Body Scan Intro

The Body scan is a grounding practice, designed to get you out of your head and into your body, one breath at a time.
In this practice, you will be focusing primarily on the breath, and placement of awareness in different parts of the body, one part at a time.
If this is your first time doing an exercise like this, you may feel lightheaded, as your body may not be used to the extra oxygen.
If this is the case, go back to your normal breathing pattern for a few breaths, and start again.

Transcript

Welcome to the Body Scan.

Sit comfortably,

Have back support and keep your spine straight.

As straight as it is comfortable.

I invite you to close your eyes,

Take a deep breath in through the nose and exhale through your mouth.

As you inhale,

Notice the air going in through your nostrils.

Open your mouth and exhale.

Slow inhale through your nose,

Long exhale through your mouth.

I invite you to relax your head,

Relax your face,

Relax your neck,

Relax your shoulders,

Relax your arm,

Relax your torso and remember to breathe as you relax.

Relax your pelvis,

Relax your genitals,

Relax your legs,

Relax your feet,

Relax your whole body.

As you inhale,

Notice the air going in through the nostrils,

Traveling all the way down to your lungs.

Open your mouth and exhale,

Activating your throat,

Making a HAAA.

Again,

Deep inhale through the nose,

Filling up your lungs with fresh oxygen,

As if they're going to pop.

Now exhale everything,

Empty,

Empty lungs and create more room for the next breath in.

Inhale through the nose,

Exhale through the mouth.

I invite you to sigh as you exhale.

Sigh like you are relieved.

Notice how that feels in your body.

Sometimes it may not feel natural to make sounds.

Know that you have my permission to make sounds.

And now I invite you to give yourself permission to make sounds too.

Let's breathe together and sigh on the exhale.

HAAA And be aware of the breath going in and the breath going out.

Sigh.

I invite you to sound as you exhale.

At this point in time,

You're probably more aware of your breath than you were before.

In the body scan practice,

Place your awareness in your body one part at a time.

If you are unable to connect with a particular body part,

You may visualize the body part instead.

Remember that awareness of the breath is always more important than the actual doing.

Take a deep breath and place your awareness on your feet.

I invite you to move your toes,

Move your feet,

Move your ankles.

Observe the sensations that may or may not be present in your feet in this moment.

Be curious about the feet.

What can you feel,

If anything?

Notice if your feet are grounded or if they feel floaty.

Remember that the mind will wonder.

That's a fact.

Whenever you catch yourself thinking,

Bring your awareness back to the sound of my voice.

Back to this moment.

Back to the breath.

Take a deep breath and bring your awareness to the lower legs.

Breathe into your shins and calves.

Notice any sensations that may or may not be present.

Maybe you feel tingling,

Maybe pulsing,

Maybe change in temperature.

Maybe there's tightness,

Maybe there is expansion.

Perhaps you can't feel anything and that's ok.

Even if you're not feeling anything in this moment,

Just the fact that you are aware that you're not feeling,

You're feeling something.

Remember to keep connecting with the breath and give the thinking mind a break.

The rest will flow eventually.

Bring your awareness to the knees and the back of the knees.

Remember the inhale is always through the nose and the exhale is always through the mouth.

On the next breath,

Bring your awareness to the legs,

Hamstrings,

Thighs and inner thighs.

Take a deep breath and notice how your legs feel in this moment.

Observing if there are any sensations present in your lower body in this moment.

Do not go into your head and judge any of the sensations that may or may not be present.

Remember the body scan is about placement of awareness.

It is about acknowledging what is or isn't present in your body in this moment.

On the next breath,

Moving on to the genitals.

Breathing into your pelvis,

Observing your pelvic bowl and the genitals.

How does it feel to consciously take a breath into the genitals?

Are there any sensations present in the genital area at this moment?

I invite you to take a deep breath with me and sigh as you exhale.

Moving on to the sit bones and butt cheeks.

Notice the weight of your body touching the chair,

The cushion or the surface that you're sitting on.

It may feel warm,

It may feel soft,

It may feel firm.

Observing without any judgments.

Take a deep breath and place your awareness on your tailbone.

On the next breath,

As you inhale,

Notice your tailbone stretch all the way up your spine,

All the way up your neck.

I invite you to straighten your spine if it's not straight already and breathe into your lower back.

Breathe into your middle back and breathe into your upper back.

On the next breath,

Observe your entire back.

How is your back feeling in this moment?

The back is a part of the body that holds a lot of tension more often than not.

Does the back feel relaxed?

Does it feel contracted?

Or somewhere in between?

Do not judge,

Just observe.

Take a deep breath and moving on to your shoulders.

I invite you to add some movement to the shoulders.

Maybe you want to move it up and down.

Maybe you want to rotate it backwards and forwards.

Remember to breathe while you are doing this.

More often than not,

People get caught up in the doing and they forget to breathe.

If that's you,

Take a deep breath and come back to your body.

Come back to the sound of my voice.

Come back to this moment.

And now moving on to the arms.

I invite you to stretch your arms either to the side or above your head,

Whichever feels comfortable for you.

Remember to breathe as you are stretching your arms.

How do they feel in this moment?

Are your muscles relaxed?

Or are they tight?

I invite you to take a deep breath and move your wrists.

Move your fingers.

And now bringing the movement to a pause.

Finding stillness.

As you inhale,

Expand your belly as if you were inflating a balloon.

Activate your diaphragm.

Push your belly out and release.

One more time.

And now bringing your awareness to the ribcage.

As you inhale,

Notice your lungs expanding,

Almost touching the ribcage.

On the next breath,

Open your chest and fill up the lungs.

Exhale with a sigh.

And moving on to the heart.

Placing your awareness in your heart.

I invite you to place your hand on your chest.

Take a deep breath and notice the rhythm of your unique drumbeat.

Is your heart beating fast?

Or is your heart beating slow?

The heart works day in,

Day out,

24x7,

365 days a year,

Until the day we take our last breath.

Take a couple of deep breaths here at your own pace.

Connect with your heart and express gratitude towards it.

And I invite you to place your hands on your lap or in a place that feels comfortable for you.

And we move on to the neck.

I invite you to move your neck,

Nodding yes,

Nodding no.

Perhaps making a half circle or a full circle movement.

It is very easy to get caught in the doing.

Whenever your mind wanders,

Bring your awareness back to the sound of my voice.

Make whichever movement feels comfortable for you right now.

And remember to breathe while you are doing this.

Pausing the movement,

Finding stillness on the next breath in.

I invite you to place your hand on your throat and sigh on the exhale.

So you can feel the vibration of the sounds as you exhale and make a haaa sound.

Let's do this together.

Deep breath in.

Haaa.

Have you noticed the vibrations on your throat?

And I invite you to place your hands on a place that feels comfortable for you.

And we now move on to the face.

I invite you to notice your jaw,

Open your mouth and stretch the jaw muscles.

Make a funny face.

Make sounds as you do this.

Perhaps you want to give your jaw muscles a bit of a massage.

Breathing and notice your jaw.

Pausing the movement and finding stillness.

Moving on to the nose.

As you inhale,

Notice the air going into your nostrils.

Notice if the air going in is warm or if it's cool.

If the air is going in through the right nostril or the left nostril or both.

And now moving your awareness to your eyes.

Your eyeballs,

Eyelids,

Eyelashes and eyebrows.

Take a deep breath.

And now bring your awareness to the temples.

I invite you to bring the index and middle finger to your temples.

Inhale and give your temples a little massage.

Rubbing with a little circular movement.

Pausing the movement.

And now I invite you to bring your fingers to your scalp.

Take a deep breath and give yourself a nice shampoo rub.

Add a little pressure to your scalp and notice how it feels.

Take a deep breath and take your hands away.

Notice the after effect.

Notice if there are any sensations present in this moment or not.

Take a deep breath and notice your entire face.

Any sensations that may be present in this moment.

Maybe tingling,

Maybe pulsing,

Maybe pins and needles,

Maybe itching,

Maybe numbness.

Just observe.

Make a mental note of what is present in this moment.

Take a deep breath and notice your entire body.

Which areas of your body feel alive in this moment.

We'll take three deep breaths together,

Followed by a sigh on the exhale.

Two more times.

Last time.

And now finding stillness.

There is nothing to do other than to be still and observe what is alive in your body.

Feel into what this experience was like for you.

To scan your body from head to toe.

To focus on your breath and to be the observer during the practice.

Without any judgments,

Make a mental note on the following.

Overall,

How was your practice today?

How easy or difficult was it for you to be present with the practice and in your body?

How was it for you to be aware of parts of your body that you may or may not have been aware of before?

What sensations,

If any,

Did you experience today?

What have you learned from today's practice,

If anything?

What is your takeaway from the body scan?

Take a deep breath and slowly wiggle your toes.

Take another breath and gently move your fingers.

Bring your awareness to the space you're in.

And in your own time,

Open your eyes.

Thank you for practicing with me.