
Mindfulness Full Body Scan Meditation
by Diana Boskma
Embark on a journey of self-discovery with mindful body scan meditation. Tune into each sensation, embracing a profound sense of presence and relaxation. Explore the body's wisdom, fostering inner peace and harmony. Join me in this transformative practice to nurture holistic well-being
Transcript
Hello!
I'm Diana.
Welcome to this full body scan mindfulness meditation.
Begin by finding a place where you can be alone for the duration of this meditation.
A place where you can put your device down and have some earphones in or on.
A place where you can sit comfortably with your back supported and your feet flat on the floor,
Shoulder-width apart.
Or you can decide to put your feet up when you so desire.
Allow your hands to rest comfortably,
Maybe they will rest in your lap or on your belly or your thighs,
Whatever is most comfortable for you.
When you prefer to do so,
You can also choose to lay down,
But ideally in a place where you do not normally sleep,
So that you can stay awake for the duration of the meditation.
Make sure that you stay warm during this meditation,
Maybe use a blanket to cover yourself when that's needed.
Please relax as much as you can and let my voice guide you through this meditation.
Gently close your eyes and start relaxing and noticing the present moment that you're experiencing right now.
Feel your body,
Be aware of your thoughts and notice your breath.
Start paying attention to your breath.
Continue to breathe in and out at a pace that feels comfortable to you.
Feel the cold air coming into your nose when you breathe in,
And the warm air leaving your nose when you breathe out.
Relax your muscles as best as you can with every single breath in and every single breath out.
Focus on relaxing and welcome the feelings of relaxation as you feel them happening.
As you continue to breathe,
Your body will continue to relax more and more during our time together.
And when thoughts wander off,
Ideas or memories come up during our time together,
That's perfectly okay.
Be thankful for the thought.
The thought came up for a reason,
It is trying to come in as a gift.
Feel grateful for it and just go and gently bring your attention back and focus on your breathing.
Acknowledge that it happened,
Accept that that is what sometimes happens.
Invite your mind to be present and be here.
Invite your mind to receive,
To receive more peace,
To receive more happiness,
To receive more clarity and to receive more joy.
Bring yourself back to concentrating on your breath and breathing in and breathing out.
Each time you practice,
You will pull yourself closer to just being able to focus on your meditation and on your breath.
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
Inhale.
Feel the air at the back of your throat going down into your lungs.
Hold your breath.
As you release and let the breath out,
Feel it coming up from your lungs at the back of your throat,
Going through your mouth as you let go.
Take another deep breath in through your nose.
Feel the cold air going in through your nose and feel how your chest expands.
Hold your breath and when you're ready,
Let your breath go.
Exhale.
Feel the warm air going out of your mouth and feel how your chest contracts.
Take in three more deep breaths and exhale at your own pace.
As you continue to breathe,
Notice your body.
Notice any sensations that you feel in your body.
In case you notice any discomfort,
Tightness or tension,
Focus on that area of your body and focus on the flow of your breath.
Focus on the movement of that part of your body with the flow of your breath and help the area become more relaxed and more peaceful.
Say in your mind or out loud,
I let go.
I let the sensations move.
I choose to feel relaxed and peaceful.
Take a few more deep breaths as you let your body settle into this relaxed and peaceful feeling.
Notice where in your body you feel relaxation,
Peacefulness and happiness.
I would like to invite you to continue to focus on your breathing.
We will start to focus on letting every single breath pass through your heart.
We know that the breath can't actually physically pass through your heart and yet when you concentrate enough,
When you visualize it,
You can feel it passing through your heart.
Filling your heart with oxygen and energy so that your heart can pump that oxygen and energy around your body.
Feeling every breath in pass through your heart and every breath out pass through your heart and feeling every breath in pass through your heart and every breath out pass through your heart.
If it helps you with staying concentrated,
You can say breathing in just before the in-breath in just before the in-breath and breathing out just before the out-breath.
You can choose to say through my heart both before the inhale and before the exhale.
Saying one of these allows the mind to focus and concentrate on the breath.
It helps you focus on the breath passing through the heart.
Now I would like to invite you to change your focus.
Today we will do full body scan meditation.
In the previous meditations that we've done in this series,
They were both the lower body scan and the upper body scan and we addressed them separately.
Today we will do them together.
Start all the way down at your toes,
Placing your focus and attention onto your toes.
See if you can notice any tingling,
Any sensations in your feet.
Scan slowly across the bottom of your feet,
All along the soles of your feet and then move your focus into your heels.
Scan across the top of your feet across the top of your feet and then move your attention towards your ankles.
Just noticing sensations,
Not engaging with them,
Just noticing that they're there.
And now move your attention up and around your ankles,
Slowly going up into your calves.
And slowly run up your calves.
Then go up and scan through your shin area,
Up towards your knees.
Checking how the back of your knees feel,
Noticing any sensations,
Even if it's just the crease of your skin where your knees are bent.
Passing over the knees,
Over the kneecap,
Moving up into your thigh area,
Moving up the front of your thighs and noticing any tingling or sensations or even vibrations inside your thighs.
Moving up the back of your legs,
Up your hamstrings,
Towards your bum.
Noticing any tightness in the hamstrings,
If there is anything.
Noticing the pressure on the back of your legs,
Pressed against the chair that you're sitting in.
Maybe even noticing your clothing in between your skin and the chair.
And now we will start moving up your hips and slowly change our focus to go around your hips.
Do you feel any sensations?
From there we go around your pelvic area.
What can you notice in this area?
And then we move our focus from your pelvic area to your bum area.
Do you feel anything?
Okay.
Such as maybe the surface that you're sitting on under your bum.
From there on,
We slowly move our attention to your lower back.
See whether you notice any sensations in your lower back,
Any soreness,
Any tightness,
Any vibrations or tingling.
From your lower back,
We move up a bit to the middle of your back.
Do you notice anything?
From the middle of your back,
We move our focus to your belly area.
How does your belly feel?
From your belly,
We move our attention up towards your chest,
Focusing on the center of your chest first.
What can you notice?
And then allow your focus to drift across your chest,
Moving up in circles across the rest of your chest,
Moving up from your lower and middle back,
Up in between your shoulder blades to start with,
And then spreading out across your shoulder blades as you let them relax.
Just noticing any sensations.
Again,
Not engaging with them,
Just noticing them.
From your shoulder blades,
We move down into your arms,
Down your upper arms,
Across your biceps,
Down towards the inner side of your elbows,
Down the back of your arms,
And towards the other side of your elbows.
Again,
Noticing any sensations,
Even if it's just where your skin is greased.
From your elbows,
We move our focus down into the lower arms,
The outside of your lower arms,
Towards your wrists.
What are you noticing?
And from there,
We move our focus to the inside of the lower arms,
Towards your wrists,
Circling around your wrists before moving your attention to your thumbs.
Is there anything you notice about your wrists and thumbs?
And from your thumbs,
We move over to your hands.
What do you notice?
And from your hands,
We move into your fingers.
We go all the way into the very tips of your fingers,
Noticing any sensations,
Even the temperature of the air around.
And again,
Just noticing,
Not engaging.
Then,
As we move back up our fingers and back into the hands,
Noticing any sensations that you may have missed on your way down.
Back up through your hands and into your wrists,
Up your lower arms,
And across your elbows.
And up we go to your upper arms,
And then up into your shoulder blades,
Allowing your shoulders to relax and drop,
Noticing any tension,
Noticing any tightness,
Not engaging,
Just noticing.
And as we move up to your throat and into your lower jaw,
Again,
We're only noticing,
Only noticing any tensions or tightness in your jaw area.
Moving up into your face,
To your lower lip,
And your upper lip,
And then go on to your nose,
Noticing any sensations on the tip of your nose,
Noticing the temperature,
Or maybe a vibrational tingle,
If that's there.
And then,
We move to the cheeks,
And up to your lower eyes,
And then on to your upper eyelids,
Noticing even the pressure between the upper eyelids and the lower eyelids,
Just as they rest,
Feeling them touch each other.
Around the eyes,
We go into the temples,
Then we move up to the forehead,
Allowing it to just be to the forehead,
Allowing it to just be soft.
And then,
We return to focus on the back of our neck,
Noticing any tightness.
As it moves up into the back of your head,
Let your attention slowly go up around your ears,
Noticing any sensations in your ears.
What's the temperature like in there?
And then,
We move up the back of our head,
Over the crown,
And now moving simultaneously across the forehead and the back of the head,
And meeting right at the peak,
Right at the top of your head,
And again,
Just noticing any sensations as you move your focus over the top of your head.
And now,
Take some time to pick a sensation anywhere in your body.
Scan your entire body and focus on one sensation for just a few seconds.
If it disappears,
That's perfectly okay.
Just choose another one and move across to it,
Just for a few seconds.
When you feel ready,
Start to gently come back to the here and now.
Come back into the room,
Into your body,
Into your consciousness,
Your awareness,
Into your mind.
Take your space into this world back.
As you are coming back into the present moment,
Let yourself explore and say yes to the emotions that will continue to amplify,
The emotions of joy,
Peace and of relaxation during the rest of your day and the time to come.
Know that you can decide to continue to feel this way.
Take a deep breath and let go when you're ready.
While keeping your eyes closed,
Notice the sounds around you.
Notice how your body feels.
Feel the surface you're sitting or lying on under your body.
Feel the surface your feet are on.
Feel your clothing on your body.
Move your fingers a little.
Wiggle your toes a little.
Gently circle your shoulders.
Gently move your head from side to side.
Become more and more pleasant.
Welcome joy,
Peace and comfort to continue being with you on your path today and in the time to come.
Take a deep breath and let go when you're ready.
And when you're ready,
Gently open your eyes fully coming back to the present moment.
Stay seated for a bit more time.
Look around the room and notice a few things around you.
When you feel ready to do so,
You can sit up.
You can stand up and return to going about your day.
And know that all the good that was experienced will continue for the rest of the day and the time to come.
