The Timeless Centre: Advanced Body Scan

This body scan meditation is mainly geared to experienced practitioners who’ve had some years of working with mindfulness of the body, in meditation, bodywork or both. It takes the listener into subtle aspects of body awareness and aims for a state of energized relaxation and absorption (samadhi). There is a fair amount of silence, including some minutes without speaking towards the end.

Image: Shore by Pablo Fernandez. CC BY-NC 2.0

Transcript

Welcome to this meditation which is mainly geared to those who've practiced mindfulness of the body for quite some time through meditation,

Bodywork or both.

So settling,

Resting into the posture,

Seated or lying down.

And maybe the posture can already hold or express an intention of openness,

Of deep letting go.

We're going to be gradually gathering up more and more of the body into awareness.

So there'll be one area of the body at the centre of awareness and there'll also be a broad awareness as it were in the background of all the other parts of the body that we've been with so far.

So now taking a few deeper grounding breaths.

Breathing up from the earth through the points of contact between the body and whatever you're sitting or lying on.

Allowing the breath to travel up through the body,

Reaching right up to the crown of the head and slightly beyond it.

And letting the out-breath be like a wave of release,

Of letting go,

Sweeping down through the body.

The weight of the body melting downwards into the earth.

And now bringing the awareness into the belly,

Below the navel.

Softening and opening there.

And allowing the breathing to include this lower belly area.

Feeling it rise and fall with in-breath and out-breath.

Letting the sensations of breath in the belly come really close.

As the in-breath comes,

Feeling the diaphragm muscle expand and move down towards the pelvis and then release back with out-breath.

And feeling the movement of the ribs at the front and the back of the body.

And bringing awareness to the lower back,

Including the tailbone.

As you bring awareness to each part of the body,

Also bringing the breath there.

Breathing into that place,

As if through the pores of the skin and allowing the out-breath to bring a softening,

A melting,

A release.

So we're aware now of lower back and lower belly.

And noticing how when the diaphragm drops down with the in-breath,

There's a subtle letting go in the pelvic floor,

This area between the genitals and the anus.

And now bringing the awareness and the breath to the genitals and around them,

The whole groin area.

And when we meet tension or resistance to being with any area of the body,

Noticing if the breathing starts to feel constricted and seeing whether it's possible to stay soft in the lower belly.

It might help to place a hand on the belly and feel the rising and falling with a breath.

So aware of belly,

Lower back and groin area.

And now including the buttocks,

Feeling the sensations in the buttocks with the in-breath and the out-breath.

And breathing space into the hip joints.

If there's sleepiness or a lack of energy,

You can always lean the awareness more into the effects of the in-breath.

And if more calm is needed,

Leaning into the release of the out-breath.

Now including the thighs,

Feeling the weight of the heavy thigh bones,

Moving them down towards the earth,

Allowing gravity to do its work.

And as the weight of the thighs is released more and more,

Seeing if the backs of the thighs can soften and broaden.

Now including the knees,

Breathing into the knees.

Breathing space.

Breathing space into the knee joint,

At front and back.

So aware of the belly,

Lower back,

Groin,

Buttocks,

Thighs,

Knees.

And noticing anywhere there that feels particularly tight and held.

When we meet tension,

It's almost as if there's an uncomfortable edge where the urge to let go is pulling against the urge to hold on.

Seeing what happens if you stay with that edge.

When there's tension,

We might also notice a very subtle sense of the body wanting to strain forwards and perhaps to one side,

As if it needs to move away from this discomfort,

Move away from this moment.

Seeing what happens if you rest back,

Bringing awareness into the back of the body for a few breaths.

And then coming right into the centre of the experience.

The sensations of tension and resting at the timeless centre.

And now including the lower legs,

The fronts and backs.

And including the ankles,

Seeing how sensitive it's possible to be to the sensations there.

As you bring the attention to a part of the body,

You might notice that alongside the felt body sense,

There's also a fuzzy mental image of that part.

Seeing what happens if you release the image by leaning more fully into the felt sensations.

And including the feet,

All the toes,

The top of the feet,

The balls of the feet,

The soft area in the middle of the arch and the heels.

And now the whole of the lower body held in awareness,

The whole space of the lower body being breathed,

Breathed in,

Breathed out.

Softening into the contact with the earth under us.

All timeless.

So now still aware of the whole lower body,

Bringing the awareness and the breath to the mid belly.

And now including the mid back.

And including the heart area.

Can there be an opening,

A broadening across the whole chest and heart area,

Allowing the heart to soften,

Undefended heart.

And feeling into the area behind the heart.

How does it feel in there?

Feeling into the collarbone area.

And seeing if an opening and softening across the collarbones can allow the shoulders to soften and the upper back to open,

Broaden,

The shoulder blades melting down the back.

And including the neck,

Breathing a sense of space into the neck.

Feeling the neck is lengthening upwards,

Away from the shoulders.

And seeing if more freedom or space in the neck can allow a deeper softening in the shoulders.

And breathing the upper arms,

Letting them melt down into the elbows.

The elbows melting down into the wrists.

And wrists into hands,

Releasing out through each finger.

And now aware of the whole lower body,

The torso,

Front and back and the arms.

And including the head,

Feeling its weight and the sensations of the scalp.

And aware of the face.

Feeling in gently to the forehead and the temples.

Seeing how sensitive it's possible to be to the sensations there.

Feeling the eyes and around the eyes.

Letting the eyes rest deeply.

No need for them to be looking out for anything.

And letting the throat rest.

No need for any words.

Wordless.

And the tongue resting back towards the throat.

And aware of the cheeks,

Nose,

Mouth,

Chin,

Jaw.

Seeing what happens if you smile,

A half smile.

Feeling what happens to all the little muscles in the face,

Including around the eyes.

So now sensitive to the whole body.

Awareness and breath touching the whole space of the body.

And sensing that space of the body as slightly larger than the physical body.

The whole space of the body resting at the timeless centre.

And make it.

' Thank you.

Any sense of well-being.

Feel pleasurable energy in the body opening to it fully.

Seeing if it can fill more of the body and then maybe the whole space of the body.

And letting that well-being or pleasurable energy be fully enjoyed.

Feel pleasurable energy in the body opening to it fully.

Feel pleasurable energy in the body opening to it fully.

Feel pleasurable energy in the body opening to it fully.

Feel pleasurable energy in the body opening to it fully.

So now aware of any well-being,

However subtle that we felt in this practice.

And maybe wishing that others in the world also feel well-being.

And now as the sound of the gong comes,

Listening to it,

Receiving it with the whole body.

And perhaps imagining that the sound can send well-being,

Peace,

Freedom out into the world.

Thank you.

Reviews

Wonderfully spacious soft and slow. Very grateful. Thank you 🙏🏼

It was lovely. Always love the last bit of spreading the wellbeing to others too.

I generally meditate with only a timer but occasionally use guided meditations. Many guided meditations have too much talking which frequently disturbs the sound of silence. This body scan meditation strikes the proper balance in the spirit of form is emptiness and emptiness is form. 🙏

Thank you! This body scan was both challenging and quite helpful. Brought my attention to sensations I had not been previously aware of, such as the softening of the pelvic floor with the out breath. And reminded me of sensations I have been recently ignoring. Loved the acknowledgment of the tension between wanting to release and wanting to hold on, and found the guidance of leaning into the back body very helpful during times when both my body and my mind wanted to edge away from the meditation. I will return to this! 🙏

This is a great meditation, great pace, perfect voice

A deeply relaxing experience. I’ll be returning to this one,thank you so much 😊🙏🏻

One of the best meditations I’ve come across, especially like starting in the mid body and spreading outwards. Left me peaceful thank you 🙏 💕

Lovely, deep & calming body scan, I felt my body unclenching as we moved from area to area. Thank you.

Relaxing through every part of the body, Energizing

Beautiful, thank you so much

Thank you so very, very much. Wonderful scan. Truly wonderful. And your voice is full of peace and calmness

Very very nice. Soothing instructions and lovely quiet pauses to practice. Thank you. ☮️💖🙏

Lovely unwinding and grounding practice. Thank you!

Really beautiful practice - deeply softening but with a real sense of aware energy too. You lead this meditation so tenderly, it was a joy 💚💚💚

Soft and deep bodhy awareness, samadhi opening up .........

This was wonderful. I had bookmarked it months ago but I think I was intimidated by the 'advanced' so I avoided it until today. I'm so glad I finally did it, it was wonderful. I'll be back. Thank you!