or take your time to slowly bring yourself back into your day. You're bringing your hands together maybe at the heart stacked or piled. Just taking a breath to close our practice. Breathing in and breathing out. May this breath steady you. May this body remind you of your strength. And may this moment of belonging stay with you as you move through your day.