Short Body Scan

A simple lying down meditation practice, which can be done sitting if lying down is painful or not possible - just adjust as you go along. The idea here is to just follow the guidance and allow your awareness to re-connect with the body, using the breath and body as an achor whenever the mind wanders, which it will do. This is the practice, strengthening our ability to intentionally focus our attention where we want, not where the autopilot mind dictates.

Transcript

Short body scan.

So prepare yourself in the usual way by finding a comfortable place to lie down or sit down where you won't be disturbed by the usual busyness of everyday life.

And then when you're ready,

Just bringing your awareness to the body breathing.

So noticing the in-breath coming into the body and the out-breath leaving the body.

And just tuning into the subtle sensations of the body breathing.

And then when you're ready,

Allowing your awareness now to move down through both legs to the ankles and then out through to the toes of both feet.

And just tuning into whatever sensations are there in the toes of both feet when your awareness arrives there.

Just allowing things to be as they are,

So trying not to manipulate your toes or move your feet in any way.

Simply observing things exactly as you find them.

Maybe noticing tingling or warmth or cold,

Maybe even moisture between the toes.

Or you might not be noticing any sensations at all and in which case just being with that nothingness,

Just allowing things to be exactly as they are.

And now seeing if it's possible to imagine breathing your breath all the way down into the toes of both feet and then on the out-breath just letting the breath go out of the toes and the toes dissolving in your mind's eye.

So letting go of the toes on the out-breath and then bringing the awareness now into the bottom of both feet.

The soles of the feet,

The arch,

Moving around to include the heel and the ankle.

And then all the way over the top of both feet as well.

So just tuning into sensations in the whole region of both feet now.

Just noticing whatever's going on for you there right now.

And just breathing with this whole area.

And then on an out-breath letting go of both feet and then moving your awareness up into the lower legs.

So the whole area,

The shin at the front and the calf at the back.

And seeing if it's possible to notice any sensations of the bones inside the leg.

So just being with this whole region right now.

And when you're ready just moving the awareness to include the knees.

So all around the knees,

The kneecap and the joint.

Just tuning into whatever sensations are there for you right now.

And then on an out-breath letting go of both knees and bringing the awareness up into the thighs,

To the upper legs.

This large muscle group with a heavy bone.

Just tuning into the whole region.

Noticing if there's any tightness or tension in these large muscles.

Just breathing right into wherever there may be tension and out from the area.

Inviting it to soften and ease with each out-breath as much as it will do.

And remembering that whenever the mind wanders off,

Just being ok with that because that's what minds do.

But then just bringing your awareness back to where we're looking at it,

The part of the body scan.

And in this moment in the thighs,

The upper legs.

And then on an out-breath letting go of both thighs and then bringing the awareness into the whole pelvic region.

So focusing on the hip on the right side.

And bringing the awareness into the genital region.

And then including the hip on the left side.

And the buttocks in touch with the ground or the mat.

So just noticing what sensations or lack of sensations you're noticing here in the whole of the pelvic region now.

In and breathing gently into the whole of the pelvic area.

And then letting it go on the out-breath as we bring our attention now into the small of the back.

This area that can often store a lot of accumulated stress from daily activities.

So just noticing what sensations are here for you right now.

From the centre of the spine and then radiating out where the muscles move out to the sides.

And just breathing right into this area and out from it.

Inviting any tension or intensity to soften with each out-breath.

And then moving up through to the rest of the back,

Taking in the whole of the back all the way up to the shoulders now.

Breathing with this whole region.

Perhaps noticing a sensation of pressure as the weight of the body bears down through the shoulders or parts of the spine.

And then letting go of the whole of the back and then moving the awareness now into the abdomen.

So just noticing the rise of the abdomen on the in-breath and watching it deflate on the out-breath.

And noticing any sensations as the body breathes down there in the abdomen.

Just being curious,

Moving your focus of awareness right up close to any sensations.

And following the rhythmic movement of the breath coming into and leaving the body.

And then when you're ready just moving the awareness up into the chest.

So the whole of the front of the body now rising and falling with the in-breath and the out-breath.

Noticing the breasts,

The ribs.

And seeing if it's possible to tune into the heart beating in the centre of the chest.

And then with a slightly more intentional and deeper in-breath,

Filling the whole of the chest.

And then just releasing and letting go on the next out-breath.

And then bringing the awareness now to the tips of the fingers on both hands.

Perhaps noticing sense of the nails or pressure with the floor if your fingertips are touching the floor.

Noticing the tips of the thumbs.

And moving the awareness to incorporate the whole of the hands.

So all of the fingers and thumbs,

The palm of the hands,

The back of the hands.

Noticing a sense of warmth or cold,

Moisture.

And then moving up through the wrists to the forearms,

Muscles,

The front and back.

And moving up to include the elbows as well.

And then taking in the upper arms,

All the way up to the top of the arms and the armpits as well.

Just noticing all the sensations in this region of the body.

And bringing the mind back whenever it wanders off.

Just coming back to noticing the arms.

And then seeing if it's possible to imagine taking the next in-breath into both arms and on the out-breath letting go of the arms,

Watching them dissolve in the mind's eye.

And then bringing the awareness right up into the shoulders,

Into the large muscle group that goes from the top of the arms all the way into the neck.

Again this is an area that can store tension.

So just moving right up close to any area of tension or aching.

Just breathing right up close and then breathing out from any area of intensity and inviting it to soften and ease with each out-breath.

And now just moving the awareness up into the neck.

So the sides of the neck,

Back of the neck and round the front.

Just tuning into any area of intensity there.

Just breathing with it.

Inviting it to soften and release with the out-breath and letting go of the neck now.

Moving the awareness up into the jaw and the chin.

And the whole of the front of the face including the lips,

The nose,

The eyes,

The forehead,

Cheeks.

And just noticing if there's any tension anywhere around the face.

And just allowing the face to completely relax its expression now.

And noticing if there's any sense of emotion attached to any of the tension that might be there.

Just noticing,

Making a note as you let go of any tension in the whole of the face now.

And moving the awareness around to the back of the head and the top of the head and just tuning into the sensations here.

And then moving the awareness to the very top of the head and imagining a small blowhole there that you can breathe all the way into the abdomen.

And then out from the abdomen down through the legs and out of the toes.

And back in through the toes into the abdomen and out through the body and out through the head.

So just imagining being able to breathe in this way for a few moments.

Just bringing fresh,

New,

Clean air into the body and pushing it out down through the body.

And then when you're ready just bringing the awareness back to the belly breathing.

Just watching the rise and the fall of the belly as the body breathes.

And then expanding the awareness to take in the sense of the whole body lying here breathing.

And then within each out-breath just allowing the body to be even more supported by the ground or the mat.

Noticing the points of contact supporting the ground.

And seeing if it's possible to allow them to take up more of the weight of the body lying here with each out-breath.

And tuning into a sense of stillness,

A sense of calm,

Sense of peace.

Seeing if it's possible for you to tune into these sensations.

And reminding ourselves that this sense of stillness is always available to us whenever we focus on the in-breath and the out-breath.

It's always there to nurture us,

To bring peace and calm whenever we should need it.

To help us find different ways of reacting or responding.

And so as this practice comes to an end,

Just tuning into how the body might want to move.

And then gently when you're ready starting to stretch the hands and feet and legs.

And then seeing if it's possible to continue carrying this sense of awareness and stillness with you for the rest of your day.

Reviews

Nice voice, short and eas to follow. Thanks 🙏

A good common sense body scan. He gets to the point right away.

Great! Very thorough for the length. Thank you 🙏🏼 😊

A easy to follow body scan :)

Very nice way to become more aware. I was feeling poorly. But after this meditation it was ok how I felt and half of the stress had already flood away.

Fantastic body scan, I use it almost everyday during breaks at work to reduce stress and refocus.

Excelente! Thank you.

Love this. Will use again

That was wonderful, thank you! :)

Pleasant voice guides through a body scan that left me relaxed and able to sleep soundly. So grateful :-)

One of the best relaxation meditations I have done. I was in a lot of back pain when I started, but during the meditation it all went away. I really like that there was no closing bill; it allows the Meditation to continue as long as you want. I will bookmark this; it is fantastic!

Bell at the end would be nice. Thank you

Love this! Thank you