A Relaxed & Attentive Body Scan

This relaxing body scan practice invites us to use our focus as if it were a sensory flashlight that we can use to shine onto the body and explore its feelings and sensations, area by area, from the inside out. Whenever we get lost, we are invited to bring our attention back to the body and start over with a kind and gentle awareness. This is the true practice of mindfulness: when we notice we’ve been lost in thought and start again.

Transcript

So today's practice is a relaxed yet very attentive mindfulness of the body that is also known as the body scan.

So first take an extra 30 seconds or so to make yourself as settled as possible in your posture.

So you can choose to be sat cross-legged if that is in your practice whether on the floor or a cushion or perhaps sitting on a chair or again if you feel very energetic or energized at the moment you can choose to practice standing.

But taking a moment to figure out whether this is the ultimate or the best position for you in this moment.

Noticing what the body needs if you need to move a little bit before settling in on closing your eyes or perhaps if you prefer to keep your eyes open closing them slightly so you let a little bit of light in but still foster that sense of going inwards and for a moment I'd like you to explore or feel the contact of your seat and your sit bone against your cushion or your mat or perhaps your feet on the ground and feel how supported you are in this moment.

So first making an intention for our practice together it could be I am present and having an intention of being very much with our practice moment by moment.

I am aware and feeling a direct sense of connection to the sensations in and around the body or it could be an intention of feeling relaxed so choosing whatever suits you best in this moment before we start.

So first noticing the sounds the sound of my voice but also the sound of your environment in this moment.

Noticing the distance some are probably very close to you and and letting yourself be connected to sounds coming from within as well as those from far away.

There's a very receptive quality and in the practice of mindfulness of sound.

I invite you not to judge or note or even name the sounds that you notice.

It's more like a taking in of the soundscape of what is going on right where you are.

Perhaps you'll notice that some sounds are triggering,

Perhaps they are annoying and some others may feel more pleasant.

Again not judging but noting your own reaction to these external stimuli and noting that these sounds are unique.

This is the soundscape of this present moment.

Now starting with the body scan I'd like you to imagine that you have a flashlight and that your attention is a sensory flashlight and following my voice you're going to be not visualizing but feeling sensing around each area that I will be guiding you to glide your attention towards.

So starting with the crown of the head and imagining that your attention is entering the body from the crown of the head and so feeling any sensations in and around the scalp,

The brow,

The eyebrows,

Connecting to any sense of aliveness and also noting if there's any tension or tightness.

Whenever we express concern or anxiety we tend to use or overuse the muscles in this area.

So checking in and perhaps with the next breath in and out just invite a softening around the brow,

The eyebrows,

The eyes,

Noting whether the eyes are crunched up if they are closed and if that's the case just opening up the eyes for a second and blinking until you can rest your upper eyelid softly on the lower eyelid and again noticing first any sensations and inviting a softening as if you could relax all four corners of your eyes.

Moving your flashlight and feeling around the nose,

The lips,

The chin,

The cheekbones,

Into the jaw and letting your tongue relax at the bottom of the palate.

Invite this sense of softening or relaxation from the root of the tongue and again considering how much this organ supports both our nourishment and our enjoyment but also how it serves our communication and our expression.

So softening around the jaw and the tongue all the way down to the root,

Feeling into the throat and the back of the neck,

The shoulders,

The upper back and the shoulder blades.

If you're anything like me and you spend quite a bit of time at a desk or on your computer perhaps direct a little bit of extra breath towards that area almost as if you could stick a nose just over the trapezius and the shoulder blades and breathing in to invite spaciousness and see if with the out breath you can find a little bit more sensation of relaxation and release in this area of tension for most of us.

If you notice that your mind has gone off and that you are no longer following the cues that's okay that's what minds do.

As one of my teachers said the mind produces thoughts like the mouth produces saliva this is what the mind does it produces thoughts so understanding that this is how we become resilient in the practice of mindfulness we notice our minds have wandered off we let go of the thoughts gently without story and without judgment and we start over resting our attention gently on wherever the anchor is or the focus so coming back to the back gliding down to the lower back again feeling for aliveness tension tingling touch I invite you to adopt a curious lens as if you were the scientist of your own bodily sensations what can you feel what is there to feel moving your attention to the upper chest and the heart area noticing if you can connect with the feelings of the breath with the expansion of the ribs upper ribs with the inhale and perhaps a sensation of contraction or release with the exhale can you connect with your heartbeat what can you feel and keeping your attention on that area asking yourself how am I feeling and then exploring this heart area asking yourself am I feeling open or perhaps is there a sensation of tightness or contraction and again not judging or making up a story just noticing moving the attention down to the belly and noticing whether or not there is also some contraction or tension around the abdomen and if that's the case I invite you to breathe in to what is often called an undefended belly with the in-breath letting your abdomen balloon up and with the exhale just letting it just soften soften soften breathing in and breathing out and noticing what other sensations you may be feeling within that area it's also called interoception can you get a sense of the aliveness after all our gut is also called our second brain so just curiously exploring whatever sensations there may be in this moment now moving the attention down to the pelvis area the hips the sit bones and noting that if you come across anything sharp any pain you can adopt a couple of different tactics first you can direct your attention with that curious lens to explore what does this feel like is it sharp or hot and it's not just about naming the sensation as much as exploring what it's like or if anything is just too much just moving your attention to another place in the body that feels either neutral or pleasant moving your attention down to the thighs the knees the calves the ankles and the feet and noticing all sensations so gliding your attention and feeling into both of your legs in this moment and finally coming down to pay attention to the sensations in your hands we often have a lot more direct contact or sensations in our extremities so what can you feel perhaps electricity or tingling just exploring gently can you feel into each of your fingers perhaps and if you notice that you've gone off into future thinking or you found yourself dreaming or caught up in a memory or even falling asleep that's okay when you notice you let go and you come back that's the resilient part of our experience with mindfulness we recollect ourselves bring our focus to the anchor we recommit let go and begin again and notice and explore the sensations in both of your hands and now imagine that you can soften both of your hands and resting gently being present with the sensations think of a butterfly resting on a flower and now taking in all sensations in your body from the crown of your head all the way down to the tips of your toes what is there to feel in this moment and can you be present and notice the aliveness and the sensations moving subtly around the body and noticing that in the practice of mindfulness of the body and the body scan we become intimate with the sensations in our bodies and also with the messages that our bodies may want to be giving us I like to quote French writer Simone Weil who says attention is the greatest form of generosity so with that thank you for coming to practice namaste