Body Scan

This is a 20-minute version of the Body Scan from Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

Transcript

Welcome to the Body Scan.

Listen to the following guided practice in a relaxed environment with your full,

Undivided attention,

Turning off any possible distractions such as alarms or cell phones.

You can lie down or sit upright.

If you find yourself falling asleep,

Try a more upright posture.

Before beginning the practice,

We can now welcome ourselves to this moment and also acknowledge the active choice of taking this time out of daily busyness for our own health and well-being.

Taking this time is a symbol that we care about ourselves and sends that message internally.

This is an act of self-care.

And now,

Very gently,

Shifting focus to breathing into the stomach,

The abdomen region.

Breathing in,

Acknowledging the breath coming in.

And breathing out,

Acknowledging the breath going out as it is happening.

Noticing the belly rising on an inhalation.

Falling on an exhalation.

You can even say to yourself,

Rising as the belly rises and falling as the belly falls.

Simply taking these moments to notice the breath moving in and out of the body from moment to moment.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Noticing the belly rise and fall.

There may be many distractions in the background.

If it's a sound,

We can bring our awareness to the sound and just say to ourselves,

Hearing,

Hearing.

Gently bringing our focus back to the breath.

And if it's a thought,

We can bring our awareness to the thought and say to ourselves,

Thinking,

Thinking.

Gently bringing the focus back to the breath.

Noticing the belly rise on an inhalation.

Fall on an exhalation.

In doing this,

We are literally taking life one breath at a time.

And now with drawing awareness from focusing on breathing,

We gently shift to the body skin.

In doing this practice,

We're focusing solely on physical sensations in the body.

These sensations can vary from heaviness to lightness,

Pressure to looseness,

Achiness to itchiness,

Warmth,

Coolness,

Wetness,

Dryness,

Tingling,

Pain,

Or no feeling at all.

And if there is no feeling at all,

Just noticing that.

If there is distinct pain in any place in the body,

Sharp and piercing,

Then just being able to pull the focus to that area of the body and letting the sensations resonate throughout the body wherever they need to go.

So now shifting the focus to noticing sensations in the feet,

The bottom of the feet,

The heels,

The toes,

The top of the feet,

And up into the ankle joints.

Just being aware of physical sensations in the feet and ankles as they come and go from moment to moment.

And now bringing awareness up from the feet and into the lower part of the legs,

To the calves,

Shins,

The skin wrapped around the legs,

And also into the knee joints.

Just being aware of feelings in the lower legs and letting be.

Now bringing awareness up from the lower part of the legs and up into the hamstrings,

Quadriceps,

And up into the place where the legs connect to the hips.

Just noticing and acknowledging whatever feelings arise in the upper legs.

As if we were aware of these sensations for the very first time,

Approaching them with a beginner's mind.

Now shifting the focus from the legs and bringing awareness into the center of the body,

The hip region,

Feeling into the hip region with awareness.

Noticing sensations in the buttocks,

The genitals,

The pubic mound,

And also within to two great systems of elimination in the bowels,

And also reproduction.

Also being aware of any emotions that arise while focusing on this region of the body.

As emotions arise,

Despair,

Anxiousness,

Arousal,

Just acknowledging them and letting them be.

And if at any point you notice the mind wandering off,

Thoughts or judgments,

Good or bad,

Right or wrong,

Pleasant or unpleasant,

When we become aware of this,

We can acknowledge these judgments or thoughts,

Let them be,

And gently bring the focus back to noticing sensations in the hip region.

Now bringing awareness up from the hips into the lower back,

All the way up the spine,

Vertebrae by vertebrae,

Into the upper back.

The back is also a place where we hold many emotions or sensations of holding.

So just being aware of whatever is there.

If emotions do arise,

Sadness,

Frustration,

Irritation,

Tension,

Just acknowledging them as they're there,

Not striving to change them or make them any different,

Just being aware and letting be.

Now moving from the back and over the shoulders and into the arms,

Noticing sensations in the upper arms,

The biceps.

Triceps.

And down into the elbows.

And also down into the forearms,

Noticing feelings in the forearms.

And into the wrists.

And down into the hands.

The fingers.

The nails.

Even into the fingertips.

Moving into the sensations of the arms with a beginner's mind,

As if we're noticing the feelings of the arms for the very first time.

Moving from the arms and hands into the belly.

Noticing the belly rising on an inhalation,

Falling on an exhalation.

And also paying attention to feelings as they come and go within the belly.

Crampiness,

Achiness,

Fullness,

Lightness.

Whatever is there.

Just observing,

Acknowledging what's there,

And letting be.

And now bringing awareness up from the belly and into the chest,

Noticing the skin of the chest,

The breasts,

The nipples.

Also below to the sternum,

The rib cage.

And within to two vital systems of ventilation in the lungs and circulation in the heart.

Being aware of the whole chest region with awareness.

If any emotions arise in the chest region,

Aggravation,

Sadness,

Anxiousness,

Enjoyment,

Arousal.

Not judging them as good or bad,

Simply acknowledging their presence and letting them be.

Moving up from the chest region and into the shoulders now.

Also another place where there is much tension,

Holding,

Maybe lightness.

Just acknowledging what's there without striving to change anything.

Noticing the physical sensations of the shoulder from moment to moment.

And bringing awareness up from the shoulders and into the neck,

And up from the neck and into the jaw.

The jaw,

One of the most exercised parts of the body.

Home of communication.

Also where we take in food.

Also feeling within the jaw to the gums,

The tongue.

Noticing the positioning of the tongue.

Wetness,

Dryness.

And then up from the jaw and into the cheeks.

Noticing sensations of the cheeks.

And up from the cheeks into the nose and nasal passageways.

Up from there to the center of the eyes,

Sometimes called our third eye.

Also a place where we may experience much holding at times.

Then to the muscles around the eyes and to the eyeballs themselves.

Moving up from the eyes and into the forehead.

And then around to the temples.

Just letting be.

Bringing awareness up from the forehead and temples to the scalp.

The top of the scalp.

The back of the scalp.

And over to the side of the scalp.

Bringing awareness to the ears.

Noticing sensations.

Heat.

Coolness.

Then within the ears to the skull.

And from the skull to the brain.

Feeling into the whole head,

The face,

The scalp,

The skull,

The brain with awareness and then just letting be.

Now withdrawing awareness from the head and the neck and the shoulders and the chest and the belly.

The arms and the back.

The hip region.

The legs and feet.

Gently bringing the focus back to breathing.

Noticing the belly rise on an inhalation and fall on an exhalation.

Also noticing how the whole body ever so slightly expands on an inhalation and contracts on an exhalation.

Noticing how the body is connected and whole.

In a moment you'll hear the sound of a bell signifying the end of this practice.

And until then just being with yourself in whatever way feels comfortable for you.

Thanking yourself for taking time out of your daily busyness.

For your own health and well-being.

This is an act of self-care.

Reviews

As I have done this many times it is new every time. Elisha’s voice is calm. I feel to be mindful to our emotions and feelings we need to follow what Elisha is saying using the breath as an anchor. If I can’t shut my eyes Iook down at a anchor spot. I’m looking forward to his new book Tiny Shifts coming in March. Namaste! 🙏🌻☮️

Excellent! Also, love the pace and appreciate no background music. 🙏

My favorite body scan session!

Very easy to follow and I like the way he held attention completely into the body without leading to distracting thoughts. I was looking for something like this for long time. Glad I found this.

Needed this on a rough day where sleep was super tough.

Very relaxing, brought me into my body and into the present.

Nice! I enjoyed having the shorter version of the MBSR Body Scan from the 45 min mediation. I’m trying to get in Touch with the sensations of my body as I have ignored my body for most of my life and the pain is now presenting itself. Thank you! 🙏🏽

Calming. Reflective.

Very relaxed and calming body scan. Thank you 🙏✨💫

This is one of of my favorite body scans. Well done, thank you!

One of the best mindful bodyscans ive done. Clear, smooth, reassuring. Plenty of guidance and detail without being overly chatty! Thank you very much 👍😁

I enjoyed how you placed some words like noticing the place where tge legs connect to the hips. It helped me have a slightly different awareness and that was very helpful. Thank you.

I like this body scan meditation. The focussing, attentive process is calming as well as instructive.

One of my regular meditations—my act of self-care.

Fabulously clear and easy to follow
Deeply restful practice
Thanks 🙏

Love this very simple yet comprehensive, not overproduced body scan. Deeply relaxing.

Very nice. A tad too quick around the eyes, skull etc. for me, but overall a good well paced body scan.

Love this body scan. Really peaceful and hits all the right spots. Great for some meditation or as a tool to help sleep !

A long one but so worth every minute. Wow. Really life changing.

Great body scan.