Mindful BodyScan

Dr Rebecca Crane from the CMRP leads a BodyScan. This is a BodyScan as would be taught in a typical Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course.

Transcript

This is a guided body scan meditation.

Finding a place and a time where you can be warm and undisturbed,

Where you can be comfortable.

And wearing loose and comfortable clothing,

Particularly around your waist.

Seeing this as a time for you,

A time for being with yourself,

For yourself.

A time for looking after yourself.

A time for supporting your health and well-being.

So finding a place in which you can lie down on your back,

On the floor or on a mat or the bed.

And covering yourself with a blanket for warmth if necessary.

If you have difficulty lying flat on your back you may want to bend your knees or you can do the practice sitting in a chair.

Letting your arms be by your sides and the feet can fall away from each other.

Letting your eyes close if this feels comfortable to you.

It is best if you can stay awake during the practice,

So if you find yourself feeling sleepy you can experiment with doing the practice with your eyes open.

Or maybe doing the practice in a sitting posture.

The particular posture you adopt isn't as important as the attitude that you bring to the practice.

We are cultivating the possibility of being fully awake to our experience,

Of being open and gentle with ourselves and our experience from moment to moment.

In this practice we are not trying to achieve any special state,

We are not even trying to relax.

So seeing if it is possible to let go of the tendency that we all have to want things to be a certain way and then to judge how we are doing.

Seeing if it is possible to let go of judgement,

Let things be as they are however they are.

Being gentle with yourself.

All that is asked of you in this practice is to experience your experience.

Not trying to create a particular experience.

But just being with what is.

Just bringing your awareness to what you find as you focus your attention on each part of the body in turn.

As I guide you through this practice remember that my words are just guidance.

Only do what is right for you in each moment.

Make this your practice.

So now,

Settling into a position that is best for you for this practice.

And taking your attention to the places where your body comes into contact with what is supporting you.

Opening to the sensations created here.

Maybe in the heels.

Parts of your legs.

Your back.

Parts of your shoulders.

And arms.

Your head.

Opening to sensations of pressure,

Warmth,

Weight of your body moving down.

Really feeling your body being held.

Letting your body sink into this on each out breath.

Just giving yourself over to the support of what you're lying on.

And now bringing the focus of your attention to the sensations of breath movement in the body.

The flow of the breath into and out from the body.

You may feel the breath moving at the tip of the nose at the nostrils.

Or in the back of the throat.

Or in the chest.

Or right down in the abdomen,

In the belly,

Just around or below the navel.

And seeing if it is possible now to follow the breath right down here.

Noticing the sensations of the rising of the abdomen on the in breath.

And the falling away on the out breath.

You may feel the abdomen wall stretching slightly as you breathe in and fall away as you breathe out.

Not thinking about the breath but allowing the attention to explore the sensations that accompany each in breath and each out breath.

Riding the waves of your breathing.

And as you breathe out you may find yourself sinking a little bit more into the mat,

Into the floor.

Letting go.

Seeing your breath as a stable and safe place which is always with you.

Which you can return to at any time.

Like an anchor supporting you in connecting to the present moment whenever you find that you have slipped away.

And now as you next breathe out,

Letting go of awareness of the breathing,

Letting it fade into the background.

And guiding your attention from your abdomen all the way down the left leg into the left foot and all the way out to the toes of the left foot.

And focusing your attention on the big toe of the left foot.

Noticing any sensations that are here.

No need to move the big toe or to try to make it feel any different.

Simply becoming aware of what is already present here.

And letting go of the big toe of the left foot and focusing your attention now on the little toe of the left foot.

What do you notice here?

What sensations are present in the little toe?

Maybe sensations of tingling or numbness or a feeling of warmth or coolness.

Maybe the sensations of your sock touching your toes.

Or maybe no sensation at all.

And letting go now of the little toe and moving your attention to the toes in between on your left foot.

Maybe noticing the way they touch each other or the spaces between the toes.

Whatever you are experiencing here,

Allowing it to be as it is.

Tuning into the sensations you find here.

Exploring them in a kindly and gentle way.

And letting go now of the toes of the left foot and moving and focusing your attention on to the bottom of your left foot.

The ball of your foot.

And then the instep.

What sensations are here for you right now in the sole of your left foot?

And letting go now of the bottom of the left foot and coming to focus on the heel.

The place where your heel is making contact with the floor or the mat.

Maybe feeling the sense of touch or pressure.

Just noticing any sensations or no sensations if this is what you are noticing.

Just being with your experience in a kindly way.

And letting go now of the left heel and shifting your attention to the top of the foot.

And whatever feelings or lack of feelings there are here,

Noticing them.

Exploring tendons,

Ligaments,

Muscles.

Opening to the structure of your left foot.

Just being with it as it is,

Letting it predominate in the field of your awareness.

What's going on for you in this area?

And now letting go of attention in the upper part of the foot,

The left foot.

And moving your focus into your left ankle.

This bony joint.

Noticing what's here.

What sensations are you experiencing?

Really allowing this to be a very alive exploration.

And now widening the focus of your attention to include the whole of your left ankle and foot.

Maybe imagining the beam of your awareness like the beam of a torch expanding to encompass and shine inside your left foot.

And if this feels right for you,

Imagining that when you next breathe in,

You are breathing air down through the trunk of your body and then down into your left leg,

Right down into your left foot.

And as you breathe out,

Imagining the air is moving up out of the left foot,

Up through the trunk of the body,

And out through your mouth or nostrils.

Just playing with this possibility of breathing air into and out from your left foot and ankle and seeing how this is for you.

Maybe sensing the possibility of softening and letting go as you breathe out.

Now and throughout this practice,

Letting go of any struggle which you may experience,

Just allowing things to be as they are.

And now letting the breath return to normal and to the background of your awareness and letting go of your left foot and ankle.

And turning your focus to the left lower leg.

Noticing the calf muscle,

Perhaps where it's touching the floor.

Sensing the shin in front,

Perhaps feeling how the skin feels taught across the bone or how your clothing feels on your skin.

Just simply noticing any sensations in your lower left leg.

Not just on the surface but deep as well,

Right down into the muscle and the bone.

And if at any time you notice that your mind has wandered away from the body scan,

Perhaps has got involved in thoughts,

Plans,

Daydreams or whatever,

Then just very gently noticing that and bringing your attention back to whatever part of the body we are focused on.

It is the nature of minds to wander.

So not thinking of this as a mistake or a fault or any kind of problem,

Just simply noticing that you are experiencing a wandering mind.

And then bringing your attention back to the body scan,

Wherever we are,

Which in this case is coming back to the lower left leg.

So now letting go of awareness of your lower left leg and moving your focus to the left knee.

Feeling your knee,

The bony front,

The kneecap,

The sides of the knee,

The soft back of your left knee.

Noticing sensations deep into the joint.

Just experiencing your left knee as it is in this moment,

Exploring these sensations.

Bringing a sense of kindliness towards your knee.

And now allowing awareness of the left knee to fade and coming to the left thigh,

From the knee right up into your left hip.

Surface sensations,

Deep down sensations.

Being aware of the big muscle,

Perhaps sensing the bone inside.

Exploring the connection with the knee and the connection with the hip.

Perhaps feeling the pulsation of blood movement.

There may be feelings of heaviness.

Whatever there is,

Just being open to sensations here in the left thigh.

And now as you lie here,

Expanding the focus of your awareness to the whole of your left leg.

And if this feels right for you,

Imagine that when you breathe in,

You're breathing air down beyond your lungs,

Down through the trunk of your body.

And then into your entire left leg.

The thigh,

The knee,

The lower leg,

Including the ankle and the foot.

And as you breathe out,

Imagine the air is moving up through and out of your left leg.

Up through the trunk of your body and out through your mouth or nostrils.

Just playing with this possibility of breathing into and out from your left leg and seeing how this is for you.

Letting this whole region soften as you breathe out.

Playing with allowing your awareness to move down your left leg with your breath.

And noticing how this feels.

And now,

Letting the breath return to its normal rhythm.

Letting the breath move to the background of your awareness.

And taking the trail of your attention from your left leg across the pelvis and down through the right leg,

All the way to the toes of the right foot.

And becoming aware of the sensations that are arising in your right big toe.

Opening here to whatever is here in this moment.

And letting go here and moving your attention to the right little toe,

The nail,

The pad of the little toe.

Whatever is present in your right little toe,

Opening to it.

And letting go here and shifting the attention to the right toes in between.

Maybe noticing the gaps between the toes or the way that they touch each other.

Feeling air on the toes or the sensations of clothing,

Sock on the toes.

Being very alive to sensations here.

Exploring.

Being curious.

Letting go now of focusing your attention in the right toes and moving your attention now into the sole of the right foot,

The bottom of the right foot.

And opening to sensations here.

Sensations in the ball of the right foot,

In the instep.

And letting go here and coming now to focus on the heel of the right foot,

The place where your heel is making contact with the floor or the mat.

And just feeling the sense of touch or pressure or whatever else is present for you here.

Alive to sensations in the right heel in this moment.

And moving the attention now into the top of the right foot,

Surface sensations and sensations deep inside the right foot,

Bones,

Tendons,

Ligaments,

Blood flow,

Muscle.

Bringing a sense of kindly attention to whatever you encounter in the top of the right foot.

And now letting go of holding your attention here and moving the focus to the right ankle.

And just simply allowing yourself to receive whatever sensations are arising in this place,

The right ankle.

Opening out the focus of your attention to hold the whole of your right ankle and the right foot in your awareness in this moment.

And if this feels right for you,

Imagining that when you next breathe in,

You are breathing air down beyond the lungs,

Through the trunk of your body,

Down your right leg and right down into your right foot.

And as you breathe out,

Imagining that the air is moving up out of the right foot,

Up the leg,

Up through the trunk of the body and out through your mouth or nostrils.

Just playing with this possibility of breathing into and out from your right foot and seeing how this is for you.

Opening and letting go as you breathe out.

And now letting go of breathing in this way,

Letting the breath return to normal and to the background of your awareness.

Letting go of the right ankle and foot.

And moving the attention into the lower leg.

The region between the knee and the ankle.

Noticing the shin in front and the calf muscle at the back.

Becoming aware of all the sensations in the lower leg.

Appreciating this region of your body,

Honoring it.

And letting go now of the right lower leg and moving the attention into the right knee.

Opening to sensations here.

Sensations in the kneecap.

The sides of your knee.

The soft back of your knee.

Sensations arising deep inside your knee.

Just simply receiving the sensations that are arising in this moment in the right knee.

And letting go now of the knee and moving your attentiveness into the right thigh.

The entire region of the upper leg between the hip and the groin.

And all the way to the knee.

Feeling your right thigh.

Any sensations at all.

Whether they be sensations of warmth,

Tingling,

Heaviness,

Lightness.

Whatever they are,

Just feeling your right thigh.

And now expanding the focus of your awareness to the whole of your right leg as you lie here.

And if this feels right for you,

Imagining that when you breathe in,

You are breathing air down through the trunk of your body and then into your entire right leg.

The thigh,

The knee,

The lower leg,

Including the ankle and the foot.

And as you breathe out,

Imagining that the air is moving up through and out of your leg,

Up through the trunk of your body and out through your mouth or nostrils.

Just playing with this possibility of breathing air into and out from the right leg.

And seeing how this is.

Really allowing your experience of this to be as it is for you.

And letting go now of breathing in this way,

Letting the breath return to its normal pattern and taking the trail of your attention from the right leg into the pelvis.

The entire region of the pelvis.

Being aware of the strong bony structure of our pelvic region.

Being aware of the soft muscles of the buttocks in touch with the mat or the floor.

Really noticing how this feels.

Maybe noticing any places of holding or tightness.

Places of relaxation,

Softness,

Looseness.

Feeling these sensations of contact,

Of weight,

Perhaps of heaviness.

Becoming aware of sensations in the region of the genitals.

And whatever sensations or lack of sensations you're experiencing here,

Just noticing them.

And letting go now of holding your attention in the pelvic region and taking the trail of your awareness to the area where the spine comes out of the pelvic girdle.

And just experiencing whatever sensations are here right now.

This is a part of the body where there is often tension or discomfort.

There may be sensations of some intensity here,

Tensions we carry with us through the day.

Now giving this region our full attention,

Maybe breathing with it.

And noticing if there's any possibility of letting go of tension or tightness as you breathe out.

Bringing to this region and to each region of the body as we move through this body scan a sense of kindliness,

Gentleness.

And knowing that as we move through this body scan that if you experience strong sensations,

Whether these are in the region that we're focusing on in this moment or in another region of the body,

That it's possible to just take some moments to acknowledge that this is how things are and notice these sensations fully.

Give them our full attention.

You can explore breathing into them and noticing how this is.

And then at a certain point,

Seeing if it's possible to let these sensations be to some extent in the background of the awareness and taking the attention back to wherever we are in the body scan in this moment,

Which in this case is in the lower back.

And doing all this with a sense of kindliness,

Gentleness towards yourself and towards these experiences.

So now letting go of holding the lower back in your attention and moving the attention further up the spine vertebrae by vertebrae,

Becoming aware of the intricate system of nerves encased and protected in the spine and branching out to all parts of the body.

Maybe noticing the part where the rib cage attaches to the spine,

Noticing the ribs themselves.

Being aware of the back of the lungs and the shoulder blades.

And letting go now of the back and taking the trail of attention down into the abdominal region,

Becoming aware of the stomach,

The intestines,

Perhaps feeling sensations of digestion,

Maybe a sense of fullness or emptiness.

Possibly becoming aware of the organs in this region.

And feeling the movement of the abdomen as it rises and falls with the in-breath and the out-breath.

And then allowing your attention to expand from the belly into the chest as well.

Feeling the movement of the diaphragm as it pushes down on the in-breath,

Creating more space for the lungs to hold air.

And relaxes on the out-breath.

Feeling the expansion of the rib cage as the lungs fill with air.

Aware of the front,

The sides,

The back of the rib cage.

And now becoming aware of the heart seated in the chest.

What do you notice in your heart in this moment?

Cradling it with your attention.

Noticing the close work of the heart and the lungs as they renew energy through the body.

Perhaps feeling right now the beating of the heart,

The movement of the lungs.

Aware of the muscles of the chest,

The skin,

The collarbones,

The breasts or the pectoral muscles.

What's here?

And now opening out the attention to include the whole of the trunk of the body from the pelvic region up through the abdomen,

The chest and the whole of the back.

And on the next in-breath,

Sensing yourself breathing deeply into and throughout this region.

Breathing in fresh air and energy.

And on each out-breath allowing the back to rest more deeply into the surface you are lying on.

Breathing in new energy and breathing out any sense of tightness or tension.

Almost as if every cell in the trunk of your body can receive air as you breathe in this particular sort of way.

Maybe sensing that you're breathing in kindliness and letting go on the out-breath.

And now on the next out-breath letting go of breathing in this way.

Letting go of holding your attention in the trunk of your body.

And taking the trail of your attention down both your arms to the fingertips of both hands and the thumbs,

Right and left.

Just noticing what is here in this moment.

Noticing if there's any difference between the right hand and the left hand in this moment.

You may feel some pulsation from the blood flow here,

Moisture,

Dryness.

And moving the attention now into your fingers and thumbs themselves,

The insides of them,

Surface sensations.

And now expanding awareness to include the palms of your hands and the backs of your hands.

And then moving the attention into the wrists,

Perhaps here again picking up on the pulsation of your arteries.

So expanding the attention now to hold the whole of the hands right and left in your attention in this moment.

Present with sensations.

And letting go now of your hands and moving your attention into your forearms,

Just experiencing this part of the body as it is.

And letting go here and moving the attention into the elbows and noticing what's here.

And now moving further up the arms and becoming aware of the upper arms,

Right up into the armpits.

Maybe noticing the way the arm bones rest in the shoulder sockets.

And letting go now of the arms and bringing the attention into the shoulders,

Becoming aware of the tops of the shoulders,

The sides,

The back of the shoulders.

Noticing the muscles here,

Really exploring the shoulders.

This is an area where attention often resides,

Bringing a sense of kindly attention to whatever you encounter as you rest with your attention in your shoulders.

Breathing with the shoulders.

And now opening out the attention around the shoulders to include both your arms and hands.

And as you next breathe in,

Playing with the possibility that you can direct breath through your shoulders,

Down through the arms,

Through the wrists,

And right into the hands,

Right and left.

And breathing up out from the hands and the arms.

And imagining the breath moving in this way into and out from the shoulders and arms and hands.

And opening to the sensations you experience as you do this.

Allowing your awareness to travel with your breath into and out from your arms and hands and seeing how this is as you explore this part of your body in this particular way.

And letting go of breathing in this way,

Letting the breath move to the background of your awareness.

And taking the trail of attention now to the neck,

To the back of the neck,

To the spine in the neck region,

And to the throat.

Maybe noticing the air going through this region when you breathe.

Maybe noticing the ability to swallow.

Maybe even sensing the sensations of swallowing.

What does it feel like to swallow?

Experiencing the entirety of this region of the body,

The neck.

And letting go now of the neck and moving the attention into the head and in particular into the base of the skull where the neck meets the skull.

And then into the whole of the scalp region,

The back of the head,

The top of the head,

The entire region of the cranium.

What do you notice here in this moment?

Receiving sensations.

And now becoming aware of your face.

This is another region that stores accumulated tension over the course of the day.

And in particular taking the attention first into the forehead.

This is often a seat of stored emotions and if there is any tension in this region,

Just letting it soften and letting go with the out-breath.

Noticing what's here in your forehead in this moment.

Noticing the eyebrows and the space between the eyebrows.

What do you notice in this space in this moment?

And moving the attention now into the eyes.

Inside sensations in the eyes.

Sensations around the eyes,

The muscles of the eyes,

The eyelids.

Bringing a sense of kindliness and respect to your eyes in this moment.

And shifting your awareness now to your nose.

Feeling the breath as it moves into and out of the nostrils.

Just simply receiving the sensations that you notice in your nose in this moment.

And opening your awareness now to your lips and your mouth.

The sensations inside your mouth,

The gums,

The teeth,

The tongue.

The floor of your mouth,

The roof of your mouth.

Insides of your cheeks.

Simply being present with the sensations here.

Really treating this as an alive and gentle exploration.

Noticing sensations in the jaw.

And now moving to your chin.

What's here?

And letting go here now,

Moving the attention round to the ears.

Noticing surface sensations in the ears.

And sensations deep inside the ears as they do their work of constantly receiving vibrations in the air that we call sound.

And now opening out the attention to include the whole head and face and neck in your awareness in this moment.

Holding this part of your body with a sense of honouring and respect.

And now breathing with the entirety of your face and head and neck.

And if you are coming from underneath,

Letting the whole face,

Including the forehead,

Dissolve into neutral.

Letting your face be still and neutral most of the time.

It's busy projecting one view or another.

Just now there's no need for it to do any work.

Just letting it be relaxed and at peace.

Your own face.

And if you sense any emotions associated with tension of the muscles in your face,

Just being aware of that.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Softening and opening to how things are in this moment in your face and head region.

Bringing a sense of kindliness and gentleness to this part of your body in this moment.

And now letting go of breathing in this way and opening out your attention to include your whole body as you lie here.

Feeling the breath moving in the body.

And as you lie here with an awareness of your whole body,

Opening to the possibility that the breath can move throughout the body.

So imagine that you are breathing in air from beyond the top of the head.

So that you're breathing in through the top of your head.

Into the torso,

The arms,

The legs,

The feet.

And you're breathing out through the soles of your feet.

And then breathing in from the soles of the feet into the whole body.

Filling the feet,

The legs,

The lower torso,

The upper torso,

The arms,

The head.

And breathing out through the crown of the head.

Letting the air and the energy move right out of your head.

And then right back into it.

Breathing from the top of the head right through the entire body and out through the soles of the feet.

And breathing in again through the soles of the feet.

Right through the body and out the crown of your head.

So in whatever way feels right for you,

Letting your breath sweep through the whole body.

Bringing with it a sense of new energy.

And releasing everything that's no longer needed.

Being aware of your body as a whole as you breathe in this way.

Experiencing the body as complete and whole in this moment.

And as you lie here with awareness of the whole body.

Letting go now of any control of the breath.

Allowing yourself to just lie here in stillness.

With your breath flowing freely into and out of the body.

Just allowing the natural cycle of the breath to come and go as it wants to.

Residing with awareness of how things are for you in this moment.

Opening up to things just as they are.

Allowing whatever arises to be here beyond personal fears and concerns.

Beyond a mind that wants things to be a certain way.

And seeing that this attitude in itself is healing.

That this attitude is an expression of your capacity to love and to care for yourself and others around you.

And as we bring this practice to an end taking care of yourself in the transition from the practice into daily life.

Giving time to this transition.

And allowing your next moments to be infused with this sense of kindly attention and care for yourself.

Reviews

Very comprehensive and precise. Relaxing.

By far one of the very best! Even better than the original MBCT scan.

Amazing and simple

Kind, loving, very detailed. Wonderful, thank you! I'll be back.
🌹👌🏻

Beautiful guidance. Very spacious, clear, & infused with a real sense of care.

Very much as I remember the original recording from Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Very nice, thank you 🙏🏻💕

Beautiful, thank you! 🙏🌠

Very nice body scan. Very gentle instruction, no distractions, just sweet, mellow meditation. Thank you.

One of the best body-scan meditation I have experienced. Time is flying despite duration of the meditation. Relaxing voice. Many thanks.

Excellent and straightforward 😍

Just what I needed, full body scan with time to reflect.

Clear and gentle.

Very detailed, not soothing but directing almost like a Sat nav!

Very relaxing and kind.

Great. A more definite ending, perhaps with a bell would have been a better finished.

A bit hectic but the end result was good!

Wonderful. Nicely done. Thank you.

Wonderful body scan! Very relaxing. Thank you🙏

Truly a very concise body scan