Traversing The Inner Landscape -Live Body Scan -Chronic Pain

The bodyscan is an opportunity to take time out from doing, and to simply be with the universe of sensations in your body. To observe these sensations, as well as any thoughts or emotions that may arise, with kindness and curiosity, and to practise gently moving your awareness from one region of the body to the next. This track is a recording of a LIVE practice.

Transcript

This is a guided body scan meditation.

The body scan is usually done lying down,

But can also be done sitting or standing if that is more comfortable for you.

Your attitude towards and intentions for the practice are more important than your posture.

Ensure you're in a warm safe space where you won't be disturbed for the next 45 minutes or so.

If you are lying down it's important to remember that meditation is about falling awake,

Not asleep.

You can always keep your eyes open during the practice or bring your forearms off the floor and point your fingers towards the ceiling,

In which case if you do fall asleep they'll drop down giving you a gentle reminder to remain awake and alert.

If you have any lower back pain you may wish to place the soles of your feet up closer to your buttocks and allow your knees to gently rest against each other,

Taking some pressure off the lumbar area.

The invitation here is to approach the practice with a sense of curiosity,

Kindness and acceptance towards your moment-to-moment experience and to any sensations,

Thoughts or emotions you encounter during the body scan.

This practice is not a matter of success or failure,

Nor is it about trying to get anywhere,

Achieve anything or retain some special state of calm or relaxation,

Although any of those things could happen.

The body scan is about cultivating mindfulness by bringing our awareness right into our physical sensations and simply being with our experience as it is as we travel through the bodyscape.

Many of us have difficult relationships with our bodies,

Especially if we've experienced trauma related to pain,

Injury,

Illness or abuse.

If you do encounter difficult sensations or emotions as we travel through the body,

You have a few options and I'll be sharing these options with you as we begin the practice.

So just coming into whatever position you're going to be taking for this body scan,

As I mentioned you can be sitting,

Lying down,

Standing up.

I'll be guiding as if we're lying down and if you are lying down,

You know,

Just taking a moment to kind of ease into the surface that you're lying on.

If it's comfortable for you,

You can have your hands arms by your sides with your palms facing up.

You may also want to have a hand on the heart,

A hand on the stomach.

If that's comfortable for you and soothing for you,

It can be really helpful if we're experiencing pain in this moment.

Just letting your feet fall,

Fall apart and let's just drop into the present moment.

Starting with sounds,

So noticing any sounds in the outer world,

In the room that you're in or perhaps coming from outside.

Noticing any tendency to lean in and seek out and just kind of stepping back,

Sitting back in the seat of awareness and allowing sounds to come to you.

Sound waves traveling through the air and into your inner ear.

It might also be sounds coming from the inner world,

From inside the body.

Sound of breath,

Gurgling of the digestive system or any other sound.

Just being with sounds in this moment.

The sound of me soloing.

You might hear that from time to time as we as we move through the practice.

Then from sounds,

Just resting your attention on the points of contact between the body and the surface that you're on,

Whatever position you're in.

So contact with the feet,

The backs of the legs,

The buttocks,

The lower back,

Upper back,

Shoulders,

Back of the head if you're lying down.

Might be contact between body and other parts of the body if you have your hands on your heart or your stomach.

And just slowly allowing your awareness to fill your entire body,

Starting with those points of contact and then just emanating out.

As you do that,

Noticing any tension,

Any holding,

Any gripping,

Any tightness in the body.

And to whatever degree possible on each out breath,

Just allowing that tension and that tightness to transfer down into the surface that you're on,

Letting that surface support you,

Hold you,

Remembering that you are safe,

You're in a safe space.

Noticing the universe of sensations inside the body,

Even while lying prone and still,

There's a tremendous amount of movement,

Energy,

Dynamism within the body,

Trillions of cells trillions of cells working in harmony.

I'm going to gather our attention now and just resting it on the sensations of the breath in the body,

Same air that carries sound waves to your inner ear,

Entering your body at the nostrils,

Moving down the throat and filling the lungs.

There's no need to control or manipulate the breath,

Just allowing it to breathe itself.

Noticing where in your body the sensations are most prominent,

Is it in the nostrils and throat or the chest or perhaps down in the belly,

The whole area between the rib cage and the pelvis.

Breath is a wonderful anchor to the present moment,

It's always here waiting for us,

So at any time we find our attention,

We find our attention has wandered away from the guidance,

Or we encounter strong sensations,

Strong emotions,

One option is to return to this anchor,

Return to the sensations of the breath in the body and just stay with them for a few cycles of in-breath and out-breath before you return to my guidance and to whatever region of the body we are in at that moment.

If you do encounter very intense sensations or sense of discomfort,

Strong emotions that might come up as we move through the body,

We have a few options.

You can return your attention to an anchor like the breath as we've just mentioned,

Or points of contact,

Or even sounds.

Just stay there for a while until you're comfortable returning to the guidance.

You can also shift position and sometimes that's the most compassionate thing you can do,

Particularly if you are experiencing pain,

So if you do shift position,

Just noticing the impulse that arises to move and then being very mindful of the movements while you make them.

You might consider opening your eyes if your eyes are closed,

That's a nice way to kind of regather yourself and settle and you can always keep the eyes open for the remainder of the practice.

One option which I'd encourage you to at least dip your toes into and give a try is to approach the sensations or the emotion with a very kindly gentle curiosity.

This might only be possible for a few seconds at first,

But you might be surprised at how you can stay with the emotions or the sensations for longer than you expected.

And in the approaching,

Just noticing the qualities.

Where in the body are you feeling these sensations or this emotion?

Is there a pulling or a tightness?

Is the sensation sharp or dull?

Is there a pulsing,

Throbbing or even a numbness?

And in the noticing,

You'll also notice that the sensation,

The emotion is ever-changing.

It's not solid,

Static.

It's changing moment by moment and that can be very reassuring and even liberating,

This knowledge that whatever difficulties we're facing,

They are going to change,

They are going to dissolve and perhaps reappear and dissolve again,

Dissipate.

So that realization I say can be very helpful and comes with time and with practice.

So now just gathering your attention in the belly,

Being with the sensations of breath in the belly,

Expanding on the in-breath and falling away again on the out-breath.

Falling away again on the out-breath.

And on the next out-breath,

Just moving your attention down through the pelvis,

Through the left leg,

The upper leg,

The knee,

The lower leg,

All the way into the left foot.

And just noticing what's here in your left foot right now.

Contact with the surface you're on.

Going right through to the toes.

Big toe at one end,

Little toe at the other end,

Toes in between.

Just noticing what's here right now.

Is there a tingling?

Is there warmth or cold?

Perhaps a feeling of sock on the skin.

Or no feeling at all.

That's also okay.

Noticing whatever sensations or no sensations are here in the toes of the left foot.

And then broadening your awareness to include the sole of the left foot.

The ball,

The arch,

The heel,

The outer edge of the sole.

And attention coming around to the top of the left foot.

Soft skin,

Bony structure,

The interior of the foot.

Intricate bones and ligaments and tendons.

Attention building up to the ankle.

Perhaps circling the ankle.

Bony protrusions on the sides.

Noticing what's here in the ankle joint in this moment.

Broadening attention to hold your entire foot in awareness.

The whole of the left foot being held in awareness.

Just noticing what's here right now.

And letting go of the left foot now.

And resting your attention on the lower leg,

Calf,

The shin.

This entire area between the ankle and the knee.

Perhaps feeling the calf resting on the floor or if you're sitting then the calf is just hanging there from the lower leg.

Attention moving up now into the knee.

Perhaps starting at the back of the knee.

Soft skin going all the way in through the back of the knee and through the joint and into the kneecap,

The front of the knee.

Just holding your entire knee in awareness,

Front,

Back and sides.

Before letting the knee go and resting your attention on your thigh.

Thighs are home to the femur,

The longest,

Strongest and heaviest bone in the body.

Going from the knee all the way up to the hip socket.

Just noticing the big muscles around the femur and just the weight and the length of this part of the body.

Now if the mind has wandered away from my guidance,

That's completely fine,

That's what the mind does,

It's not a problem.

No need to judge or criticise yourself for mind wandering.

You may have wandered a hundred times already.

Just remembering that in the noticing that our attention has wandered and in the gently bringing it back to the guidance,

To an anchor,

To the area of the body that we are in,

That is an act of mindfulness.

It's like doing a rep at the mind gym.

It's not an obstacle to the practice,

It is the practice.

The more times we notice and bring our attention back,

We're training that muscle of mindfulness and it's something that we can draw upon then in our daily lives when our mind wanders to unproductive patterns of thought or emoting.

If the mind has wandered,

Just gently kindly,

But also firmly bring it back to the part of the body that we are in,

Which in this moment is the left thigh.

And we're going to let go of the left thigh and we're going to fill our entire left leg with awareness,

From the hip socket at the top all the way down to the toes at the bottom,

Just noticing whatever's here in your left leg in this moment.

Gathering your attention at the top of your left leg and moving it across the pelvis and down into the right leg,

Through the thigh,

The knee,

The calf,

The shin all the way down into the right foot,

Perhaps resting attention with the contact between the right foot and the surface that you're on.

Noticing the big toe on the right foot the little toe and the toes in between and there may or may not be any sensations here and that's okay.

Through this practice and through repeating this practice you'll notice that your ability to sense different parts of the body changes.

No two practices are the same and it's not linear either.

So while we might not experience anything in our toes today,

There might be a tingling tomorrow or the next time we do the practice and then the time after that there might be no sensations again.

Just moving attention down into the sole of the right foot and wrapping around to the top of the right foot the ankle then holding the entire right foot in awareness noticing any and all sensations or no sensations at all and now letting go of the right foot and moving into the right foot and noticing the right foot and moving attention up into the lower right leg calf,

Muscle shin,

Bone and being with this area between the knee and the ankle for a few breaths and noticing what's here and now letting go of the lower right leg and bringing your attention into your knee right into the knee joint the joint that helps us walk and go up and down stairs if that's something we're able to do just letting go of the right knee now and coming up into the upper right leg femur,

This giant white cell factory in your thigh muscles around the femur just noticing whatever's in your upper right leg at this moment,

Whatever sensations are present all the way up to the hip socket then awareness filling the right leg from the hip all the way down to the toes noticing the length of the right leg weight and letting go of the right leg and bringing your attention into the pelvic region hips,

Buttocks and tailbone at the back we often hold a lot of tension in our buttocks particularly if we have any spinal conditions or challenges with our legs just intentionally breathing into the buttocks and releasing some of that tension down into the surface releasing some of that tension down into the surface coming around to the front of the pelvis groin soft organs inside the pelvis being protected by the bones now moving your attention to the lower back where the vertebrae come up out of the pelvis all the way out to the sides as well this is an area that holds a great deal of tension irrespective of our physical condition just noticing any sensations that are present in the lower back an area that does so much work for us whether we're standing or sitting just giving it an opportunity to relax to take care of it to not give it any work to do tension moving up the back now to the middle back,

Out to the sides noticing the ribcage emanating from the middle and upper back coming up into the shoulder blades all the way up to the base of the neck broadening awareness and holding the entire back this whole region in awareness shoulder blades,

Top of the neck ribs lumbar,

Base of the spine just being with whatever sensations are present in your back in this moment letting go of the back and coming around to the front of the torso,

The belly this whole area between the pelvis and the ribcage just noticing what's here breath moving diaphragm working belly rising and falling an area where a lot of our digestion takes place might have a sense of fullness or emptiness depending on when you last ate tension moving up to the chest being with the lungs as they fill with air on the in breath empty themselves of air on the out breath just sensing the lungs,

Not thinking about them just sensing them you might be aware of the heart beating the center of the chest between the lungs or you might not heart beating,

Heart not beating or not sensing the heart beating are all part of the body skin noticing the surface of the chest breasts pectoral muscles collar bones awareness now just expanding and filling the entire front of the torso and the collar bones right down to the pelvis not forgetting about the sides of the body too sensing what's here in the sides of the torso from the hips all the way up to the armpits from the hips all the way up to the armpits if the mind wanders just noting where it's gone might be analyzing or ruminating on the past planning,

Practicing or worrying about the future just thanking the mind for doing it's job for trying to look out for you and protect you say thank you mind but I'm okay right now I'm okay in this moment and returning your attention to the area of the body that we are in which in this moment is the front of the torso and letting go of the torso and moving your attention into your shoulders and then down through the arms,

Upper arms,

Elbows forearms and right down into the fingertips thumb tips awareness filling the fingers and thumbs noticing what's here perhaps the sensation of air on the fingers fingers rubbing against one another nails,

Knuckles and noticing the palms of the hands the backs of the hands,

Perhaps resting on the surface that you are on and the wrists these complex intricate joints may notice a pulsing in the wrists as blood moves in and out of the hands delivering oxygen and nutrients and whatever your hands need in this moment awareness expanding to hold the entire hands front,

Back,

Fingers thumbs,

Wrists all can be held in awareness and letting the hands go and moving attention up into the forearms forearms are one of those areas that we often overlook and bring our awareness or attention to our forearms very often so in this moment just holding our forearms in awareness and noticing what's here perhaps having a sense of appreciation for this part of the body that we may be overlooking most of the time and attention coming up into the elbows the lower bony parts on the outside of the elbow and soft inside of the elbow going right into the joints and noticing what's here in your elbows in this moment and letting the elbows go and coming up into the upper arm,

Biceps and the triceps coming right into the shoulder joint shoulders another one of those places where we hold a lot of tension just on the out-breath releasing some of that tension,

Letting the shoulders soften you may have thought that your shoulders were relaxed but now you might notice that they're able to soften even more on each out-breath awareness now filling the entire arms from the shoulders all the way down into the finger and thumb tips just holding your arms in awareness sensing movement energy being curious about what's here right now in your arms now letting go of your arms and bringing your attention up to the area between the shoulders and the neck including the neck muscles as well holding that area in awareness along with the lower back this is one of the tightest and most tense areas of our body we hold a great deal of tension here afflictive emotions that haven't been processed or freed just noticing what's here in this area between the shoulders and the neck,

The neck muscles themselves that work so hard to hold our head up throughout the day,

Just resting now if we're lying down noticing the throat,

Air cool air passing down into the lungs and warm air coming up from the lungs out of the throat the back of the neck the vertebrae getting smaller and smaller until they become tiny little bones right at the top of the spine base of the skull tension resting on the back of the head point of contact between the head and the surface and then emanating out around the scalp sides and top of the head here or no here awareness going into the head now just sensing the brain this incredible organ 80 billion neurons communicating using electricity and chemistry the brain just floating in a jelly-like fluid inside our head protected by hard bones of the skull bring your attention to your forehead noticing any tension that you might be holding in your forehead in this moment,

The area between the hairline and the eyebrow ridge perhaps doing a deep intentional breath and on the out breath releasing any tension in the forehead coming down to the eye sockets bony orbit around the eyes noticing the eyes themselves are they dry or moist what other sensations are here in the eyes right now the eyelids,

Even if they're closed noticing patterns of light and dark colour coming through the eyelids bring your attention between your eyes where the nose begins,

Just moving down the nose all the way down to the nostrils where cool air enters and warm air leaves the body awareness spreading out across the planes of the cheeks perhaps bringing a gentle smile to your face if you don't have one already noticing the change,

How that sense of ourselves changes when we smile the ears,

The outer ears the earlobes,

The inner ear resting attention on the jaw the tops of the jaws,

The bottom of the ears just releasing any tension there before the jaw opens and the jaw opens before moving down the jaw bones your attention meeting the centre of the chin the mouth is there a dryness in the lips are they moist attention moving inside the mouth teeth,

Gums roof of the mouth,

Base of the mouth,

The tongue the tongue and bringing your attention back to your lips and expanding it so that it holds your entire face and head in awareness and keeping keeping your face and head held in awareness and expanding awareness down through the body the neck,

Out across the shoulders and down the arms into the fingertips light of awareness filling the body front,

Back and sides of the torso all the way down through the pelvis the upper legs,

The knees the lower legs right into the feet just staying with this sense of the whole body complete as it is just really sensing the wholeness,

The energy any sensations that are present in the body in this moment awareness is boundless it's big enough to hold all aspects of our experience within it so in these last few moments of the practice just holding your entire body and your whole being and just slowly in awareness noticing the whole body breathing and as the practice comes to an end just setting an intention to bring this quality of awareness into the next part of your day or evening just being very gentle with yourself creating a bit of a buffer between the practice and the next thing that you have to do just allowing a nice transition from being mode into doing mode if that's what's needed right now bring a little bit of movement in just moving the fingers perhaps rolling the wrists,

Rolling the ankles you might want to bring your knees up put the soles of the feet on the floor and maybe bring your knees all the way up to your chest if that's comfortable for you and just being really deliberate and slow about how you get up from lying down

Reviews

With so much thanks for a detailed and loving scan. Much appreciated and very grateful Karim.

This track always helps when nothing else does. Thank you

I am in the process of exploring my chronic lower back pain and coming to understand the importance of connecting with my body in new ways. I listened to this scan as I was having acupuncture. It helped me to journey within more deeply. It beautifully supported my experience.🙏🏻