Body Scan To Bring Attention To Self

Body scan meditation is typically offered during week 1 or week 2 of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) or Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapies (MBCT) programmes. This practice offers guidance on marshalling one's attention to different parts of the body.

Transcript

This is a body scan meditation that will last for approximately 30 minutes.

So finding a place where you can be at ease,

Perhaps a time where you can step out of the doing mode,

A place where you can be quiet and attentive to the body.

You can do this meditation lying down on a bed,

Perhaps having a light cover to keep warm or perhaps in a chair.

So if you're lying down,

Allowing the palms to face up,

The legs to fall away from each other and settling into a posture that supports alertness,

A sense of awakeness.

If you have a tendency to fall asleep,

Perhaps moderating those feelings of sleepiness by occasionally opening the eyes or maybe having the knees pointing towards the sky.

And if you're practicing this meditation in a chair,

Again from time to time perhaps opening the eyes if you feel very sleepy.

And recognizing that this meditation,

We're not striving to feel relaxed,

We're not striving to get anywhere.

Instead,

The invitation is to move your attention,

To be attentive to different parts of the body in turn.

That's all.

Noting what you find,

What's in your experience in this moment.

And I'd invite you to be curious with whatever you notice.

So beginning now by just checking in.

How am I in this moment?

What's my internal weather like?

Simply making note of any thoughts,

Emotions or sensations that are present for you as you lie here in stillness.

No need to judge or categorize your experience,

But simply to make note.

How am I now?

Perhaps if you have just come in from work or maybe a discussion with somebody,

Maybe letting go of those last few moments of the day and now settling into this new phase,

This phase of non-doing,

Simply being.

Moving the attention now to the sensations of breath in the body.

So perhaps you notice the breath at the nose,

The nostrils,

Maybe in the back of the throat as you breathe in and out,

Maybe the rising and falling of the chest or the abdomen.

So wherever the sensations are most apparent for you,

Just resting your attention here for a moment on the in-breath and the out-breath.

Nowhere to get to,

Nothing else to do,

But just resting the attention on the breath.

Each in-breath and each out-breath.

And on the next in-breath,

Moving the attention down all the way to the bottom of your left foot,

To the toes of your left foot.

And maybe using the breath to guide your attention all the way down to this part of the body.

Breathing into the toes of the left foot and making note of whatever sensations you find here.

Perhaps sensations of warmth,

Coolness,

Touch,

Pressure,

Whatever you find,

Simply making note.

And on the out-breath,

Your next out-breath,

Letting go of awareness of the toes of your left foot and shifting the awareness now to the bottom of your left foot.

So the heel and the area that makes contact with the ground when you walk.

And again,

Simply noticing what's here for me now.

And maybe there's no sensations that you readily experience and that's fine too.

Instead,

Simply knowing that your attention is resting here.

Right now in this moment,

My attention is resting on this part of the body.

And that's enough.

And on the next out-breath,

Shifting the awareness now to the ankle of the left foot and the top of the left foot.

So that bony part of the body,

The metatarsals on the top of your left foot.

Breathing all the way down to this part of the body and breathing out from this part of the body.

Shifting the awareness now to the area between the ankle and the knee of your left leg.

So the shin bone and the calf.

A part of the body that we can often neglect,

Forget about,

Fail to pay attention to.

So right now with an attitude of curiosity,

Almost like that of a scientist,

Bringing your attention to this part of the body and simply noticing what's here for me now.

How is this?

Resting the attention here.

And on the next out-breath,

Letting go of attention of the shin bone and calf and shifting the attention to include the knee of the left leg.

The front of the knee,

The back of the knee and the sides of the knee and maybe even moving your attention right into the joint of the knee.

How is this?

Not looking to change what you find,

But simply allowing whatever you find in this area of the body to be there.

Breathing into the knee on the left leg and breathing out from the knee and letting go and shifting the awareness now to the calf or the thigh rather of your left leg.

So that large meaty area of the body.

If you're sitting in a chair,

The part that makes contact with the chair,

Or if you're lying down,

Maybe bringing your attention to the point of contact.

Resting the attention here and on the out-breath letting go and moving the attention now to the toes of the right leg,

Allowing the breath to move all the way down through the body,

Down into the toes of the right leg.

Breathing into the toes of the right leg and out from the toes on the right leg.

And again,

Making note of whatever you find here.

On the next out-breath letting go of awareness of the toes,

Shifting the awareness to the bottom of the foot on the right leg,

The heel,

The ankle and the top of the foot on the right leg.

And if your attention wanders,

Your mind wanders away to distractions,

Perhaps thoughts of the day,

Predictions about what's yet to come.

Maybe there's other parts of the body,

Sensations of discomfort pulling for your attention right now.

This is to be expected,

This is normal and something that we can work with.

So each time you notice that your attention is wandered to another aspect of your experience,

Simply acknowledging this and with kindness and with non-judgment,

Returning the attention back to this area of the body.

Right now that's the right foot.

Marshaling our attention back to the right foot.

And on the next out-breath shifting the attention to the shin bone and the calf muscle of your right leg.

Breathing into this part of the body,

Allowing the breath to move down through the body and into this area.

Breathing out from this area.

Letting go and moving the attention to the knee.

The area around the knee and internal to the knee itself.

So the joint,

A bony part of the body.

Shifting the awareness now to the thigh of your right leg and noticing whatever sensations are present here for you now.

And if there aren't any perceptible sensations here right now,

Just knowing that your attention is resting on this part of the body.

And that's okay.

Remembering that the intention for this practice is not to experience a certain state,

Not even to feel relaxed.

So we can let go of that aspiration,

That striving to achieve.

And instead the task is to just guide our attention to different parts of the body in turn.

As simple and as difficult as that.

Shifting the attention now to the pelvis,

The area around the genitals,

The hips and the buttocks.

So making note of whatever sensations are present in this part of the body.

Breathing into this part of the body,

Allowing the breath to move all the way down,

Down from the nostrils or the mouth through the chest,

The abdomen and moving into this part of the body,

The pelvis,

The buttocks,

The hips,

The area around the genitals.

And just resting your attention here for a moment.

And on the next out breath,

Letting go of the attention in this part of the body.

And shifting now to the lower back.

Those first few vertebra in the lower back.

Breathing down to this part of the body.

And breathing out from.

And on the next in breath,

Imagining that each vertebra of the spine is almost like that of a staircase.

So as you breathe in,

You're taking a very gentle,

Tender,

Careful,

Considered step up through each one of the vertebra.

So allowing your attention to rise from the lower back up along the spine to the middle of the back,

The upper back.

And while you're doing this,

Just making note of any sensations that are present here for you.

So the attention rises up from the lower back all the way to the upper back.

That part of the body that makes contact with the back of the chair or the ground or the bed if you're lying down.

This large part of the body.

That supports us in our daily life.

So breathing into the whole of the back.

All the way from the lower back to the middle of the back and the upper back.

Shifting the awareness to include the shoulders.

Making note of whatever is present here for you now.

Breathing into this part of the body and out from this part of the body.

And maybe just letting go of any tension that resides here if that's possible.

If not,

Just accepting this is how things are right now.

In this moment,

This is what's here.

On the next out breath,

Letting go of the entire back and shoulders and shifting the intention down to the lower abdomen.

Perhaps noticing that this part of the body is constantly moving with each in breath and with each out breath.

Perhaps noticing how the skin makes contact with your clothes as you breathe in and out.

How the belly rises and falls.

Or if there are no sensations that are present for you right now,

Just knowing that your attention is resting here.

Your attention is resting here on the lower abdomen.

On the next out breath,

Letting go of the lower abdomen and shifting the attention now to the solar plexus.

That area just beneath the diaphragm and perhaps including the diaphragm as well here in your attention.

Making note of whatever is present for you right now in this moment.

Breathing into and out from this part of the body.

And on the next out breath,

Letting go and shifting the awareness now to the chest.

So the whole of the chest all the way to the collarbone.

Making note of whatever sensations are present for you now.

How is this?

And on the next out breath,

Letting go and shifting the awareness to the hands and we'll do both hands together.

So shifting the attention to the tips of your fingers of both hands and noticing whatever sensations are present here for you.

Breathing all the way down to the tips of your fingers and breathing out from the tips of your fingers.

And now including the palms,

The back of your hands and wrists,

Forearms,

Elbows,

The upper arms,

Biceps and triceps.

Breathing into this part of the body.

Simply noting whatever is present for you now.

And on the next out breath,

Letting go of awareness of both arms and shifting the intention now to the neck.

The front of the neck and the back of the neck.

Breathing into the neck and resting the attention here.

On the next out breath,

Letting go and shifting the attention to your jaw.

This is a part of the body that often holds a lot of tension.

It can be quite tight.

So maybe breathing into this part of the body and if possible just letting go easing the jaw on the next out breath.

And if not just noting what is here for you now.

The cheeks of the face,

The area around the lips and the lips themselves and recognising that the lips are both an interior and exterior.

The nostrils and nose,

The area around the eyes and temples.

The brow and the forehead.

And if it feels right for you just softening the forehead and maybe allowing a little gentle smile to form across your face.

Breathing into the whole of the face and out from the face.

And on the out breath shifting the attention to the top of the head,

The scalp,

The back of the head.

And having scanned through the whole body,

Just checking in with the body as it is right now.

Holding the whole of the body in your awareness.

Allowing sensations to arise and drift away in your attention.

And inviting you on the next in breath to imagine that at the very top of your head there's a little hole,

Almost like a blowhole of a dolphin.

And as you breathe in you're drawing in the breath from the top of this blowhole all the way down through the body,

Down through the chest and belly,

Through the arms,

The thighs,

The lower legs and out through the feet.

And on the next in breath you're breathing in from the feet up through the legs into the belly,

Chest and out through the top of this blowhole.

So just being playful with this breathing for a couple of moments now.

So breathing into the whole of the body.

Almost like every cell in the body is basked in this beautiful breath.

And as we bring this meditation to a close,

Recognizing that you've taken the time out of your day to cultivate mindfulness,

To step out of the doing mode.

And to practice meditation which will support your wellbeing.

And what an important thing that is,

What a precious thing that is.

This ends the body scan meditation.

Reviews

Very good, thank you Darragh.
I’ve just revisited this body scan meditation. Back to basics is so grounding. 🙏