We'll start by settling in and getting comfortable.
If you're sitting,
Having your legs uncrossed,
Feet flat on the floor,
Your back straight but comfortable,
And your hands on top of your legs or together in your lap,
And just relaxing your shoulders.
And if you're lying down,
Having your legs out,
Or your knees bent if that's more comfortable,
And sometimes that also helps if you tend to fall asleep during a body scan,
And letting your arms fall by the sides of your body,
Your palms facing up,
And just making sure that you're warm and comfortable.
It's most important that you're comfortable,
And remember that you can change position at any time,
Just trying to do it mindfully.
And then closing your eyes if you want.
Sometimes when practicing a body scan,
It can be hard not to fall asleep,
So you may want to open your eyes from time to time if you start to feel a bit drowsy.
And always remembering to only follow my guidance if that feels right for you.
Always follow your own needs first.
And then let's begin by coming to a sense of your body as a whole,
Sitting or lying here,
And start by noticing where your body makes contact with the mat or the chair,
And on each out-breath,
Allowing yourself to sink a little bit deeper into the mat or the chair,
Giving yourself full permission to be here right now,
Trying to let go of the day behind you or the day ahead of you.
This is time for yourself,
For your well-being,
No one to please right now,
Nowhere to go,
Just being here,
Breathing.
And it's very normal for your attention to wander away from my guidance,
So don't worry when this happens,
Because nothing's gone wrong.
Just notice that you got distracted,
And perhaps label the thought maybe thinking or worrying or planning,
And then very gently but firmly lead your awareness back to the body scan.
And now we begin by noticing our breathing,
Perhaps taking a few deeper breaths to start with,
Perhaps placing a hand on your belly so you can notice the gentle rising there as you breathe in,
And the lowering as you breathe out,
Just noticing the sensations as you feel it,
There's no right or wrong way.
And now on an in-breath,
Bringing our awareness,
The spotlight of attention,
Down both legs into our feet,
And taking our attention to all 10 toes,
What sensations are here?
Just bringing a gentle curiosity to what you find here in your toes.
Are they cold or warm?
Is there any tingling?
Or perhaps you feel nothing,
And that's also okay.
Just being curious what sensations are in the toes.
Perhaps there's a sensation of contact with your socks,
Or you can feel air around them.
Perhaps you can even be aware of the spaces between your toes.
And then letting go of the toes and moving our awareness to the soles of our feet.
What do we find here?
And then taking our attention to the heels,
Perhaps noticing the context that your heel's making with your shoe,
Or perhaps with the floor or the mat.
What's here right now?
And then letting go of the heels,
And on the out-breath,
Letting go of the feet,
And shifting our attention to our lower legs.
Perhaps noticing any contact that is made with our clothes.
Just being aware of all the sensations from the surface of the skin,
Or from the inside of the lower legs.
And then taking a deeper breath,
And on the out-breath,
Releasing your attention from the lower legs,
And coming up to the thighs.
The large thigh bone,
The back of the thighs.
Can you feel the contact that they make with the mat or the chair?
What's here?
Just exploring any or no sensations in a kind,
Curious way.
And if your mind has wandered off,
Perhaps it's gone to boredom or irritation,
Or you've drifted into thought,
Just notice where it's gone.
Perhaps label the thought,
And then kindly but firmly bring your awareness back to exploring the sensations in your thighs.
And then letting go of the thighs,
Letting go of the legs,
And on an out-breath,
Extending your field of awareness to include your lower back and your belly.
Perhaps just noticing your belly rising as you breathe in,
And releasing as you breathe out.
And then breathing into the lower back,
An area where we can sometimes feel tension or pain.
Perhaps breathing into that area,
And noticing all the physical sensations there.
And maybe breathing into any discomfort you may feel.
You're not trying to make the pain go away,
But you're just exploring it with curiosity.
What is actually here?
With an attitude of acceptance and kind awareness.
And then moving up our spine,
Vertebrae by vertebrae,
To our upper back,
To our shoulders.
What's here?
This can also be an area where we can hold tension.
So maybe exploring any sensations here.
And then letting go of the shoulders,
And moving our attention all the way down both arms,
To the fingers of both hands,
To the fingertips.
What do we find here?
Is there any tingling?
Or any throbbing?
Do you feel any sensations in your fingers and your thumb?
Are you aware of your nails?
Is there a sensation there?
Or perhaps your fingerprints?
Are you aware of them?
And then noticing the palms of your hand.
Are they warm?
Or is there some moisture or coolness?
And then we're letting go of the hands,
And moving our attention to our lower arms.
Is there any sensation of clothing or air touching the skin?
What is here in this moment?
And then letting go of the arms.
And we're bringing all our awareness all the way up to our head,
To the crown.
Perhaps noticing sensations of air or temperature as it touches the crown of your head,
Your scalp.
Just exploring any sensations with your focused awareness.
And then bringing your awareness to your face,
To your forehead,
To your brow.
What do you find here?
Are you aware of any tension in your brow area,
That little area where we often carry a frown?
And then our nose.
Perhaps noticing the sensation of the breath coming in and leaving the nostrils.
The cool air as you breathe in,
And the warm air as you breathe out.
And now letting go of your face and your head.
You might want to imagine that you can breathe in from the very top of your head,
And then let your breath flow right down your body,
All the way down,
Out through your soles of your feet.
Just for a few breaths.
Just imagining how your breath is refreshing,
Renewing your body with each breath.
And now feeling into the after effects of this meditation.
Feeling yourself whole and complete,
Just as you are.
Not wanting things to be different,
Just you.
Just being enough in this moment.
