As we go through life,
Our tendency is to live in our mind,
Flashing back to the past,
Remembering and reliving past moments of happiness or sadness,
Prosperity or trauma,
Running into the future,
Rehearsing our fears and hopes.
We get caught in our own view of the world,
Our judgments and biases.
We lose touch with the present moment and all that's happening.
Our present moment experience is dulled by our mindset and we aren't fully alive.
This is the practice of staying in touch with the present moment.
It is awakening to the vibrancy of life,
Our senses,
Our bodily sensations,
Our emotions and our relationships with other people and the world around us.
It's waking up to reality,
Not as we think it is,
But as it really is,
Right here,
Right now.
The body scan is a meditation technique that helps us get out of the constructs of our mind and back into touch with the reality of our body.
Releasing our awareness on sensations of our body is an anchor into the present moment and can be used at any time to return to the now.
To begin our meditation,
Let's take three deep cleansing breaths.
We let our breath fall into its natural rhythm,
Breathing in through our nose,
Feeling the sensations of the breath,
Breathing out,
Feeling our breath empty into the space around us.
Bring your awareness to the sensations of the breath,
Feeling the gentle rise of your chest and abdomen on the in-breath and the falling of the chest and abdomen on the out-breath.
Our body is constantly communicating with us.
We are so lost in the world of our mind that we become dull to the sensations of our body,
Almost as if it wasn't really part of us.
Bring your awareness to your face.
Feel the muscles soften as you relax into a slight smile.
Soften your eyes and forehead.
Let your jaw relax.
Tongue rest on the floor of your mouth.
Just feeling the sensation of the face as we breathe in and breathe out.
Feel the sensations of your scalp across the top of your head,
Down to your ears,
Down the back of your head,
To the nape of your neck.
Gently breathing in,
Feel the sensations in your neck.
Breathing out,
Feel your neck relax.
Let the relaxation float down into your shoulders,
Feeling them falling away from the ears and letting go of the tension you carry there.
Let your awareness focus on your arms as the gentle wave of relaxation moves down your biceps and triceps,
Through your elbows and into your forearms.
Feel the sensation in your hands,
Aware of the many bones and fingers,
The small muscles,
Maybe a light tingling as we are aware of the space in our hands.
Breathing in,
We move back up our arms and let our awareness settle into our torso,
Across our breasts,
Through our ribs,
Down the vertebrae of our spine,
The muscles in our abs,
Our belly,
Down our back,
Relaxing into the lower back.
We gently let go of the tension we all carry in our lower back.
We feel the sensation in our hips and buttocks,
Bringing a softness deep into the muscles and bones.
The softness moves down our legs,
Into our quads and hamstrings,
Through the knees,
Through the knees,
And down our shins and calves,
Through the bones in our ankles and into our feet.
We are aware of the space in our feet,
All the bones and muscles,
The sensations in our toes.
Breathing in.
Our awareness moves back up our legs.
And breathing out,
We rest in our pelvic floor,
The cradle of our humanity.
We are aware of our intestines,
Large and small,
And the vast microbiome that helps us live.
Our faithful liver and kidneys and other organs in our guts,
As they work silently to support our body day in and day out.
We move our focus to our stomach and esophagus and up into our mouth,
Honoring the pathway that we use to bring sustenance into our body.
At last,
We come back to our breath and feel the gentle sensation of air passing through our nostrils,
Down our trachea,
And filling our lungs.
Our lungs replenish the oxygen in our blood,
And it returns to our heart,
Which faithfully circulates our blood throughout our body.
Take a sound.
May we be peaceful and happy.
May we be healthy and safe.
May we be free from suffering.
May we prosper and be one in love.
