Deep Body Scan Practice

In this deep body scan practice we go through moving our attention exploring the different parts of the body in a gradual sequence from feet to head. Resting deeply into each part of body noticing any physical sensations that might arise within the body not trying to evoke sensations but to notice the general felt feelings and physical sensations within the particular body part as it arises grounding and reconnecting ourselves to the body to aid maintain a calm state when we might be tense.

Transcript

So,

To begin this practice finding a comfortable posture,

And so reminding ourselves that for the body scan we can either do the posture sitting down with a straight back in an alert dignified manner but also finding a posture that is comfortable and at ease.

And we also can do the body scan lying down,

So either with a mattress or a mat beneath us and maybe having something to support our lower back and if lying flat is uncomfortable for you maybe bending a little bit your legs from your knees.

So finding a position that is comfortable either sitting down or lying but one that is at ease with this body,

So one that you can spend about 30-45 minutes into.

And then reminding ourselves that when we do the practice,

This practice of the body scan,

Our intention is to fall awake.

And why is our intention to fall awake during the body scan?

Because sometimes during the practice we fall asleep.

And also reminding ourselves that that's absolutely fine.

So if we notice that we're falling asleep being mindful of the process of moving between an awakeness through drowsiness towards sleep and then back again,

Reminding ourselves knowing what is happening while it is happening without preference.

So setting our intention to fall awake and then gently guiding our awareness towards the body and becoming aware of the whole body,

The whole body resting,

Supported by the ground,

Surrounded by space.

The whole body from the top of the head all the way down to the tips of the toes.

The whole body from the right side of the body all the way across to the left side of the body.

The whole body from the back of the body all the way up to the front of the body.

The whole body breathing.

So becoming aware of this breathing body and gently noticing the sensations of the breath within this body as they move in and out through the body.

And you might notice the breath at the nostrils and the sensations of the breath brushing past the insides of the nostrils as you breathe in and out.

Any sensations of the breath moving up and down in the region of the throat.

And maybe noticing any sensations of the rib cage expanding and contracting on the inbreath and the outbreath.

And noticing any sensations in the abdomen as the body breathes in and out.

Maybe there is a sense of stretching or contraction.

And then focusing a little bit more on the outbreath.

And gently noticing if there is a sense of relaxation within the body as the body releases the breath.

And then as we get this sense of the body relaxing as the body releases the breath.

Having a sense of letting go of the whole body into the unconditional support of the ground beneath us.

So breathing out and letting go of the whole body into the unconditional support of the ground beneath the body.

And gently opening up to the space surrounding the body.

So the whole body unconditionally supported by the ground and surrounded by space.

And then gently taking our focus down the body,

Through the torso,

Down both our legs,

Through the feet and into the toes.

And becoming aware of any physical sensations that are present right now in the toes.

So just a bare awareness of the sensations present right now in the toes.

And we might notice that there might be strong sensations,

We might notice subtle sensations,

Or we might notice no sensations at all.

And also reminding ourselves that sensing no sensation at all is a sensation as well,

So being curious about it.

So reminding ourselves also that within this practice there is no right way or wrong way to feel.

Just welcoming whatever sensations are present and allowing them to be here on their own terms.

And then becoming aware of the soles of the feet.

Any physical sensations here.

And gently guiding our attention towards the heels.

And maybe noticing if there is any sensations of contact between the heels and what the heels might be resting upon.

And maybe dropping in this question,

What are the patterns of sensation that make something that we label as contact?

So looking beneath the label.

And then gently shifting our focus to the tops of the feet.

So feeling directly sensing into the top of the feet.

And maybe trying to notice the difference between thinking about the tops of the feet or the sensations present at the tops of the feet.

And directly sensing into the physical sensations that are present right now at the top of the feet.

So reminding ourselves that during the practice we are not intellectualizing or thinking about sensations.

But just a bare awareness.

As if we're meeting each body part for the first time in our lives.

So we're directly sensing into the body,

Into the physical experience,

The physical sensations directly present within the feet right now.

And maybe noticing any sensations in the skin surrounding the feet.

Maybe any sense of temperature or contact or tingling.

Just noticing whatever sensations are present.

And just letting them unfold on their own terms.

And then gently expanding our awareness to the whole of both feet.

So allowing our awareness to reveal whatever sensations are present just right now in the whole of both feet.

And then on our next in-breath imagining as if we're breathing in and out of our feet in any way that works for you.

So as we breathe in,

Imagining as if we're breathing in through our feet.

And as we breathe out,

Imagining as if we're breathing out through our feet into the space surrounding our feet.

So you can get a general felt feeling of this,

You can visualize this,

So finding a way that works for you.

And then on our next out-breath letting go of the feet and gently guiding our awareness towards our ankles.

Finding a sense of the bones of the ankles,

The skin surrounding the ankles,

Any sensations present in the skin surrounding the ankles.

And then trying to get a felt sense of the long bone between the ankles and the knees.

And then gently noticing the calf muscle at the back of the lower leg.

Any sensations present here,

Maybe a sense of contact with the clothes,

Any sense of temperature.

And then gently guiding our awareness to the front of our lower legs,

Our shins.

How do our shins feel right now?

What are the constellations of sensations present right now?

In our shin.

And then getting a sense of the skin surrounding our lower legs.

And noticing any sensations right now in the skin surrounding our lower legs.

And also reminding ourselves that during this practice our mind might wander away.

We might catch ourselves maybe thinking about the sensations that we're feeling right now.

Or just daydreaming or thinking about what we're gonna do next or what happened yesterday.

So whenever this happens we notice that our mind wandered,

Acknowledging it and gently bringing our minds back to this breathing body.

And then gently guiding our attention back to the body scan.

So gently shifting our awareness back to our knees.

Getting a sense of the joint of our knees.

Trying to sense directly into the joint.

And then gently noticing the soft part at the back of the knees.

How does this soft part at the back of the knees feel right now?

And then gently guiding our awareness to the front of the knee.

And maybe noticing the difference between the soft part at the back of the knee and the hard part at the front of the knee.

And then moving on and trying to get a sense of the long bone between the knee and the hip joint.

And then gently moving our focus towards the back of our upper legs,

So our hamstrings.

Any sensations present here at the hamstrings?

So might notice a sense of relaxation or tension or tingling or even no sensations at all and just being curious,

Reminding ourselves that all of these are sensations.

And just letting whatever is presenting ourselves to ourselves right now in the hamstring,

Just to unfold as it is.

No right way or wrong way to feel.

And then gently guiding our awareness to the front of the upper legs,

Our thighs.

And maybe getting a sense of the quadriceps muscle.

How does that feel?

And then trying to get a sense of the skin surrounding the upper leg.

Any sensations present here in the skin surrounding the upper legs?

Be noticing any sense of temperature,

Warmth,

Cold or contact with our clothes?

Or maybe getting a sense if we have our arms resting on our upper legs.

How does that contact feel between the skin and our arms resting on our upper legs?

And then gently moving on to the hip joint and trying to see if we can get a general pull and socket joint of the hip joint.

And then gently expanding our awareness to the whole of both legs,

So the whole of both legs from our ankles to our hip joints.

And just allowing any sensations in the whole of both legs to unfold into our awareness as they are.

So just noticing,

Not trying to change anything.

Feeling sensations unfold on their own terms right now,

In the whole of both legs.

And then on our next in breath,

Breathing in through the whole of both legs.

And on our out breath,

Breathing out through the whole of both legs into the space surrounding the legs.

And then gently letting go of the legs.

And getting a sense of the hip bone,

Of the big bone of the hip bone,

Of the pelvis.

So getting a sense of the big bone of the pelvis.

And maybe noticing any sensations of contact in the pelvic area and the chair beneath us or the ground or the mat we might be laying on.

And then moving on to our lower back.

And maybe getting a sense of the small bones in our lower back.

And then maybe noticing the curvature at the spine,

At the lower back.

And then gently expanding our awareness outwards.

So from the middle of the spine at our lower back and gently expanding our awareness outwards to the sides of our waists.

And noticing any sensations present right now in our waist.

Maybe you can notice the difference in our waists on the in breath and the out breath.

And then moving on through our abdomen.

What are the sensations present right now in our abdomen?

Any sense of contraction and relaxation with the in breath and the out breath in our abdomen?

Or maybe there is a general felt feeling of the organs right in our abdomen.

So being curious and letting sensations unfold.

And then moving on through our upper back.

And getting a sense of the length of the spine from the lower back to our upper back.

And then getting a sense of the rib cage.

So getting a sense of the rib cage expanding.

From the spine at our upper back outwards going through the front of the chest.

And then getting a sense of any sensations in our chest.

And then maybe being curious and seeing if there is a sense of the heart beating within our chest.

And then gently moving on through the tops of our shoulders.

Any sensations present right here now at the tops of our shoulders.

Any sense of pain,

Tension or the opposite relaxation or ease.

And maybe if there is pain or tension trying to see if we can soften on our out breath.

So as we breathe out trying to see if we can soften around that pain.

So we are sinking into the body.

And then gently expanding our awareness.

And getting a sense of the whole torso.

From the hip joint,

From the pelvis,

From the big bone of the pelvis to the tops of our shoulders.

So getting a sense of the whole torso.

And just letting sensations unfold,

Present themselves to us in the whole of our torso.

And then on our next in breath breathing in through the whole of the torso.

And on our now breath breathing out through the whole of the torso into the space surrounding the torso.

So breathing in and out through the whole of the torso in any way that works for you.

And then on our next out breath gently letting go of the torso.

And gently guiding our attention to the tips of our fingers.

What are the sensations present right now with the tips of our fingers?

And then getting a sense of the length of our fingers.

And then trying to see if we can get a general felt feeling of the bones within our fingers.

And the skin surrounding our fingers,

Any sensations here?

And then getting a sense of the palms of the hand.

And being curious at whatever sensations present themselves to us right now in the palms of our hands.

And then the back of our hands,

Any sensations present here?

And then moving on to our wrists and trying to see if we can get a general felt feeling of the small bones of the wrist.

And the skin surrounding our wrists.

And then getting a sense of the length of the forearm.

So from our wrists to our elbows.

And just watching any sensations that present themselves to us in our forearms right now.

And again getting a sense of our elbows.

And maybe noticing the difference between the hard part at the back of the elbow and the soft part at the front of the elbow.

And then gently guiding our awareness to the back of our upper arms,

Our triceps.

Getting a sense of our triceps,

Of the skin surrounding the triceps.

And just noticing any sensations presenting themselves to us.

And then moving on to the front of the upper arms,

Our biceps.

How do our biceps feel right now?

And then moving on to the shoulders,

The joint of the shoulders,

Getting a sense of the ball and socket joint of the shoulders.

And then gently expanding our awareness from the tips of our fingers to the shoulder joint and just getting a sense of any sensations presenting themselves in our hands and in our arms,

In the whole of both our hands and our arms.

And then on our next inbreath,

Breathing in through the whole of our hands and our arms.

And on our next outbreath,

Breathing out through the hands and the whole of our arms.

And then gently letting go of the hands and arms.

And moving on through our necks.

So getting a sense of the back of our necks,

The bones at the back of our necks.

Getting a sense of the skin surrounding our necks.

Getting a sense of the front of our necks.

Noticing our throats and maybe getting a,

Trying to see if we can get a general felt feeling.

Of the sensations of the air flowing in and out of the throat as we breathe in and out.

And then gently moving our awareness to the tip of our chin.

And then gently moving backwards,

Getting a sense of the whole of the jaw.

Moving backwards to the jaw,

To the joint at the back of the jaw.

How does the jaw feel right now?

How does the joint of the jaw feel right now?

And then getting a sense of our teeth.

And maybe noticing if there is a sense of space between the upper and the lower teeth.

And maybe noticing our tongue resting within our mouth.

And then noticing our lips.

And noticing if there is any general felt feeling of contact between the upper and the lower lip.

How does that contact feel?

And then noticing our cheeks.

Our ears.

Our eyes.

And maybe getting a sense of our eyelids.

How do our eyelids feel?

And maybe noticing if there is a sense of contact between the upper and the lower eyelid.

And then being curious,

Trying to see if we can get a general felt feeling of our eyebrows.

And then noticing our foreheads.

And then gently moving our awareness to the back of our heads.

So noticing any sensations right now at the back of our heads.

And then noticing the top of our heads.

And then gently expanding our awareness to the whole of the neck and head region.

And just letting any sensations unfold as they are in the whole of the head and neck region.

And then on our next in breath,

Breathing in through the whole of the head and neck region.

And then gently breathing out through the whole of the head and neck region.

In any way that works for you.

And then gently letting go of the head and neck region.

And gently guiding our awareness back to the whole of the body.

The whole of the body from the inside of the body to the outside of the body.

The whole body resting,

Unconditionally supported by the ground beneath us.

Surrounded by space.

And just allowing awareness to reveal whatever sensations are emerging,

Coming and going right now within the whole of our body.

Allowing our experience of the body to be just as it is.

No right way or wrong way to be.

How wonderful it is to inhabiting a breathing body.

A body that knows how to breathe itself.

And then on our next in breath,

Breathing in through the whole of the body.

And on our next out breath,

Breathing out through the whole of the body into the space surrounding the body.

And then gently becoming aware of the weight of the body.

Becoming aware of the breath and on the out breath,

Letting our minds drop back into our body.

Mind and body here and now,

Within this room.

Gently acknowledging our presence.

I am here.

And then I invite you to put your hands on your heart.

And expressing kindness towards this body.

So sending these phrasing with a sense of gratitude towards our body.

And just may our body be happy.

May you be at peace.

May you be safe.

May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

And on the sound of the bell,

Gently ending the practice.

Reviews

Thank you so very much Dr. Clayton for your beautiful scan. This meditation gave me such gratitude to my body and to you.

Thank you for this Clayton. 😊

I've listened to it many times now. It is very effective for helping me to release the tension that I tend to hold in parts of my body, especially when I'm stressed. I love the way you slowly focus in detail on every part. It is very relaxing.

I have a request or suggestion, would you make one that is very similar, but with the intention of helping listeners to fall asleep instead please?

Sometimes when I am having trouble falling asleep I have listened to this, but the bell at the end wakes me up. It would be good I think to be able to choose between the meditation with the intention to stay awake for the day time, and a meditation with the intention to fall asleep at bedtime.

Again, thank you so much for this meditation.
😊💜✌🏼☮🤗