A 35-Minute Guided Body Scan Meditation

This is a full body scan that can be helpful for those of us who are needing to check-in with our bodies. Body Scan Meditation can be especially helpful for folks who are experiencing stress and need to find a way to process those emotions. Body Scan meditations are also a helpful tool for those who may be experiencing anxiety as well.

Transcript

My name is Dr.

Christiana Wolff and this is a 35-minute guided body scan meditation.

Congratulating yourself for taking the time to simply be with your body without asking anything from it.

So in the body scan we are simply paying attention to the sensations that are already there or often the absence of sensations because there are quite some areas in the body where we don't feel a lot or anything at all.

So in this practice numbness counts as a sensation and we're not trying to stir up sensations for example by moving the body or make something happening we're just being present with whatever is already here.

So now finding a comfortable posture either lying down or sitting up having your eyes closed if that is comfortable.

So starting by bringing your hands to your belly putting your hands onto your belly and seeing if you can feel the breath under your hands so if you can feel the belly rising with each inhalation and falling with each exhalation and we call this whole body breathing or diaphragmatic breathing.

When we are born we're breathing this way and as we get older we're using less and less of our lung capacity so you can now bring your hands back to your sides or just leave them there resting on your belly or in your lap or on your belly or on your belly or on your belly or on your belly and then sitting on your belly or in your lap whatever feels comfortable.

And starting by bringing the attention to your left foot just feeling into your left foot any sensations that are there in this moment so that could be the pressure against the floor position of the foot.

Maybe feeling the big toe or into the little toes.

You don't even have to wiggle your toes in order to feel them we can also feel the absence of sensations.

And from here moving the attention to your left ankle you might have a sense of your left ankle or not and moving on to your right ankle and moving on to the left lower leg maybe feeling the pressure against your calf and feeling the fabric against the skin.

You can experiment with imagining to be breathing into this area so using the breath to guide the attention.

And then moving on to the left knee again you might or might not be able to feel your left knee and being aware that there's a difference between feeling into a body part and picturing it.

So we're not picturing or imagining the area of the body we're working with but really feeling into it.

Now moving the attention to your left thigh feeling into your left thigh any sensations or the absence of sensations and then moving the attention into the left hip joint and sometimes it's hard to be attentive to something that you can't feel but you can still place your attention there as if there was something to feel that has the same effect.

And now bringing the attention to your entire left leg from the hip joint all the way down to your toes and if it is helpful for you using the image of breathing down your left leg so using the breath all the way down into your left toes and now letting go of the left leg and moving the attention to your right foot starting with your toes seeing if you can feel your toes on your right foot and then including the entire right foot so maybe feeling touch against the heel the position and then moving on to the right ankle now feeling into the right ankle and of course whenever you notice that the attention is somewhere else just gently bringing it back doesn't matter where the attention goes just noticing and then returning to this moment and now moving the attention to the right lower leg and maybe you get a sense of the more muscular part and the bony shin or not and moving to the right knee feeling into the right knee to feel any sensations or as if there were sensations to feel and then moving on to the right thigh and just doing the same thing here just checking in with this area of your body and if at any time during the body scan strong emotions come up or you feel pulled to strong sensations like discomfort in the body feel free to just make sure that you are feeling the same way or you feel pulled to strong sensations like discomfort in the body feel free to just move the attention to your breath feeling your breath or even opening your eyes for a moment to reorient yourself in the room and then resuming when you feel ready moving the attention into the right hip joint now and then opening up to now feel the entire right leg and if you like imagining to be breathing from the right hip all the way down into your toes and then letting go of the right leg and bringing the attention now to your pelvis bringing the attention to your buttocks feeling the pressure of the floor or the chair bringing attention to your genital area and anal area bringing attention to your genital area and anal area and now including the entire pelvis with all the organs inside organs of elimination and reproduction organs of elimination and reproduction and maybe the sensations of the breath let the abdominal wall rise and fall and then moving the attention up your abdomen including the entire abdomen below the diaphragm or below the rib cage and bringing the attention inside your abdomen where you normally can't feel anything where you can still place the attention here and you might feel again the sensations of the breath the belly rising and falling and now moving the attention back to your lower spine to the small of your back which is an area where a lot of us hold tension or discomfort and just feeling into this area noticing no need to change anything and just feeling into this area noticing and then just letting the attention move up your spine vertebra by vertebra also being aware of your back seeing if it feels different where the ribs are starting maybe noticing the movement of the breath here and then moving further up and including your shoulders the shoulder blades and the big muscle of the shoulders and the neck and then from here bringing attention to your entire chest the rib cage feeling into sensations here feeling the breath moving the chest and bringing awareness to the breasts and then letting go of the torso and moving the attention all the way down into your left hand feeling the fingers of your left hand you might notice that the body is moving more and more and that the body is moving more and more you might notice the difference of some other areas of the body and the hand we usually can feel the hand really well and if you like you can just ask yourself how do I know I have a hand and when you do that your attention automatically goes into your left hand and lets you feel it and this is what we want to do with our attention with every area of the body and some we will feel more and some less now moving the attention to the wrist of your left hand feeling into this intricate collection of small bones in your wrist and then moving the attention to your left lower arm your left forearm and feeling into any sensations here or the absence of sensations then moving on to the left elbow and noticing what is here to feel and then moving on to the left upper arm from the elbow all the way up to the left shoulder the left armpit and now feeling the entire left arm and if you found it helpful again imagining to be breathing down into the left arm from the shoulder all the way down into the fingertips and then letting go of the left arm and now moving the attention into your right hand feeling the fingers of your right hand you might feel the individual fingers or not and then including the rest of your right hand palm and the back of your hand and moving the attention to your right wrist and then from here to the right forearm and maybe feeling pressure,

Temperature,

Position and then moving on to the right elbow and then the right upper arm from the elbow to the shoulder and also including the right armpit and then feeling into the entire right arm maybe imagining to be breathing down into it and then letting go of the right arm and moving the attention now to your neck and throat another area where we often hold tension and then moving on to the jaw,

Feeling the jaw so bringing the attention to your lips and then inside your mouth,

The teeth and the tongue and the skin inside your mouth,

The cheeks,

The nose bringing attention inside your nose the eyes,

The muscles around the eyes,

The eyelids,

The eyebrows a little frowning muscle between the eyebrows the temples,

The forehead and the entire face the sides of the head with the ears the back of the head and the top of the head and now opening up the awareness to include the entire body feeling the entire body,

The whole body and if you like imagining to be breathing from the top of your head,

The crown of your head,

All the way down into your toes and up and out again letting the breath wash through you no effort involved just like the gentle waves at the beach moving in and out and now we're coming to an end of our body scan today so when you're ready starting to wiggle your fingers and toes and allowing the body to stretch in whatever way it wants and if you've been lying on the floor or lying down,

Now rolling over to one side and lying here for a breath or two before you push yourself back up with one hand into a seated position and ending the practice by thanking yourself for having taken the time to connect with yourself

Reviews

Wonderful.

I love that she talks about not feeling or numbness as equally valid as feeling something in a particular body part.

Nice body scan, very gentle guidance 🙏🏻

Basic and very helpful. I love her voice and pace of her meditations.

Christiane, A beautiful supportive scan to celebrate our miraculous bodies. Thank you so very much.