Mindful Whole Body Scan

A guided meditation process that relaxes body and mind as we bring our awareness to the body. This meditation is best done lying on your back, on the floor.

Transcript

Prepare for the body scan by finding a place on the floor and lying down comfortably on your back.

Maybe you want a pillow under your head or pillow under your knees.

Just some way that you can be entirely comfortable lying on the floor and even forget all about your body.

It's good to take a minute or two just to settle in.

To settle into this spot being right here on the floor.

Breathing in,

Deep inhalation,

Breathing out and on the exhalation.

Releasing any tension,

Any anxiety,

Any thinking.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

And simply arriving right here,

Right here on the floor,

Lying here on the floor.

Now you might make some small movements,

Tiny movements to just settle in.

And on the next inhale and exhale,

Really relax into the floor.

Allow the floor to support the full weight of your body.

And we're breathing in,

Breathing into the low belly,

To the low abdomen.

And breathing out,

Exhaling,

Arriving here and now.

Leaving our worries,

Leaving our cares at the door.

They'll be there when we're done.

Allowing ourselves to simply be here right now.

Just lying here,

Just relaxing.

Just being.

And taking one more deep inhalation in and releasing.

Just giving ourselves a stress break,

A break from the ordinary routine.

And now moving into the body scan,

Meditation.

In the body scan we're going to use our mind's eye and our breath to bring attention to different parts of our body.

To bring attention and awareness.

Healing attention,

Healing awareness,

Gentle awareness of whatever it is,

Without judgment,

Without a superego agenda about perfection.

Simply noticing and being with things as they are.

What a relief to simply be with ourselves as we are.

And bringing our mind's eye right into the little toe,

Into the toenail of the little toe.

Bringing our focus there and breathing in,

Breathing out to this tiniest part of our little toe,

The toenail.

So many things in our life,

Walking,

Balancing,

Depend on this little toe and the toenail.

And so we take a moment and breathe in and breathe out with a gentle focus and awareness on our little toe.

And now expanding our awareness to include the entire foot.

The top surface of the foot,

The bottom,

The inside arch of the foot,

The back heel,

And all the five toes,

All the ten toes of the two feet,

Bringing them into our awareness.

Letting our awareness and attention touch our two feet and breathing in and breathing out.

Breathing into the very core of the feet,

All the many bones,

Small bones that are there.

All the feet,

All the many bones,

Small bones of the feet and toes.

Breathing into the ankle joint at the top of the foot,

Crucial ankle joint there.

And breathing in now into the lower leg,

Into the front and back of the lower leg,

Into the bones at the very core of the lower leg,

And into the calf muscles of the lower leg.

Breathing in them all,

Breathing in with gentle,

Non-judgmental awareness.

Breathing in,

Just noticing any sensations,

Heat or cold,

Vibrations or dullness,

Maybe no sensations,

Whatever.

Pain or pleasure,

Whatever is there to be sensed in your calf,

In your lower leg.

And now taking in a final inhalation and on the exhale,

Releasing the calf and moving our attention up into the knee joints.

Again,

Such a crucial joint for human health and well-being and mobility.

And so we breathe in right into the core of the knee joint,

Right into the place where cartilage,

Bone and tendons do their magic.

And we breathe in and we exhale,

Breathe in and exhale.

We expand our awareness to include the skin that surrounds the knee joint,

And all the muscles and tendons that make the connection between the calf and the thigh.

And we breathe in and we breathe out,

Breathing in and breathing out.

A gentle healing awareness on our knee joints.

And now releasing them from our awareness and moving on up into the thigh.

He's breathing into the muscles of the thigh,

Breathing in and noticing with our nonjudgmental awareness,

Any sensations that may be in the thigh,

Whether pleasure or pain,

Tingling or numbness,

Anything whatsoever,

Hot or cold.

Focusing our awareness on the femur,

The largest bone in the body,

There at the core of the thigh and putting our mind's eye right inside the marrow of the femur and the hard calcium-hardened bone of the femur that supports our weight.

And now expanding our awareness from the femur out to the muscles surrounding it and the skin encapsulating the thigh.

And now taking a moment and making a gentle scan of the entire leg and foot from the femur down through the knee,

Calf,

Ankle and the two feet,

Including the toenail of the little toe,

And holding the entire leg system in your awareness,

Breathing into the entire leg from the muscles at the core,

From the bones at the core to the muscles,

To the skin that encapsulates them,

Holding it all in awareness and breathing in and breathing out.

And now releasing the legs from our awareness and moving our awareness up into the pelvis,

The lower abdomen of the body and the hip joint where the femur hooks into the pelvis.

And this bony structure,

The pelvic bone,

That supports all the weight of our internal organs which rest upon it.

And just breathing into the bones of the pelvis,

Breathing into the low belly,

From the front of the belly through the area where the stomachs and intestine are to the back of the lower belly where the kidneys are found.

And breathing into the low back and the base of the spinal cord as it hooks into the pelvis and the tailbone.

All these vital organs,

All these vital bone structures occurring here in the lower belly.

And breathing in and breathing out.

And breathing in and on the exhale,

Relaxing once again,

Relaxing,

Letting go,

Letting go and just being here.

Letting go,

Letting be,

Simply being here,

Breathing.

And now moving the focus of our non-judging awareness up to the upper belly,

The upper abdomen,

Right below the rib cage.

Again,

This is really the place where the stomach is and behind it the kidneys and the spine continues on up into this area.

And we pause and breathe in to the upper abdomen.

And now the upper and lower abdomen together.

From the very center to the many organs within the area to the skin that encapsulates our abdomen.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

Breathing in,

A healing breath of awareness,

Breathing out and relaxing,

Arriving right here.

And now moving our awareness and our attention to the lower chest in the front to the rib cage that protects our vital organs,

Our lungs and heart,

Liver and spleen,

Call bladder.

And to the back.

Inhaling,

Healing energy to the back as it touches the floor.

And on the exhale,

Releasing any tension,

Any contraction,

Any tightness.

And holding the chest in your awareness from the very core of the chest to the backbone and spine to the rib cage in the front to the skin that encapsulates the chest,

Letting it all be held effortlessly in your awareness and breathing in a deep healing breath for your chest.

And just noting it,

Any of the qualities that may be present in this area,

Pleasure,

Pain,

Tightness,

Tingling,

Cold,

Hot,

Colors,

Sounds,

Whatever associations you notice in this area.

Just let them be.

Just noticing.

We're taking a non-judgmental inventory of the state of our being,

The state of our body.

And now moving the focus of our attention up to the upper chest in the back to the shoulder blades,

Which can hold so much tightness and tension and have associated emotions and emotional states tied in with them.

We might experience a release as we breathe into the shoulders and exhale,

Relaxing,

Releasing any tension,

Any holding in the shoulders.

And to the collarbones at the top of the shoulders,

The collarbones from which the arms hang and the upper chest in the front and the very center of the chest,

Holding it all,

Letting it all be in our choiceless,

Effortless awareness,

Breathing into the upper chest.

Noticing any qualities,

Breathing in a healing breath and releasing,

Relaxing any tension,

Any holding on the exhalation.

And now taking a moment to hold the entire abdomen and chest in our awareness,

To simply let them be in our awareness and to breathe into the entire lower abdomen,

Upper abdomen,

Entire chest up into the collarbones.

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Relaxation,

Releasing,

Allowing,

Arriving right here,

Right now.

Now moving from the collarbones to the shoulder joint,

Where the upper arm hooks into the shoulder and on down into the upper arm,

Where the humerus is,

Large bone of the upper arm.

And holding the upper arm in our awareness,

The upper arm and shoulder joint,

Bringing our attention to the marrow of the humerus,

The marrow of this large upper arm bone to the muscles of the upper arm,

Biceps and triceps,

Other muscles and tendons.

And the skin that encapsulates the upper arm,

Holding the entire upper arm and our attention,

Breathing in and exhaling and exhaling,

Sending a message of relaxation into the upper arm.

And now releasing our attention from the upper arm and moving it down into the elbow and forearm area.

Again,

Such important joint,

The elbow joints,

And just bringing your awareness and attention to the elbow,

The inner surface,

The outer surface of the elbow,

The front and the back,

And the very core of the elbow where the wrist and upper arm hinge.

And breathing our attention,

Bringing our attention,

Breathing our awareness into the forearms,

The bones of the forearms,

The muscles,

The muscles that can get tight and inflamed with tennis elbow and other inflammations,

And just bringing our passionate,

Non judging awareness to the forearm.

And moving our attention and awareness down into the wrist and hands,

Our precious human hands with which we touch others,

With which we accomplish our work,

With which we hold tools and navigate through life.

Breathing into our wrists and the many bones of our hands and fingers,

Breathing into the fingernails that protect the tips of our fingers,

Breathing in and holding the entire hand,

Wrist area in our awareness,

Breathing in healing energy for our hands,

Breathing in general non-judgmental awareness,

Expanding the awareness now to include from the fingers to the hands,

The wrist,

The forearm,

The elbows and the upper arm.

Let them all be held effortlessly in your awareness and breathe into the entire arm complex from the shoulders on down.

Noticing any feelings,

Any sensations that may be there,

Whether temperature or tingling,

Pleasure,

Pain of any sort.

And now releasing the arms from our awareness and moving our awareness into the neck and throat area.

Breathing into the back of the neck where the spine is and the spinal cord,

Breathing into the front surface of the neck where our voice box is,

Where important muscles are that stabilize the head,

And which can again become tense and hold tensions with various emotional holdings too in the neck and throat area.

And so we breathe into it all,

The voice box,

The neck,

The spine,

The esophagus,

The trachea,

Going down into the lungs.

We breathe into it all,

Holding it in our awareness,

Noticing whatever sensations are there,

Breathing in a healing breath,

Breathing out relaxation and release,

Letting go,

Letting be.

Here we are,

Lying on the floor,

Breathing into our neck and throat.

And now moving our awareness on up into the head,

Into the back of the head,

Where the spinal cord and spine insert into the brain,

Insert into the skull,

To the back surface of the skull,

The back of the head as it rests on the floor,

To the very tip of the head where the crown is.

And moving around toward the front to the temples,

The eyes,

Nose,

Mouth,

Ears,

And cheeks.

Breathing in,

Breathing in awareness,

Breathing in healing energy,

And releasing,

Exhaling,

Arriving here now,

Letting things be as they are,

Releasing any tension,

Any tightness in the face,

Breathing into the eyes,

Releasing any tension or tightness in the eyes,

Just letting our face relax.

Sometimes we try to make our face look a certain way as part of our persona,

So we just let our face be,

Just let it relax,

Let the entire head relax,

Sending a message of relaxation to the face,

The back of the head,

The top of the head,

The ears,

And even the very core,

The very center of our brain.

Now holding the entire head in our awareness,

Noticing any sensations that may be present,

Noticing anything at all that may be in your awareness associated with the head,

And taking in a final inhalation and a final exhalation,

Breathing in and relaxing.

And now releasing the head from our awareness and taking a quick scan of the entire body from the tip of the head down through the head,

Neck,

Shoulders,

Chest,

Abdomen,

Thighs,

Knees,

Lower leg,

Ankles,

And feet,

Right down into the tips of your toenails,

And see if you can let the entire body system be held effortlessly in your awareness.

Simply be the witness of your body.

Simply drop your identity as the body and simply be the witness of your body system.

This amazing system came from a single cell and now is your body.

Hold it in your awareness,

Noticing any sensations,

Any feelings,

Temperatures,

Pleasures,

Pains,

Tightness,

Numbness,

Colors,

Any sensations or associations,

Whatever,

That are in your body,

In your awareness now.

And taking a final inhale,

Inhaling into your entire body and relaxing,

Releasing,

Arriving right here,

Right now,

Being right here,

Right now.

And let's just sit here in meditation,

Breathing into the abdomen for a couple minutes,

Simply breathing,

Holding the entire body in our awareness.

Simply breathing,

Simply being.

And if your mind is drifting off,

No problem,

That's what minds do.

And gently bring it back to holding the body in awareness from the toes to the tip of the head,

Simply being the witness of this miraculous body,

Simply being the witness of this miraculous body.

Okay.

And now taking a note of the place where we are,

Any changes in our body mind since we began and bookmarking this place with an image or some memory of it,

How it feels in our body so that we can come back during the day when we're busy and stressed,

We can use that bookmark to come back to this place and enjoy a mini body scan,

A mini moment of relaxation and refreshment.

I hope you have enjoyed this body scan.

Reviews

Fell asleep. Will listen again when I am awake! Thank you!

Thanks, Bill. I'm ready to start my day.

Well done Dr. Bill.

I appreciate the soothing and calming voice tone in this body scan meditation.

Enjoyed this bodyscan. Thank you Bill 🙏🏼

excellent body scan meditation !! thank you, Bill.

Thank you, great healing vision for my body, I love it and appreciate it more the more I know it.

Very relaxing head to toe body scan. Thank you!