The Power Of Sensations: Intermediate's Vipassana Body Scan

The following practice is an introduction to vipassana's body scan. The meditation guides you on how to scan the body, deal with the emergence of gross and subtle sensations, pleasure, and pain. This meditation should be practiced for a few weeks to master attention to sensations and anicca, impermanence. I'd recommend practicing daily for 15 minutes to 1-hour body scanning from top to bottom bottom to top. Once you have mastered this technique you will be ready for the next steps in the technique.

Transcript

Hello everyone,

Thank you for joining me today.

Today we'll be working with vipassana meditation,

Bodhisattva meditation.

Before we start,

Make sure you're sitting on something comfortable,

Whether it's a block,

A pillow,

A folded towel,

A blanket,

Whatever you have available in your house.

But make sure you're sitting on something.

This will allow your spine to be straighter,

Your collarbones to open,

Tilt your pelvic forward and have a more upright position.

Even if you have really open hips,

I strongly encourage you to sit on something.

In the long run it will be a lot more helpful for your body to sit on something.

Whatever you're sitting on,

Make sure your sitting bones are fully grounded,

You feel the full contact of your seat bones on whatever you're sitting on and bring your attention to your belly button,

Making sure it's moving towards the spine.

Your spine is reaching towards the sky,

You're opening your collarbones,

Drawing your shoulder blades together,

Your neck is long,

Your chin is slightly tucked in and the crown of the head is reaching towards the sky.

Your hands are either on your knees or on your lap.

If you wish to take any mudras,

Feel free.

You can always make slight changes to your position,

However every time you move your concentration might decrease.

If you feel sharp pain you can always move your legs but try as much as you can to be still.

Bring your attention to your breath,

To the air coming in and out through the nostrils.

Observe the natural flow of your breath without making any changes to the pattern of your breath.

Observe it as it tees and as you watch your breath try to label its characteristics.

Is it shallow?

Is it deep?

Is it long?

There is no right or wrong answer and if you can't describe your breath with words that's perfectly fine.

Language cannot express everything with withness.

Allow your consciousness to not label sensations and states with world.

If your mind wanders,

If it goes somewhere else,

Bring it back into the room,

Bring it back to the sensations at the tip of your nose,

In your nostrils where the air comes in and out.

Now gently bring your attention to the crown of the head.

You might feel one point where you have more sensations on the top of the head.

Start from there and from there really slowly.

As if you have a scanner,

An x-ray machine,

Slowly move down from the crown of the head.

Pay attention to the sensations that might be arising.

There is no good or bad sensation.

Observe them objectively.

Whether you're feeling tingling,

Numbness,

Heat,

Perspiration,

Pain,

Numbness.

Starting from the crown of the head,

Moving down to your forehead,

Your eyebrows,

Your right eye,

Your left eye,

Your temples,

Your cheekbones,

Your cheeks,

Tip of the nose,

Nostrils,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Your jaw,

Your right ear,

Your left ear,

The back of the head,

All the way down to the top of your neck.

Scanning the front of the neck,

Back of the neck,

All the way down to your collarbones,

Down with the right shoulder,

Moving down through the right arm,

Down to your right elbow,

Right forearm,

All the way down to your right wrist,

Going down from your thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pinky,

Moving your awareness to your left shoulder,

Down to your left arm,

Towards your left forearm,

Elbow,

All the way down to your wrist,

Moving down towards your left thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pinky,

Going back to your shoulders,

Starting to scan the front of the body,

Scanning the area just under your collarbones,

Towards your chest,

Your breast if you're a woman,

Or pectoral if you're a man,

Down towards your ribcage,

Scrolling all the way down to where your ribs end,

Towards your belly,

Moving down towards the area where your belly button is,

Continuing down until you reach your hips,

From here continue back to the top of your upper back where your neck hands,

And scan the area between your shoulders,

Going down to your middle back,

Scanning down from right to left,

All the way down to your lower back,

And from here scanning the pubis,

The area in between your hips,

All the way down to your pelvic floor,

Moving up through the right glute,

All the way up to where the glute starts,

Moving back to the pubis,

All the way up for the left glute,

All the way up to where it starts,

And moving your attention to your right hip socket,

Moving all the way down your right thigh,

To your right knee,

Moving all the way down from your right knee towards your right foot,

Going down for the shin,

All the way down until you reach your right ankle,

And from here moving down towards the heel of your right foot,

Under the sole of the right foot,

Filling your right big toe,

Filling each toe,

Starting from the first toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Little toe,

Fill in the torso,

The top of your right foot,

Back to your right ankle,

And then from here moving your attention to your left hip,

From here moving all the way down for the left thigh,

Scanning the whole dimension of the left thigh,

Until you reach your left knee,

And from here continuing down for your left shins,

All the way down,

Until you reach your left ankle,

From here you move your attention to your left heel,

The bottom of your left foot,

The fascia plantar fascia of your left foot,

Until you reach your left big,

Big toe,

And then you move your attention to the second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

And your baby finger,

All the way up for the torso of your left foot towards the left ankle,

And we move all the way back up for the left leg,

From the left ankle through all the way of your left shin,

Up to your left knee,

Up to your left thigh,

Towards your left hip,

From here moving back to the point of the toe of your right foot,

Moving all the way up towards your right ankle,

From your right ankle moving all the way up,

From your right knee,

From your right knee moving all the way up for your right thigh,

Until you reach your right hip,

From here going back to your pelvic floor,

Feeling the right cheek of your glute,

Feeling the left glute,

Left cheek,

And from here going all the way back up for the back of your body,

So feeling where your glutes attach towards the back of your back,

The lower back,

And moving from right to left,

All the way up,

For your lower back,

Middle back,

Until you reach the area where your shoulder blades start,

Continuing towards your upper back,

Towards your shoulders,

And from here move your attention back to your pelvic floor,

Scanning from right to left,

Your belly going all the way up,

Scanning,

Scanning,

Scanning your belly until you reach to the area of your belly button,

Continuing up,

Moving towards where your rib cage starts,

Continuous scanning,

All the way up until you reach your collar bones,

Until you reach your shoulders,

From here bring your attention to your left hand,

Your left pinky,

Your left ring finger,

Left middle finger,

Left index finger,

Left thumb,

Left hand,

Up to your left wrist,

Up to your left forearm,

Towards your left elbow,

All the way up until you reach your left shoulder,

And bring your attention to your right pinky,

Right ring finger,

Right middle finger,

Right index finger,

Right thumb,

Right hand,

Right wrist,

All the way up from your right wrist through the forearm,

Towards your right elbow,

From your right elbow all the way up towards your right shoulder,

And from here going up for the front of your neck,

The back of the neck,

Filling your jaw,

Your cheeks,

Your lower lip,

Upper lip,

The area above your upper lip,

Your nose,

Your cheeks,

Your temples,

Your eyes,

Your eyebrows,

Your forehead,

Top of the head,

Going back to your neck all the way up for the back of the head,

Until you reach the top of the head,

Right here,

Left here,

Continue moving from top to bottom,

Bottom to top,

Scanning the body,

Observing sensations,

There are no right or wrong sensations in your body,

And if your mind's wander,

If you get lost,

Go back to the top of the head,

Moving slowly all the way down,

And once you've reached all the way down,

Move all the way up,

Keep your attention to the sensations in the body,

If you feel gross sensations,

Pain,

Observe them rising and passing away,

Try to not allow pain to overcome the calmness in your mind,

Continue scanning your body,

Pain will rise and pass away,

Continue from the top of the head all the way down,

And from bottom to top.

You you you you you you you whichever sensations emerge,

While you're scanning from top to bottom,

Bottom to top,

Observe them without rejection,

Without aversion,

And without attraction,

Desire,

Some sensations will be more pleasurable than others,

Try to observe them objectively from the top without showcasing attachment,

It can be quite challenging,

Especially with pleasurable sensation,

We all like the sensations of shivering,

We all hate when we get a cramp,

Where we'll get pain in our legs,

We're at the bottom of the spine,

Trying to observe the pain,

The pain might become really hard to deal with,

But try to not allow your mind to push away from observing the sensations of pain,

Do not allow rejection of the pain,

Observe it,

Pain will come and pass away,

So will the pleasurable sensations,

Don't show attachment to them,

They will also rise and pass away,

Pain and pleasure are both impermanent,

Always arising and passing away,

You you you there is not a right amount of time that should take you to scan your body from top to bottom,

Bottom to top,

But make sure that when you do the scan,

You scan in each centimeter,

Each inch of your skin,

Of your body,

Do not forget your ears and gently bring your hands,

The heart center into prayer,

Thank you for having allow me to guide you through this meditation,

Have a wonderful rest of day,

Namaste.

Reviews

Thank you for this body scan meditation . Very thorough and detailed ! I loved it . It will try it before going to bed . Very grateful !Namaste🙏💓

I loved the easy and helpful explanation ☺️

wonderful scan. thanks a lot. 06/10/20

This was intense, but soothing at the sametime. Acceptance