Meditation 4: Body Scan

This meditation guides people through a body scan meditation, focusing on individual body parts as well as the entire body. Becoming more in tune with our bodies can help us notice our emotions at the level of physical sensations before we are engulfed by them and clouded by thoughts about those emotions and the experiences that caused them.

Transcript

Like the other meditations,

These instructions build on those that came beforehand.

These instructions lead relatively quickly into a body scan.

Although it may feel quite different than the other meditation instructions,

It still falls under the umbrella of mindfulness meditation.

Beginning by finding a posture that feels comfortable to you.

As usual,

You can stay seated in your chair with your back straight,

With your eyes closed,

Or softly open.

However,

For the body scan meditation,

You might choose to lie down on a rug or mat.

Another option is what's called the astronaut position.

Putting a chair next to you,

Lying down on your back,

And putting your legs on the seat of the chair,

As if you were in a rocket ship about to blast off to outer space.

I'll pause for a moment while you find a posture that feels right.

Once you've found a comfortable position,

Bringing your awareness to your breathing,

Allowing it to happen naturally,

Allowing it to be whatever it is,

Becoming aware of what it is and what it's doing.

You may notice short,

Shallow breaths or deeper breaths.

You may feel it more intensely in one part of the body than another.

Maybe your nose,

Maybe your mouth,

Maybe your throat,

Chest,

Stomach,

Or maybe you notice it in all of those places as the breath moves through the body.

Moving your breath as it comes in your body and leaves your body.

Again,

Reminding yourself that this time is not for doing.

This is a time for being and observing.

Perhaps allowing any thoughts and emotions to be in the background of your awareness while awareness of breath is in the foreground.

No need to push any thoughts or emotions away.

You have room for them to be there.

They don't have to take over your entire reality.

Seeing them come,

Noticing them go.

Perhaps employing the technique of noting if thoughts and emotions are present.

Maybe saying something simple to yourself like thinking.

Or perhaps being more specific and labeling the thought or emotion as worry,

Planning,

Reflecting,

Whatever works best for you.

Allowing each moment to unfold and observing that unfolding.

Observing your breath,

Observing the stirrings of thoughts,

Of emotions,

Observing any sounds that come into your awareness moment by moment.

Now,

Observing where your breath is in your body and allowing your awareness to rest there while your breath moves on.

Noticing any physical sensations that may be present in that part of the body.

You may be feeling heat,

Coolness,

Tingling.

Noticing any sensations that may be present there.

Or maybe there are no sensations present and that's okay.

If that's the case,

Noticing the fact that you're not experiencing any sensations in that part of the body right now.

Now,

Gradually bringing your awareness down from that part of your body to your left leg,

Down to your left foot,

Right to the tip of your left big toe.

Bringing your awareness completely to your left big toe,

Focusing on nothing else except what sensations are present there.

Not conjuring up sensations or wishing sensations into being,

But noticing any sensations present there.

Heat,

Coldness,

Pressure,

Throbbing,

Whatever the case may be.

Now,

Moving your awareness onto the other toes of your left foot.

You may feel them individually or they may feel like a big entity in and of themselves.

Whatever the case may be,

Opening yourself to feeling any sensations in that part of the body.

Moving on now to the ball of your left foot.

Observing sensations in that part of the body.

Perhaps you feel pressure where it's touching the floor,

Moisture from the sock,

Whatever sensations present themselves.

Bringing awareness now to the arch of your left foot.

Observing sensations.

Perhaps there's a temperature difference because of the space between your arch and your shoe.

Maybe no sensations at all,

And that's okay.

Wrapping awareness now around the top of your left foot.

Observing whatever sensations are present in that part of the body.

Bringing awareness to the heel of your left foot.

Not wishing sensations into being,

But noticing whatever sensations are present.

Perhaps they come and go.

Awareness change moment to moment,

Whatever exists for you.

Wrapping awareness now around the left ankle,

Exploring every nook and cranny in that part of the body.

Gradually bringing awareness from the left ankle up the left leg,

From the ankle toward the knee,

Noticing sensations.

Feeling the knee when you get to that part of the body,

The front,

The back,

The sides.

Perhaps noticing the crease in the pants that touches the skin,

Whatever sensations are present.

Bringing that band of awareness now from the left knee,

Up the top part of your left leg,

To the left hip.

Exploring whatever sensations may be present in the left hip when you arrive at that part of the body.

Gradually moving now from the left hip across the pelvic area to the right hip,

Observing sensations as you go,

Noticing.

Bringing your awareness now down the right leg,

To the right foot,

To the very tip of your right big toe.

Exploring that part of the body,

Noticing sensations,

Or observing the fact that you don't feel any sensations,

If that's the case.

Bringing awareness now to the other toes on your right foot,

Again feeling them as a complete entity or as individual toes,

If you're able to distinguish one from another.

Moving on to the ball of your right foot,

Exploring that part of the body.

Feeling the arch of your right foot,

Observing sensations,

Feeling whatever sensations present themselves.

Moving awareness now to the top part of the right foot,

Observing sensations in that part of the body.

Bringing awareness to the heel of the right foot,

Noticing any sensations that are present,

Pressure,

Tingling,

Temperature sensations,

Moisture,

Whatever the case may be.

Wrapping awareness now around the right ankle.

Quickly bringing that band of awareness up the leg from the ankle toward the knee,

Continuing to observe sensations.

And exploring the knee when you get there,

The front and back and sides.

Bringing the band of awareness from the right knee to the right hip.

Wrapping awareness now around your waist,

Exploring sensations in that part of the body.

Quickly bringing that band of awareness up the torso,

The front,

The sides,

The back,

Continuing to move up to the ribs,

Moving up rib by rib,

Past the chest,

All the way up to the shoulders.

Now holding both arms in awareness,

Noticing sensations as you move down from the shoulders to the elbows,

From the elbows to the wrists.

Exploring the back of the hands,

Continuing to observe any sensations that are present and being okay with the possibility of not feeling sensations in any of these parts of the body.

Exploring the palms of the hands and the fingers moving up,

Knuckle by knuckle,

Right to the very tips of the fingers,

Continuing to observe sensations.

Bringing awareness now from the tips of the fingers to the wrists,

The wrists to the elbows,

Elbows to the shoulders,

Shoulders to the neck.

Gradually bringing a band of awareness up the neck,

Exploring sensations as you go to the jaw,

Continuing to move up the face,

Past the chin,

Mouth,

Lower part of the head,

Over the nose and ears,

Moving on to the eyes,

The back of the head,

Continuing up to the eyebrows.

And as you move up the forehead,

That band of awareness gets smaller and smaller,

Continuing to move up until eventually it becomes a point of awareness at the very tip of the skull,

Noticing awareness there and noticing any sensations that are present.

Now imagining that it were possible to pour awareness over your entire body,

Beginning with that very tip at the top of the head and bringing that awareness down,

Down the forehead and back of the head,

Over the eyebrows,

Over the eyes,

Enveloping the nose and ears,

Mouth,

Cheeks,

Chin,

Including the jaw,

Moving down the neck,

Allowing that awareness to expand over the shoulders,

The arms,

Chest,

Hands,

Torso,

Moving past the hips and the legs,

Enveloping the feet and the toes right to the tips of the toes.

So you're holding your entire body in awareness now,

From the tip of the skull to the fingertips to the tips of your toes,

Observing sensations in any part of the body.

Or perhaps you feel what might be described as a whole body sensation,

Whatever the case is,

Noticing,

Observing,

Feeling sensations or being okay with the possibility of not feeling any sensations in any given moment.

Hi everyone.

Now,

Bringing your awareness back to your breath.

Finding your breath wherever it happens to be in your body,

And continuing to follow the breath as it moves through the body.

Perhaps reminding yourself that the breath is also a physical sensation.

If you'd like,

Expanding awareness to include any sounds that are present.

Internal sounds,

External sounds.

Not going off in search of them,

But allowing yourself to really hear sounds that penetrate your awareness.

So they become part of your meditation rather than a potential distraction.

And when you're ready,

Without rushing,

Going ahead and ending the meditation,

Opening your eyes.

Stretching if you need to stretch.

Reviews

Pleasant voice, very relaxed body scan 🙏

Excellent body scan. Thank you

Excellent meditation thank you