Body Scan

This is a 45-minute guided body scan meditation. This meditation can be practiced while sitting or lying down. We begin at the feet, work our way up through the body, and then sweep back down from the head to the feet. This meditation is intended to support relaxation and body awareness.

Transcript

This is a 45-minute body scan meditation.

For this meditation,

Your body should be in a comfortable and stable posture.

This can be done sitting on the floor,

In a chair,

Or lying down.

Choose a posture which you feel like you can keep for the entire 45 minutes.

Begin to notice the places where the body contacts the surface under you.

Noticing the pressure of contact of the body with the floor or the chair,

Wherever the body is touching the surface.

And begin to notice the sensation of the cloth on the skin or the air on the skin.

This simple body awareness.

And now begin to notice that you are breathing.

You don't have to breathe in any special way.

Simply noticing that breathing is happening.

Feeling the breath as it moves through your body.

Following the length of the exhale,

The pause that happens as the breath changes from out to in.

The length of the inhale,

And the pause that happens as the breath changes from in to out.

So noticing the complete breath cycle,

The length of the exhale,

Pause,

The length of the inhale,

Pause.

Find a place within the body where you can connect to the breath as it happens.

This might be at the belly,

Or the way the ribs stretch and release as you breathe in and out.

Noticing the sensations associated with breathing.

And now bring the awareness to the feet.

Feeling the places where the feet contact the surface under you.

Noticing the toes,

Soles of the feet,

Tops of the feet,

The heels.

And bring the awareness deeper inside the body.

Aware of the skin,

And then becoming aware of the muscles under the skin.

And then moving into the bones.

Becoming aware of the skeleton of the body.

The feet are composed of many small bones.

And just getting a sense of that.

The bones are the most solid part of the body.

So we go to the bones,

We go to the skeleton of the body.

This is what holds us up.

The deepest sense of who we believe ourselves to be is in the bones.

So getting a sense of the structure of the feet,

Toes,

Feet.

Moving into the heel and the ankle.

The ankle and the heel are composed of many bones stacked up to create the structure that supports the weight of the whole body.

Perceiving the body from the inside.

Feet,

Ankles,

And moving into the lower leg.

There are two bones that make up the lower leg.

Getting a sense of that from inside.

And from the lower leg moving into the knee.

The floating bone of the knee.

And sweeping back down the knee,

The lower leg,

The ankle,

Heel,

And foot.

Moving back up to the thighs.

Feeling the solid thigh bone,

The biggest bone in the body.

Getting a sense of the entire leg,

The length of the leg,

Thigh,

Knee,

Lower leg,

Ankle,

Heel and foot.

And then becoming aware of how the thigh bone rests into the hip socket.

Then comparing the right and left sides.

You might notice that one thigh or one leg rests a little more heavily onto the surface beneath you.

That maybe one of the thigh bones is rotated slightly in the hip socket,

And that's alright.

Just noticing what is so.

And aware of the breathing,

Just as it happens,

In and out.

Keeping an awareness of the breath,

Even as the mind moves through the body.

Noticing the progression of this body scan.

Now becoming aware of the pelvis.

How does the pelvis rest as you're here?

Is it a little bit rotated?

Does one side rest more heavily than the other?

Just noticing.

So the pelvis lays the foundation for the torso,

For the upper body,

And it's where the lower body,

Where the legs join the torso.

The pelvis is the stability for the upper body and the lower body.

Noticing directly the bones of the body,

Getting a sense of the skeleton.

And then following the two hip bones around to the back of the body,

Where the sacrum,

The base of the spine,

Rests between the hip bones,

Rests between the bones of the pelvis.

And the spine begins to move upward from the sacrum,

Lifting up out of the pelvis.

The lower vertebrae are about the size of your fist.

So perceiving that now.

Getting a sense of the spine.

There are curves to the spine.

It's not straight.

Letting the awareness move up the spine one vertebrae at a time.

And then sweeping back down to the sacrum,

To the pelvis,

The thigh bones,

Knees,

Lower leg,

Ankle,

Heel,

And foot.

Can imagine the energy moving down like water flowing downstream.

So cleansing,

Washing the energy of the body down and out as the mind sweeps down through the skeleton of the body.

Returning to awareness of the breathing.

Perceiving the breath as it moves through the body.

And then coming back to the sacrum,

To the lower spine.

Moving up the spine one vertebrae at a time until we come to the base of the ribs at the back of the body.

First there are the floating ribs,

Which hang off of the ribs above them.

And then there are the ribs which attach to the vertebrae.

And this is actually a joint,

They're not fused,

There's movement here.

So you might begin to notice that.

The ribs connect the back body to the front body,

So following the ribs around from the back to the front.

The ribs create a container for the organs of the body,

Protecting the delicate organs.

The rib cage,

As we call it.

Just perceiving how the ribs hang,

How they're suspended.

Maybe you notice that one or two are a little bit rotated,

Or they move differently from the ones around them,

Or maybe they don't move at all.

Just noticing the individual differences of the ribs,

Without any judgment.

Allowing the awareness to continue to move up through the vertebrae,

At the back of the body,

Through the ribs,

At the back,

At the sides,

And at the front of the body.

Becoming aware of the place where the ribs join at the front of the body,

Forming the sternum,

The breastbone.

In the front of the body,

The sternum comes up to the top of the ribs,

And then there is the collarbone.

In the back of the body,

Moving up through the ribs and the vertebrae,

We come to the shoulder blades.

Perceiving the shoulder blades directly.

Notice if one is a little bit rotated,

Or held higher than the other.

So the collarbone and the shoulder blades form the shoulder girdle,

The pelvic girdle and the shoulder girdle,

Or the width-wise containers for the body.

Just getting a sense of that,

The structure,

How things come together within the body.

Noticing how the collarbone and shoulder blades are relative to one another.

Are the shoulder blades higher up,

A little bit higher than the collarbone?

Is the collarbone a little bit depressed,

Held down or back in some way?

Or is it the other way around?

Is the collarbone higher than the shoulder blades?

Without any judgment,

Simply noticing.

And then sweeping back down the body,

Having a sense of water moving downstream,

Clearing the energy down and out from the shoulder blade and collarbone,

Down through the ribs,

Through the vertebrae.

The vertebrae gradually growing larger,

Noticing the curves that are there.

The pelvis,

The spine resting into the pelvis at the sacrum.

And then the thigh bones resting into the pelvis.

Moving down through the pelvis,

Through the thigh bones,

To the knees,

Through the lower legs,

The ankles,

The heels,

And the feet.

Just letting this energy move down and out of the body.

And then making your way back up through the skeleton to the shoulder girdle,

Collarbone,

Shoulder blades,

And upper arm bone.

This is similar to the pelvis,

With the thigh bones resting into the hip socket,

But also very different,

Lighter bones and a much looser structure.

The shoulder socket is a very shallow joint.

Just getting a sense of that,

Perceiving the body directly.

How the upper arm bone rests relative to the shoulder blade and collarbone.

And then moving down the upper arm bone to the elbow and lower arm bones.

Two bones in the lower arm,

Similar to the lower leg.

And then the wrists,

Many small bones that allow for very refined movements.

Wrists,

Hands,

Fingers.

Perceiving the skeleton directly.

Bringing the awareness back to the breathing.

Perceiving the breath as it moves through the body.

Just feeling the hands touching wherever the hands contact.

Just that,

Just the weight of the hand resting.

And then bringing the awareness back up the arms,

The fingers,

Hands,

Wrists,

Lower arms,

Elbow,

Upper arms,

And shoulders.

Coming back into the spine,

Feeling the spine of the neck.

How the vertebrae here are much smaller.

The vertebrae at the base of the spine are the size of the fist.

The vertebrae here at the neck are about the size of the thumb.

And they have many long spines off of each vertebrae,

Which interrelate.

Very delicate and sophisticated structure.

Feeling the curve to the neck,

To the vertebrae of the neck.

And coming up to the head,

Where the skull rests atop the spine.

Sometimes this feels very solid.

Sometimes it feels like the head is resting on the shoulders.

But really,

This is a very delicate connection.

And the head rests lightly atop the spine.

So see if you can get a sense of that now.

And we think of the skull as very solid,

Infused,

Hard,

Dense.

But the skull is very light.

Some of the bones of the skull are so thin,

You can see through them.

And there is motility to the skull.

So you might begin to perceive that now.

The skull elongates slightly and flattens slightly.

And this movement might be coordinated with your breath at this time.

Let the eyes soften and release back into the skull.

Becoming receptive.

No longer trying to see outwardly.

Let the throat and the tongue soften.

Becoming receptive.

No longer trying to express outwardly.

Let the ears soften,

Having a sense of depth in the inner ear.

No longer trying to hear outwardly.

You continue to hear because the ear functions and there is a sound.

And so you hear.

But you don't have to try to make it happen.

It simply happens in the same way that you continue to breathe without your own effort.

Let the inner ear become round instead of oval,

A sense of depth in the inner ear.

Allow the skin of the face to soften.

Becoming receptive.

No longer needing to hold an expression.

Letting the muscles beneath the skin soften.

And sweeping the awareness back down through the length of the body.

Having a sense of clearing energy from head to toe.

Like a warm,

Soft rain pouring down around you.

From the head down through the spine,

The neck,

Shoulders,

Arms,

Hands,

Fingers.

And from the shoulders moving down through the torso,

The ribs,

Following the spine into the pelvis,

The thighs,

Knees,

Lower legs,

Ankles,

And feet.

Begin to imagine now that the air you breathe is light.

With each breath in,

The body fills with light.

If there is any place of injury or illness in the body,

Send this light there.

Send the light of the breath to the place in the body where there is illness or injury.

Let it fill with light.

And sweeping this energy down and out.

Head,

Neck,

Shoulders,

Arms,

Hands,

Fingers.

From the shoulders down through the ribs,

The vertebra of the spine,

To the pelvis.

Through the pelvis to the thighs,

Knees,

Lower legs,

Ankles,

Feet.

Observe the entire body as you rest here,

Just sitting or lying and breathing.

Having a sense of the whole body.

Listening now to the sound of the chimes,

Which will end this meditation.

Reviews

Thank you for guiding me into the awareness of my entire body. Especially connecting with its structure, the bones, what supports. I feel like I had never connected so deeply with my body.