To begin this practice,
We settle our body in its natural state,
Releasing tension,
Finding a sense of ease,
And breathing naturally.
And then establishing a positive motivation for this practice by turning to our highest spiritual or psychological aspirations.
And with a clear desire to accomplish those aspirations,
To fulfill them,
We then return to the body for a little while,
Just to focus and balance our attention by observing our physical sensations,
Especially our physical sensations associated with our breathing.
All the sensations that change in our body when we inhale and exhale.
Finding these and allowing this observation to soothe our mind,
Finding an experience of clarity,
And fine-tuning our attention for the upcoming analytical practice.
And then to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of our body,
To understand what it's composed of,
And to understand its mode of existence,
We will gradually go through the different body parts by allowing our mind to visit those body parts,
Envision them,
Imagine them,
And see that it is on the basis of all these parts that the body is labeled.
And in this process of observation,
In this process of analysis,
We will go through the traditional list of 32 different body parts.
And in this process,
We will sometimes be going forward through the list and then sometimes taking a few steps back.
The first part of the body that we look for,
That we imagine,
That we tune into,
Is the hair on our head.
And then body hair.
Then the nails.
Then teeth,
Imagining our teeth holding our attention there for a little while.
Then the skin.
Down there,
Moving back to the teeth.
Then nails.
Body hair.
And then the hair on the head.
And then going forward again,
Contemplating our body hair.
And then nails.
The teeth.
Skin.
And then all the muscles.
All the tendons.
All the bones.
And then marrow.
And the kidneys.
And then moving back again,
Back to the marrow.
To all the bones.
All the tendons.
And all the muscles.
And now once again moving forward,
All the tendons.
All the bones.
Marrow.
And the kidneys.
And then the heart.
Liver.
All the connective tissue.
Spleen.
And then the lungs.
And once again the spleen.
All the connective tissue.
Liver.
And the heart.
Once again revisiting the liver.
All the connective tissue.
Spleen.
And lungs.
And then the intestines.
Mesentery.
Stomach.
All of the body's feces.
And the brain.
And from there once again moving back for a little bit.
Going back to all the feces.
Their stomach.
Revisiting mesentery.
And the intestines.
And once again moving forward.
Mesentery.
Stomach.
Feces.
And the brain.
And then all the bile.
All the phlegm.
All the pus.
All the blood.
All the sweat.
And all the fat.
And then once again moving back.
All the sweat.
All the blood.
All the pus.
All the phlegm.
And all the bile.
And once again all the phlegm.
All the pus.
All the blood.
All the sweat.
And all the fat.
Then all the tears.
All the grease on the skin.
All the spit.
All the snot.
All the oil of the joints.
And all the urine.
And once again moving back.
Oil of the joints.
All the snot.
All the spit.
All the grease on the skin.
And all the tears.
And once again all the grease on the skin.
All the spit.
All the snot.
All the oil of the joints.
And all the urine.
And then stepping back from the individual body parts to observe the body in general.
The idea of the body.
Not necessarily its tactile sensations arising in the here and now.
But more so our idea of what the body is.
Seeing this body and seeing how it exists.
As a label applied to all these individual body parts together.
As an imputation upon these individual body parts.
And then seeing that each individual body part could also be dissected into further parts.
And also seen as merely an imputation.
And then at the end of this analysis also taking a moment to notice how it affected our perception of the body.
And whether there is any change.
And then letting go of investigation,
Letting go of analysis.
And simply being with the body and experiencing the sensations associated with our inhalation and exhalation once again.
Just resting with our breath.
And then mentally dedicating the energy of this practice.
And all the insights we have been able to cultivate or start cultivating.
Dedicating all of this energy and understanding to our highest spiritual and psychological aspirations.
And then with that slowly bringing our awareness to our immediate environment.
Concluding this practice and inviting the bell.
