Guided Body Scan & Mindfulness Of Breathing

This is a body scan and mindfulness of breathing practice, including a short introduction explaining how to sit and what to expect from the meditations. We then gently enter a guided body scan. After this, there is time for a stretch and a few reflections, before moving into a guided mindfulness of breathing practice.

Transcript

So welcome to this guided meditation with me Brad Wright.

We're going to run through two meditations today,

A body scan and mindfulness of breathing.

But before we start,

I thought I might just cover my motivation for making this recording today.

So many of us are cooped up at home right now,

And hopefully we should be working out some kind of routine,

But it's still a pretty stressful and scary time.

I just thought that a few of you might like to try and meditate with me.

Making this recording feels a little bit strange for me.

I don't normally talk much about my meditation practice and I don't really want to get into what my beliefs are or anything like that.

I just thought that there are a few meditation techniques that are proven to help reduce stress and can help make us feel a bit calmer.

And it might be fun for us to explore those together.

So if you're in,

Pull up a seat and get comfy.

It could be an upright chair or a cushion on the floor.

Just find somewhere comfy to sit and we'll start giving it a look.

If you're not interested,

Then I'd stop listening now.

So the two parts I'd like to look at today are firstly a body awareness meditation and then a mindfulness of breathing meditation.

Keep in mind,

I'm not a mindfulness teacher or a Buddhist lama,

And this is my first go at recording a guided meditation.

So let's be kind to each other.

And I hope what we are about to do sparks an interest for you to look up more of this kind of stuff.

Maybe starting on somewhere like Insight Timer or other places online.

Let our new adventure into meditation begin.

So like I say,

Pull up that chair and a cushion and whilst you're getting comfy,

I'll start by painting a picture of how I'm set up.

So I have a red mat or rather a burgundy mat and a single cushion on the floor and the cushion sits on top of the mat.

And I just find a position to sit that is going to be comfortable for the duration.

I like both my knees to touch the ground.

So I have three points of contact.

My bottom on the cushion and my two knees on the mat.

You can sit on a chair with both feet on the ground or lie on a bed.

There are no rules.

Just find a position that is comfortable for you.

I leave my hands resting gently on my thighs.

Some like to put them in their lap,

Palms facing upwards,

One palm on top of the other.

It really doesn't matter.

The only other thing I have here is a small meditation bowl so I can ring a bell at the start and at the end of the meditation and also between the stages of the mindfulness of breathing.

So try to work out what comfy position is going to work for you.

And whilst you're doing that and finishing off getting comfy,

I'll explain more about the meditations themselves.

To start,

We will run through a body scan where we'll just check in with the whole body.

And then after this,

We'll move into mindfulness of breathing.

But we'll have a second for a little stretch in between.

There are four stages of mindfulness of breathing.

First of all,

Counting the out breath.

We count at the very end of the breath just before the pause before breathing in again.

And we count one to ten and then we start over.

When we move on to the second section,

We count the in breath.

So we count the second we start to take the breath again.

One to ten.

If we lose count,

That's fine.

We go back to counting from one.

If we find ourselves counting further than ten,

That's fine.

When we notice,

We just bring ourselves back to one.

On the third section,

We drop the count and just focus on the entire breath coming in and out the body.

And then finally,

In the final section,

We just focus on the first point of contact with the breath.

The body scan is first and it will take about 10 minutes or so.

So have a final wiggle on your seat just to be sure you're comfortable and slowly close your eyes and we'll begin the body scan.

Body scan.

Start by just taking a few breaths.

Take a second to recognise any noises.

Cars driving past.

Birds in the trees.

Take a second to feel the room you're sitting in.

And then just bring your focus back to you.

Can you feel your weight pushing through your cushion or chair?

Can you feel it supporting you?

You can't fall anywhere.

Feel the solid ground beneath you.

Feel your knees or feet connecting with the ground.

Just feel how solid that feels and see if you can relax into it.

Just relaxing maybe a few extra percent into your cushion or chair.

And gently bring your attention to your feet,

To your toes,

The arch in your foot,

Your ankle.

Can you feel any sensations?

Can you feel nothing?

Just seeing what's there.

And moving up to your lower legs.

Are there any sensations in your calves?

In your shins?

Your knees?

Being aware of any aches or pains or sensations.

You're not trying to make them go away,

But just recognising that they're there.

And as we move our awareness into our thighs,

Can we feel anything going on?

And it may feel strange at first,

But why not say thank you to your feet and legs?

They do so much hard work in a day without even being noticed.

So,

Thank you.

And we can now concentrate on all our weight,

Pushing through the cushion or chair,

Through our pelvis.

And then bringing our attention up into the belly.

Feeling any movement?

Just checking in with our lower back.

Can we feel anything?

And from this really strong foundation,

Our back is stretching up a little bit like a mighty oak tree growing out of the earth and branching off into our shoulders.

Bringing awareness,

See if you can open your chest a little.

How does it feel?

And as we feel our belly and chest move with the breath,

Can we let go of any more tension and sink into the supportive ground just by another percent or two?

And take a moment to check in with your arms,

The tops of your arms,

Your elbows,

Your hands resting on your thighs or in your lap.

Can you feel your neck supporting the weight of your head?

And it's common to hold tension in the jaw,

So give that some special attention.

Just soften the jaw,

Your eyes,

Your cheekbones,

Your face.

Bring a gentle awareness to your forehead and the whole of your face.

And as we sat here,

Have you noticed any temperature changes?

Can you feel your clothes against your skin?

I'm just feeling the whole body and giving any special attention to any aches or feelings of discomfort and just allow them to be there.

And as we draw this awareness meditation to a close just before we finish,

Say thank you to your body.

It does so much as we're busying about our lives.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And if we go back to feeling the room,

Maybe give your toes a wiggle,

We're going to come back to life a little bit now.

Gently opening your eyes.

There's no rush.

The world can wait a moment longer.

So how was that?

Do you feel any different now to when we first started?

Is your breathing the same or maybe slower?

Is your temperature the same?

Just a few moments on the mat can make a big difference.

I'd like to spend this moment now to take a big stretch and have a little wiggle of the toes and to stretch my legs out.

I'll give you a moment to do the same and then jump back on the cushion or chair.

When you're back on the cushion.

Have a wiggle to be sure you're comfortable again before we move into those four stages of mindfulness of breathing.

Stage one,

The out breath,

Stage two,

The in breath,

Stage three,

The entire breath and stage four,

A focus point.

The mindfulness of breathing takes 20 minutes if we spend about five minutes on each stage.

So settle back down on the cushion.

Gently close your eyes.

And we'll begin.

Mindfulness of breathing.

Out breath.

So start just by taking a few breaths.

Settling onto the cushion.

Noticing the noises around you.

And coming back to yourself.

And we'll then.

Start to count on the end of the exhale on the out breath.

So breathe in.

And out.

One.

In.

And out.

Two.

And just carry that on until we get to 10 and we start from one again.

And as you come to 10,

Just restart the count at one again.

In.

Out.

One.

In.

Out.

Two.

If you find your mind starts wandering,

Then just bring it back to the sensations in the body and to your counting.

If you lose count or find you've counted past 10,

That's fine.

Just start again at one.

We're just simply breathing and counting.

Feeling the breath in and out.

Relaxing into the cushion or chair.

In breath.

Take a few breaths and a moment to check in with the body.

And we can then start to count at the very start of the inhale.

One.

Breathe in.

And out.

Two.

Breathe in.

And out.

And just carrying that on through 10.

Genuinely And when you get to ten,

Just restart the count at one again.

And if you find your mind is wandering off,

That's okay,

Just bring it back to your counting and your breathing.

If any aches or tingling creep in,

Just acknowledge them,

Feel them.

And just move your attention back to your breath,

Back to your count.

And just move your attention back to your breathing.

We're not trying to control the breath,

We're just acknowledging it and counting it.

The whole body.

As we sit on our cushion or chair,

We can now drop the counting.

Just take some nice deep breaths in and out.

And just see if you can notice what effect the breath has on the body.

Very noticeable places in the belly.

You can feel your belly rise and fall with the breath.

You can feel the breath opening up the chest,

The chest opening and rising and falling along with the belly.

You might be able to feel the breath through your back and through your legs.

Take those nice deep breaths in and out.

Just let the breath wash in and out of the body like waves on a beach.

Cleansing us of stress and anxiety like the waves cleaning the pebbles on a stony beach.

And just let the breath wash in and out of the body.

And if your mind starts to wander,

Just come back to the feeling,

All of those feelings,

All of those sensations throughout the body.

As you notice your whole breath washing in and out.

Just relaxing into the cushion or chair.

Feel the breath in and out.

Focus point.

Focus point.

Just take a few breaths before we start the final section.

Feel your body rising out the cushion,

Nice solid foundation that we have.

Sense of security,

We're not going anywhere,

We can't fall anywhere.

It's like a big hug from the ground.

And just take a moment to locate where the first sign of breath occurs.

You might notice it first on the inside of your nostrils,

Maybe a slight cooling sensation.

You might feel the air start moving on your upper lip.

Just focus all your attention on that spot,

That first spot.

And if you catch your mind wandering,

That's okay.

It happens.

Just bring your attention back to your body.

Back to your focus point.

Return to thinking purely about breathing in and out.

Focus point.

Focus point.

Focus point.

Focus point.

Focus point.

Just sitting with the body.

Just sitting with the breath.

And as we draw the meditation to a close,

We can slowly begin to wiggle our toes.

Maybe stretch our arms out to the side and above your head.

And just gently,

Slowly coming back to life.

Opening up your eyes.

There's no rush at all.

And as you're stretching out,

I'd just like to say thank you for sticking with me to the end.

Hopefully now you'll notice a difference in how you feel compared to the start of the meditation.

And I hope this sparks a little interest inside you to maybe look at meditation a little bit further.

And remember,

Our breath is portable.

We take it everywhere we go.

So you can do this meditation anywhere in the world and at any time.

There's no equipment required.

It just needs you,

Your focus and your breath.

And like I say,

Thank you very much.

I think that's us done.

So may you be well.

And thank you for meditating with me.

Reviews

Very nice meditation, thank you. Not sure why you’re assuming audience of beginners, I’ve been meditating for years and still benefited from this 🙏🏻