The Compassionate Body Scan Meditation Begin by lying down on a comfortable surface such as your bed or the floor.
Or if you prefer,
You can do the body scan sitting or even standing.
I'll lead this as if you're lying down,
So adapt the instructions as we go along if you're choosing another posture.
Gently giving the weight of your whole body up to gravity.
Imagine that your whole body is being held and supported by the surface that you're resting upon.
Letting go a little bit more with each out-breath.
Allow your body to settle into its position and your awareness to settle inside your body again and again.
Being aware of the breath in the whole body.
Perhaps having a sense of the whole body expanding a little bit on the in-breath and subsiding a little bit on each out-breath.
The whole body being rocked and massaged by breathing.
Now we're going to focus a little bit more closely on all the different parts of your body.
As I name each place,
Invite your awareness to gently rest inside that place,
To inhabit it and to feel the sensations that are there.
If any area feels dull or numb,
Then just being aware of the absence of sensations without judgement.
So to begin with,
Allowing your awareness to flow all the way down through the body to rest inside your toes.
Keeping all the toes on each foot with awareness as best you can.
What do you feel there?
Noticing how these are your toes.
They're not objects.
They're a part of you.
Can you even feel a sense of care and interest in your toes?
Now allowing your awareness to flow down into both your feet and up inside the ankles.
Again,
See if you can connect with your feet and ankles as a part of you,
Rather than objects that you take for granted.
You can even imagine that your feet and ankles are being bathed in breathing,
Expanding a little bit on the in-breath and subsiding a little bit on the out-breath.
See if you can imbue this breathing with an attitude of care and kindliness towards yourself,
So your feet are being saturated in a kindly breath.
Now allowing your awareness to pour up into both the lower legs,
The knees and the upper legs.
Allowing your legs to rest fully upon the surface they're lying upon,
To rest in gravity.
See if you can let both your legs be saturated with a kindly breath.
You might even feel a subtle sense of flow in your legs as you imagine your legs being bathed in kindliness and care with each in and out breath.
And coming up to inhabit your hips with awareness.
Allow the legs to fall away from the hips as you rest here with the legs fully supported.
Can you get any sense of the hips broadening a little bit on the in-breath and subsiding on the out-breath,
Saturating your hips and kindliness with each breath.
And coming into the pelvis and the pelvic floor.
And allow your sacrum and buttocks to rest upon the bed or the floor,
Allowing them to be fully supported and held.
And now guiding your awareness to rest inside the whole abdomen,
The whole soft front of the body between the pelvis at the bottom and the base of the ribs at the top.
Rest your awareness inside all the movements of breathing in this area.
Maybe you'll feel a swelling on the in-breath and a subsiding on the out-breath.
Allowing all the organs to be massaged by the movements of breathing as you rest your awareness inside these movements.
See if you can rest inside a quality of care for yourself,
Accepting your body just as it is with a loving and tender breath.
And coming up to the ribs,
The chest,
The lungs.
Breathing in warmth and kindliness and breathing out warmth and kindliness.
Let the breath be natural,
Allowing the breath to breathe itself and the whole chest area moment by moment.
And now allowing your awareness to flow into the back of the body and check you're allowing it to be fully supported by the floor or the bed as it rests in gravity.
And now focusing your awareness in a little bit and allowing it to rest in the lower back,
The length and breadth of the lower back.
Feeling the gentle curve of the lower back and see if you can allow it to be massaged by the movement and sensations of the kindly breath,
The loving breath.
Maybe you can even feel the shape of the whole lower back changing a wee bit with each in and out breath.
Allowing the whole lower back to be rocked and massaged by the movements and sensations of breathing.
And letting your awareness whore up into the middle back and the upper back.
Feeling the back of the ribs,
The back of the lungs,
The shoulder blades and the spine.
Allowing your awareness to rest deeply inside the upper back,
Feeling all the movements and sensations of breathing in this area.
Feel how the back of the lungs fill on the in breath and subside on the out breath.
Feel the expansion of the ribs in the upper back on the in breath and how they subside on the out breath.
Can you allow this breath to be saturated with the quality of care for yourself,
Kindliness towards yourself,
Love for yourself?
These are your lungs,
Your back,
Your body.
No matter what you're feeling,
Maybe it's pleasant,
Maybe it's unpleasant.
See if you can meet it with an attitude of tenderness,
Warmth and kindliness.
And now allowing your awareness to flow out into the shoulders on either side of the torso.
Feeling the arms to fall away from the shoulders so the shoulders are able to open a little bit with the in breath and subside a little bit with the out breath as the arms rest on the surface that is supporting them,
Rest in gravity.
And allowing your awareness to pour down through the arms,
The upper arms,
The elbows,
The lower arms,
The wrists,
The hands,
The fingers and the thumbs.
Allowing both arms to be saturated with awareness.
Imagine kindliness and care pouring inside the arms with each in breath and each out breath.
And can you allow your fingers and thumbs to be fully at rest,
Neither reaching for the future nor clinging on to the past.
And now allowing your awareness to flow back up the arms,
Through the shoulders,
Across the collarbones and into the throat,
The front of the neck,
The back of the neck and the sides of the neck.
Check at this point that you're allowing your head to be fully supported by the cushion or the pillow it's resting upon.
As you give the weight of the head up even more,
Allow the neck to soften a little bit more.
And coming into the base of the skull and allowing this area to be softened with the kind and gentle in breath and out breath.
As you give up holding onto your head with any effort,
Allowing the cushion or pillow to gently hold it.
And allowing awareness to flow up into the head,
Around the sides of the head and to pour into the whole face.
So the whole face becomes bathed in awareness,
Bathed in breathing,
Bathed in kindliness.
Let the face and throat be soft so the wind of the breath can pour freely into the body on the in breath and out of the body on the out breath,
Free of obstruction and resistance.
Perhaps letting your jaw hang loosely a little bit more and softening the tongue.
And broadening your awareness to become aware of the whole body,
The legs,
The torso,
The arms,
Neck,
Head and face.
Allowing the whole body to be bathed in awareness,
The whole body to be bathed in the breath and saturate the whole breath with kindliness,
Tenderness and care towards yourself.
The whole body expanding on the in breath and subsiding on the out breath,
Expanding on the in breath and subsiding on the out breath.
The whole body and every cell in the body echoing this rhythm,
This flow,
This softness.
As you let the whole body be breathed by the natural rhythm of your breath.
When you feel ready,
You can begin to mindfully and carefully move the body and come into an upright position.
Take some time to absorb the effects of the meditation before re-engaging with the activities of your day and seeing if you can take the quality of awareness you've cultivated with you wherever you go,
Whatever you do.
This quality of care and tenderness towards all of your experience and towards your whole body.
