Body Scan For Non-Judgment & Refocusing

Hey it's Dr.

Justin Ross here bringing a body scan meditation for today's practice.

The body scan meditation is one of the most well-known mindfulness practices.

It's utilized in a lot of different approaches to mindfulness and it's really seen as a core practice for for learning meditation and for implementing meditation.

The benefits of this practice really help us be grounded in a lot of different ways.

It helps ground to our breath,

Helps ground to our bodies,

And what we do in this practice is we learn how to scan our physical sensations in a systematic way from one part to another all while observing the mind and the tendencies for thoughts,

For senses,

For experiences to carry us away.

Now this practice is not about being able to stay focused entirely on one part of the body for the entirety of the time.

There is going to be distraction.

There's going to be a natural tendency to be carried away,

To be swept away,

To get distracted,

And all of that's okay.

It's not a matter of if you get distracted.

It's a matter of when,

And it's a matter of learning how to bring yourself back to focus on whatever it is that you're focusing on in that moment,

Whatever part of the body we are on in that particular moment.

This is going to be a longer practice today.

This is going to be roughly 30 minutes in duration,

And so to get started,

Really start to think about finding a position that you can hold for 30 minutes.

A lot of people like to do this practice lying down,

Preferably not in a bed necessarily,

In a place where you can lie down and yet still be alert.

If you can do that in bed,

That's great.

The point of this exercise isn't necessarily to fall asleep.

The point is to fall awake,

If you will,

And so we want to get into a position where we can be alert and yet comfortable for 30 minutes.

And so start to find that position.

Get yourself oriented.

Start getting comfortable,

And bringing this mindful attitude of awareness and attention to the process of getting comfortable,

Noticing your body getting dialed into space,

Noticing it kind of settling and shifting,

Noticing your mind,

Your awareness,

Your attitude all doing the same.

If you feel comfortable,

Allow your eyes to close gently,

And we'll start with the breath.

Start by noticing the breath in its present form.

It's always with you.

It's always available.

Notice where you can immediately come into contact with breathing.

Maybe that's in your nose,

Your throat,

Maybe your lungs,

Your chest,

Your abdomen,

Your lower back.

Get a sense of where you can immediately detect your breath.

Be aware of the natural rise of your chest as the breath comes in,

The natural deflation as you exhale and breathe out.

Become aware of the physical sensations of breathing.

Perhaps cool air entering on the in-breath,

Warm air exiting on the out-breath.

Noticing the rhythm,

The pace,

The tempo of breathing.

If your breath feels even and rhythmic,

Short and choppy.

If your breath feels deep or shallow.

Take a breath or two with intention,

With awareness,

Slowing and deepening your breath on purpose.

Not forcing it,

But letting intuition guide you in terms of how that breath feels.

How you can be in command of using your breath for your own well-being.

Finding that sweet spot where it feels as though you're engaging it,

Not forcing it.

And on your next out-breath as you exhale,

Drive your focus,

Your awareness,

Your attention all the way down into the toes of your left foot.

You may need to move them or wiggle them just a little bit to feel them,

That's okay.

Send your attention there and begin to explore the physical sensations of what you may find present in the toes in your left foot.

You may need to approach this playfully with curiosity.

That's okay.

Notice what is there and available to you.

Perhaps it's a sense of warmth or contact with your socks or a blanket or your shoes or the floor.

Perhaps it's cool,

The air touching it.

Maybe there's a sense of tingling.

Maybe you can feel one toe touching another and maybe there's no discernible sensation at all.

Maybe it feels blank or empty or numb.

Approach it with openness and curiosity,

Just trying to explore the physical sensations of what's present.

We start our body scan here,

Very slowly moving and guiding that awareness into the left foot itself.

Imagining the scan,

Just slowly moving up and doing so,

Feeling all the component parts of your foot.

The ball of your foot,

The arch,

The instep,

All the way back into your heel.

Your foot has so many tiny bones,

Ligaments,

Tendons.

Noticing any physical sensations that come from the internal structure of your left foot.

Tension or intensity,

Discomfort.

Feeling the top of your foot,

Noticing any contact points,

Clothing,

Blankets that may be touching your foot.

Continuing to guide that awareness up ever so gently into the lower left leg.

Feeling your ankle into your calf muscles,

Your shin.

Making note of any contact between clothing or the floor.

Noticing any temperature differences that may exist with skin that is covered versus exposed.

Noticing any physical sensations that you may feel or experience here at all.

Slowly guiding that awareness up into your left knee.

Giving yourself permission to bend your knee if you choose.

Really feel that movement.

Really feel that impact between your lower and your upper left leg.

Knee can be a sensitive area.

It carries a lot of impact of force,

Provides a lot of movement and mobility.

It can be an area of pain.

Notice any tension,

Any tightness,

Any discomfort,

Any experiences at all that you feel in the left knee.

Guiding that awareness into the upper left leg now.

Major muscle groups here,

The hamstrings,

The quadriceps,

Biggest bone in your body,

The femur is here.

Again,

Bringing your awareness and your focus to any sensations that you can find or detect in your upper left leg.

Paying attention to contact points along the way.

Bringing awareness now into the hip itself on the left side,

Right into your sit bones.

Now feeling or imagining your left leg as a single unit from the tips of your toes into your sit bones,

Your hip.

Feeling your breath traveling,

Imagining it breathing into the left leg,

Into the toes,

Back up and out.

After having scanned the left leg as a single set of parts,

Feeling it as a unit.

Then on your next out-breath,

Just taking a moment to let this deep focus go.

Just let it go.

Let your mind travel to where it wants to travel.

Let it think,

Let it plan,

Let it critique,

Let it evaluate whatever it wants to do.

Just give it permission to go.

And as it does,

Paying attention to it,

Noticing it,

Observing it,

Watching it.

Do what it's designed to do.

And then learning the power to corral it,

To bring it back,

To guide it.

We rechannel our focus and now we send our awareness down into the toes of the right foot.

Taking the same gentle curiosity to the sensations you feel in the toes of your right foot.

Points of contact or touch between the toes.

Sense of temperature.

Sense of tension.

Guiding that awareness into the right foot.

Feeling all those component parts,

The right arch,

The right ball,

Instep,

Heel,

Into the ankle.

Into the lower right leg.

Feeling the calf,

The shins.

Into the right knee.

Again,

Giving yourself permission to bend at the knee,

To move the knee,

To really feel these sensations,

To observe them,

To notice them,

To become aware of them.

Guiding that awareness now into the upper right leg.

Paying attention to those points of contact.

The floor,

The chair that may be holding your leg,

Touching your leg.

All the way into the right hip,

Into the sit bones on the right side.

And now again,

Getting a sense of your right leg as a unit from your toes up to your hip.

Giving yourself permission to move any of those joints that you choose.

Wiggling your toes,

Moving your ankle,

Your knee,

Moving your pelvis,

Your hip.

Getting a sense of this fluidity of motion that you can have in your right leg.

Being aware of how that mindful movement feels.

And then again,

Giving yourself permission to just let your mind go free.

Let go of this deep intentional focus.

Let your mind wander.

Noticing where it goes,

What it wants to review or think about.

A hallmark of mindful awareness and attention is bringing yourself back when you're no longer focused on what you choose to be focused on.

It's not a matter of if you get distracted or carried away.

It's a matter of when.

And then it's a matter of what you do in that moment to bring yourself back.

Use your breath as an anchor.

Slow breath in through the nose,

Out through the mouth.

And we pick back up on scanning the body.

Now sending our awareness and our attention all the way out to the tips of your fingers.

Noticing what the tips of your fingers may be resting on or touching.

Feeling those points of contact with one another or your leg or the floor,

Whatever it may be.

Very slowly sending that awareness into the fingers themselves.

Feeling those knuckles.

Even allowing yourself a little movement in your fingers,

Bending at the knuckle joints.

To feel those sensations.

To feel that movement.

Guiding that awareness now into the hands themselves.

Like your feet,

Your hands have a lot of small bones,

Small component parts.

Bringing mindful awareness to any sensations you can find here.

Any internal sensations.

Any contact of jewelry you may feel on your fingers,

On your wrist.

Any tension or tightness.

Slowly guiding that awareness into the lower arms,

Your forearms.

Noticing any contact with clothing,

With jewelry that you may find here.

Noticing any differences between air on your skin,

Temperature differences with areas where your arms may be covered versus exposed.

Into your elbows.

Again,

Another important joint feeling those elbows move,

If you'd like.

Bending.

Feeling that mindful movement connecting your lower and your upper arms.

Guiding that awareness and that focus now into the upper arms.

Feeling your biceps and your triceps into your shoulders.

Again,

Giving yourself permission.

Move your shoulders if you choose.

Lots of ways we can rotate.

Move our shoulders.

Feel that movement.

And again,

Getting a sense now of your arms as a unit from your fingertips to your shoulders.

Scanning each individual piece but now being aware of the whole.

And then again,

Getting your mind permission to go and wander.

Letting go of this deep focus for a moment allows us permission to let the mind dance where it wants to.

Notice what it does.

Notice if it has a default place it wants to take you.

A default place it tries to bring your attention to.

A default way of thinking that may automatically come when you let it go.

And again,

Being aware of the ability to gather your attention.

To bring it back and to choose your focal point.

Now taking that awareness and sending it into the torso.

Starting in your lower abdomen,

Your lower back.

Continuing to scan upward.

Feeling lower abdomen,

Your belly button,

Your stomach,

Even your GI system internally if you can.

Wrapping around into your lower back.

Important muscles that maintain our core,

Maintain our stability along our spine.

Guiding that awareness into our rib cage,

Into our chest,

Middle part of our back.

Maybe really feeling the breath expanding and opening things in our chest,

In our lungs,

And in our back.

Really feeling each breath in our torso.

Noticing any tension,

Any tightness,

Any contact that you can pick up in your torso.

From your abdomen to your chest,

Your lower to your upper back.

Continuing to guide and scan that awareness now into your neck.

Into that place where you can feel your neck and your spine.

Connect with your skull and your head.

Giving yourself a little rotation there,

Moving your head slightly.

Noticing any tightness,

Any tension,

Any sensation in your neck itself.

Scanning your head and your face in much the same way that we've scanned the rest of the body.

Feeling your jawbone from your ears down to your chin.

Noticing any tension you may hold in your jaw.

Giving yourself permission to move your jaw ever so slightly to feel those sensations.

Feeling your mouth,

Your lips,

Your teeth,

Your tongue.

Scanning your nose and your cheeks.

Feeling your breath from the moment it touches your nostrils entering your body.

Feeling your eyes,

The area around your eyes,

Your eyebrows,

Your forehead.

Being mindfully aware of any tension that you can detect in any part of your face.

And even scanning now up into your hairline,

Into your head.

Sort of scanning from your forehead all the way back around as it then meets back,

Back of your head where it may be resting if you're lying on the ground.

Feeling that point of contact.

And having scanned the body in such a slow,

Deliberate,

Systematic way,

Part by part,

Piece by piece.

Now trying to get a sense of your body as a whole.

From the tips of your toes to the tips of your fingers,

Through your torso,

Into the top of your head.

Feeling with each breath your breath expanding into all corners of your body.

And for the next minute will sit in silence with no instructions from me.

Continuing to bring awareness and attention to the body as a whole.

If you get distracted,

It's okay.

Gently bring yourself back to your body,

Back to your breath,

Back to a sense of where you connect to feeling physical sensations.

And now we slowly start to regather ourselves.

Bring ourselves out of this meditation back to the room we're in.

And do this by giving your body a little movement.

Being aware of how this feels.

Your toes,

Your feet,

Your legs,

Your fingers,

Your arms.

Mindful awareness of movement of your joints.

Get the blood flow going a little bit.

Take a breath or two,

Again with genuine awareness and connection for what you need to bring yourself back.

When you're ready,

Slowly open your eyes from bottom to top.

If you're lying down,

Very gently,

Very carefully bring yourself back to a seated position before attempting to stand up.

And this is a great practice for all of us.

A body scan practice to be aware of our physical sensations of our bodies in space.

It's also a good reminder that our minds are going to wander,

Carry us away,

Take us to all kinds of places.

That's okay.

But we need to be aware of that.

We need to be able to pay attention and to have focal points,

Anchoring points,

To bring ourselves back to what we choose to focus on.

Whether that's a way of thinking,

Whether that's a breath sensation,

Or whether that's a physical sensation.

And our bodies are here to help us with that process.

Okay,

That is it for this body scan practice.

This is Dr.

Justin Ross signing off.