This is a body scan.
It can be done lying down on the floor or on a bed,
Sitting or it can even be done standing.
Taking a moment now to decide where might be right for you to do this practice.
Wherever feels right for you right now.
Spending a moment now to settle.
Allowing the eyes to close if that feels okay or just lowering your gaze and knowing that you can open your eyes anytime,
Especially if you find yourself getting sleepy.
So beginning with this sense of the whole body in this space,
Whether lying down,
Sitting or standing.
Feeling the full weight of your hands and arms and allowing any tension elsewhere in the body to release a little.
Try breathing in a little deeper and then as you breathe out allowing a sense of letting go into contact with the floor beneath you.
Noticing what's here in the body right now.
And remembering that in this practice we're not trying to achieve a special state or make the mind stay still or even trying to relax.
Instead we're exploring how it is to bring awareness to your experience and allowing it to be whatever it is.
From one moment to the next.
And now with the sense of attention being like a flashlight,
Dropping the attention down to both feet and all the way down to the toes.
Really zooming in.
Maybe noticing tingling or numbness.
Feelings of warmth or coolness.
Or maybe there are no particular sensations.
If so,
Just noticing that.
Not needing things to be any particular way.
Just tuning into sensations that are already here and allowing them to be just as they are.
And when you're ready,
Perhaps on an out breath,
Shifting the focus of attention away from the toes and moving it to the rest of the feet.
The soles,
The heels,
The arches,
The top of the feet.
Sensations from the surface of the feet and from inside the feet.
Exploring.
And now moving the flashlight of attention up to the ankle.
Sensations from the surface and inside the ankle joint.
And now letting go of the ankle and moving the focus of your attention to the lower legs.
Exploring as before.
Any sensations here?
Perhaps sensations of contact with clothing or the weight of the leg.
So not thinking about this part of the body but really feeling it,
Sensing it.
And from here on,
I'm just going to name the area of the body we are focusing attention on and see if you can continue to investigate any sensations there.
Or noticing if there are no particular sensations through that lens of interest.
So when you're ready,
Perhaps on the next out breath,
Moving the attention to the knees.
And when you're ready,
Letting go of the sense of the knees and bringing awareness and interest to the upper legs.
And perhaps this time taking a slightly deeper in breath and on the out breath,
Letting go of the upper legs.
And bringing now the attention to the whole region of the pelvis.
Experiencing what is here on the surface and within.
Not trying to change anything.
Allowing the sensations to be just as they are.
And whenever you notice that the mind has wandered,
Which it is very likely to do,
Just gently bringing it back.
Coming back to sensations in the body.
And now when you're ready,
Letting go of the pelvis and moving the flashlight of attention up through the lower back.
Allowing the lower back to open and soften.
Allowing any tension to leave on the out breath if possible.
And now moving the attention to the tummy,
The stomach area.
Tuning into the sensations of breathing.
The rising of the belly on the in breath.
And the falling away on the out breath.
So breathing into and out from this area if that feels okay.
And letting go now and moving your attention to the chest area.
Feeling the movements of the chest as you breathe.
Expanding and releasing.
And on an out breath,
Shifting awareness to the upper part of the back.
The shoulder blades,
The shoulders,
Another area of the body where tension is often stored.
So if you are noticing tightness here,
As best you can,
Try opening to whatever sensations are here.
Breathing with them.
And as you breathe out,
Letting go of this part of the body and moving the focus of awareness now to the hands.
Both hands at the same time.
Tuning into sensations at the tips of your fingers and thumbs.
What's here right now?
There may be tingling,
Pulsing,
Coolness.
Simply tuning into what's present in this moment.
Just as it is.
And letting the awareness expand to the rest of your fingers and thumbs and then to the palms of the hands.
And the backs of the hands.
These hands that do so much for us.
Giving them some time.
Recognizing how much they do for us.
Now letting the flashlight of attention expand to the wrists and to the lower arms.
The elbows.
The upper arms.
The shoulders.
And breathing with the sensations that you find.
Coming now to the neck.
The front.
The back.
The sides.
The muscles at the back of the neck.
And softening and opening to whatever is here.
And on an out breath,
Letting go of the neck and moving to the face and head.
Beginning with the chin and the jaw.
And now also the cheeks.
The lips.
Inside the mouth.
The teeth.
The gums.
The tongue.
The roof of the mouth.
Where the mouth meets the throat.
And now expanding awareness to the surface of the nose.
The nostrils.
Inside the nose.
And now also the temples.
The sides of the eyes.
The eyelids.
The eyeballs and eyebrows.
And sensing the forehead.
Sensing any tightness in the forehead.
And relaxing if possible.
And now down through the sides of the head and the ears.
What sensations are here?
Opening to them.
Being with them.
The back of the head.
Including the part of the head that is resting on the floor if you are lying down.
Noticing any sensations of contact here.
And when you're ready,
Taking a slightly deeper breath.
And letting go.
And now seeing if it's possible to expand that flashlight of attention to hold the whole of the body in awareness.
From the top of the head.
Out to the fingertips.
And down to the toes.
Opening to sensations from any and all parts of the body.
Aware of the body as a whole.
And the space around the body.
Just lying here,
Breathing.
Just resting here for a moment.
And then,
When you're ready,
Bringing some movement back into the body.
Wriggling fingers and toes.
And slowly opening the eyes if they have been closed.
And taking your time and moving with care.
And maybe exploring whether it's possible to keep a bit of a sense of the body as you move into the next moments of your day.
Thank you.
