Full Body Scan

A journey of awareness into the whole body accompanied by breath awareness. Beginning with feet and with an invitation to notice any or no sensation in different body parts, with a quality of letting be and letting go there is no way you are meant to feel in this meditation. Part of the MBSR programme.

Transcript

The body scan.

Settling yourself in a posture that feels comfortable for you today.

So tuning in to what feels right for you,

Lying down or sitting and settling into the support of the ground beneath you.

Feeling yourself held,

If you're lying on the floor,

Resting with the arms alongside the body but not touching the body and experimenting with having the palms open to the ceiling or down on the ground.

Remembering that each time you practice,

It's an opportunity to experiment and discover what's here to be felt.

Supporting your lower back especially in whatever way is right for you,

Bending the knees and getting whatever blankets and cushions you need to be comfortable.

This is really a time for you to be with your body,

To experience what's here,

Knowing that there's no particular sensation that you're meant to be having.

Simply exploring different parts of the body,

Noticing sensations and the absence of sensations and meeting yourself with kindness.

So taking a full breath into the body now,

Tuning in to that sense of inhaling,

What's nourishing,

Perhaps even a sense of aliveness and wakefulness on the inhalation.

Breathing in,

Sense of expanding and breathing out,

Experiencing,

Letting go,

Soothing and releasing on the exhalation.

This is something that you can return to at any time in the meditation,

This nourishing inhalation,

This soothing exhalation.

Feeling the support of the ground,

Those parts of the body that are in contact with the earth.

And allow yourself to be held by the ground,

By the earth,

Particularly those areas where we tend to hold on,

In the hands,

The shoulders,

The buttocks,

The feet.

Feel how the earth and the ground can support you.

You can let go a little bit more,

Breath by breath,

Into the support of this earth.

And feeling how the breath comes into the body.

Perhaps there's some expansion,

Some stretching,

The rising of the chest,

The belly.

And then as you breathe out,

Perhaps more of a sense of contraction as the belly falls.

In whatever way you can feel this breath coming in and out of the body,

Just luxuriating in that for a moment,

Really enjoying,

If that's available to you,

This breath coming in and the breath going out,

Being released.

And keeping this breath energised,

Letting it support your sense of waking up to your experience,

A quality of aliveness.

Knowing that from the point of view of mindfulness,

Whatever limitations or discomforts there may be in the body,

As long as you're breathing,

There's more right with you than wrong with you.

So let's explore now what sensations and absence of sensations there is to be discovered in this body right now.

So on the next inhalation,

Breathing down into the left foot,

Taking the attention all the way down the body with the breath,

If that feels right for you,

All the way down into the left foot and out into the toes of the left foot.

And letting the sensations here be revealed to you.

What can you feel?

Is there any warmth or coolness?

Perhaps the contact with the sock that you're wearing or the air around the foot?

Any sensations of pressure,

Heaviness,

Numbness,

Moisture?

What does it feel like in between the toes and around the toes?

All the way from the big toe to the little toe.

And then the sole of the foot.

So you're moving the attention now.

It's like a torch beam or spotlight that you're going to shine on different parts of the body,

Narrowing and then widening the beam.

Taking this friendly curiosity to the bottom of the foot,

The sides of the foot,

The heel of the foot.

Just resting with your attention there and seeing what's revealed to you.

Sensations on the skin,

Sensations inside the foot,

Muscles and bones.

And then moving the attention round to the top of the foot.

And then all the way up to the ankle of the left foot.

Holding in the attention the whole of the left foot now,

So widening the beam of attention.

And if you want to play around with this idea of moving the breath with the attention then you could breathe down into the left foot.

And as you breathe out release the attention from the left foot and take it into the bottom of the left leg,

Into the shin and the calf,

The sides of the leg,

The inside of the shin and calf area.

And up into the left knee.

What does it feel like here?

Around the knee and inside the knee.

Tingling,

Pulsing,

No sensation,

Aching.

What does it feel like?

What do you know?

As you simply rest your attention here without looking for anything in particular.

We're not seeking to have a particular kind of experience or particular sensations.

Simply attending and befriending as best you can whatever you discover.

So exploring this possibility of suspending judgement,

Knowing that our natural tendency is to constantly evaluate as good or bad,

Pleasant or unpleasant.

And rather than trying not to do so,

Just noticing if that's happening and seeing if you can meet with this quality of beginner's mind.

What's actually happening here in this left knee?

As if you're discovering it for the first time.

And then moving the attention into the left thigh.

Perhaps there's a sense of heaviness,

Tightness,

Warmth,

Coolness inside the thigh and around the thigh,

All the way up to the groin and the hip.

And then taking a more intentional breath into the body and exploring the possibility of breathing into the whole of the left leg.

Full breath in all the way down to the foot.

Holding the breath there for a moment.

As if your attention and the breath filling up the leg with kindness,

Curiosity.

And then as you breathe out,

Letting the left leg sink a little deeper into the support of the earth.

A sense of appreciation for this part of the body that you've been exploring.

A sense of gratitude for all that this left leg,

Left foot does for you.

And then taking the attention over to the right side of the body and as you breathe in,

If you'd like to,

Taking the attention down the right leg,

Out into the right foot and into the toes of the right foot this time.

And what do you discover here?

Perhaps you're discovering that one of the features of the attention is that it wanders.

Maybe you've noticed that you go off into the past or the future,

Into the to-do list.

And each and every time that you notice that the mind wanders,

Remember that this is what the mind is meant to do.

It's part of having a mind.

Thinking.

Thinking happens.

And each time you notice,

This is a moment of mindfulness.

So congratulating yourself.

Congratulating yourself for waking up.

So this is what's happening.

The mind is wandering.

And then just beginning again with a sense of ease,

As much as is available to you.

Exploring the right foot,

The toes,

The sole of the foot,

The sides,

The heel,

The instep,

Contact,

Touch,

Tingling,

Aching,

No sensation,

Numbness,

Heat,

All the way up to the ankle of the right foot.

Breathing into the foot if you'd like to.

And then breathing out from the foot,

Taking the attention,

This torch beam of attention,

Into the bottom of the right leg,

The calf,

The shin,

The right knee,

Around the knee and inside the knee.

This incredible joint where we often hold tension,

Where there may be limitations,

Where there may have been injuries.

Can you meet this right knee as if for the first time,

As if you're a cartographer that's mapping this terrain,

This body scape,

And simply registering what's here to be felt,

Rather than looking for a particular kind of experience,

Perhaps pushing away what you don't like and holding on to sensations that you do and seeing if you can meet what's here to be felt with friendliness,

Curiosity.

And then moving from the right knee into the right thigh.

What does it feel like here now,

Today?

Inside the thigh and around the thigh,

All the way up to the groin and the right hip.

And then having a sense of the whole of the right leg,

Widening the torch beam of kindly attention,

Appreciating this right leg for all that it does for you,

The aliveness that's here.

And breathing into the whole of the right leg if that feels right for you to do so.

Knowing that in this meditation,

As in all the meditations,

It's absolutely your own unique journey.

And I'm just making suggestions.

You can also just investigate in your own way.

Noticing where the attention is pulled to.

And coming back,

If that's available to you,

When you're ready,

To this right leg,

The whole of the right leg.

And then as you breathe out,

Releasing,

Letting go and letting the right leg be really held and supported by the ground,

The earth beneath you.

And taking the attention now to the pelvic area,

To the buttocks.

So perhaps there's sensations of contact here,

Of heaviness,

Warmth,

Tightness.

And then there's the internal organs and the genital area.

Just exploring in your own time whatever's here to be felt,

Whatever's revealing itself to you.

Subtle sensations,

Strong sensations,

Pleasant sensations,

Unpleasant sensations.

Receiving whatever's here to be felt,

Discovered right now.

And then breathing into the pelvic area.

And as you breathe out,

Again experiencing the soothing quality of the exhalation.

Checking in with your quality of wakefulness.

And remembering that the invitation is to fall awake rather than to fall asleep.

But if you have been sleepy or have slept and you're suddenly waking up again,

Just meeting yourself with kindness,

It's okay.

What's here to be felt now?

What's here to be noticed?

As you take the attention up from the lower back,

Up the sides of the spine,

The backs of the shoulders,

All the way up to the top of the spine.

Feeling the vertebrae,

The backs of the ribs,

The parts of the spine that are in contact with the floor or chair,

Muscles,

Bones,

Skin.

And then having a sense of the whole of the back,

All the way to the edges,

To the tops of the shoulders and then down over the front of the body.

The belly,

Diaphragm,

Solar plexus,

The rib cage,

The chest area,

The breast area,

The lungs and heart.

Are there any sensations here to be felt?

What do you know?

What do you know in this body right now?

Sensations of movement,

Of stretching and contracting,

Rising and falling.

Maybe there's sensations of digesting.

And then including the collarbone and breathing into the whole of the upper body,

The whole of the torso.

Feel how you're nourished on the inhalation.

Sense of wakefulness,

Energy coming into the body,

Giving you what you need,

Giving all these organs that may or may not be revealing themselves to you now,

Held within the upper body.

Everything that they need,

Feeling all the life that's here.

And as you breathe out,

Releasing the attention from the torso and taking it down the arms,

Taking it down the right and left arm at the same time.

Down the arms,

Into the hands,

Out to the fingers.

And it doesn't matter where the attention has been right now,

Seeing if it's possible to simply rest the attention in these fingers,

Between the fingers.

What sensations are revealing themselves to you?

What do you discover?

This adventure of mapping the terrain of this body today,

Right now.

Not as you think it should be,

But how it is.

Opening to this as best you can.

Opening to these hands,

At the base of the fingers,

Around the thumb,

The little finger and the palms of the hands.

The tops of the hands,

The knuckles,

The skin,

Muscles inside the hands.

How hard these hands work for you,

How much they do every day.

And here they are resting.

What does it feel like to have resting hands?

And then taking the attention away from the hands into the wrists,

The lower arms,

All the way up to the elbows.

Feeling inside the elbows,

The wrists,

Ligaments,

Muscles.

Perhaps even having a sense of the blood pulsing through the veins.

Discovering,

Attending to your body.

All that's happening in this body which is invisible to us,

Which is so often out of our awareness.

And then taking the attention from the elbows into the upper arms,

The muscles,

The armpits,

The shoulder joints.

And acknowledging if there's tension here,

Which for many of us this is an area where we hold and tighten.

Breathing in to these shoulder joints,

If that makes sense to you.

Just playing with this idea of moving the breath around the body and particularly to these areas where there's tightness.

Breathing in,

Taking your kindly attention,

Saturating the shoulders,

The arms,

The hands with this kindly attention.

And then as you breathe out releasing the attention away from the hands,

The arms,

The shoulders and taking it to the neck.

Around the neck and inside the neck,

The throat.

Can you feel the air around the neck or any sensations of contact,

Of warmth,

Tightness?

What's it like?

And then from the neck into the back of the head.

Sensations around the scalp area,

Around the hairline.

Perhaps feeling hair or the absence of hair.

Is that something that you notice?

Is there any sensation here?

What's here to be felt?

Around the ears and inside the ears.

And then finally exploring the face.

Taking the attention to the forehead.

The eyebrows,

In between the eyebrows.

What kinds of sensations are here?

Are they subtle or strong?

Around the eyes,

The eyelids.

Having a sense of the whole of the eye sockets.

So it's as if you're exploring the face from the inside.

As if for the first time,

Discovering all these muscles that are usually so busy and active.

And they're just resting now.

But perhaps there's a sense of movement.

What's happening around the eyes,

The cheeks,

The nose,

Inside the nose and around the nose?

Perhaps there's the sensations of the breath coming in and out of the nostrils.

Or maybe not.

There's nothing that you're meant to be feeling.

That little space between the lips and the nostrils.

The mouth,

Inside the mouth.

The tongue and teeth.

The jaw.

Perhaps feeling how much the jaw holds,

Tenses.

And this incredibly strong muscle.

The chin.

And then having a sense of the whole of the face and the head.

So widening the torch beam of kindly attention.

Again.

Breathing into the head and the face.

Which might seem a little unusual.

So just playing around with this.

What does it feel like to take the breath up into the head and the face?

As if you could explore from the inside this inhalation.

Saturating the head and the face with awareness,

Kindness and appreciation for all that this part of the body does for you.

And the mind,

The brain,

All the thinking,

All the capacities to sense.

They're here in this part of the body.

And then we're going to just rest for the next few moments in a sense of this whole sensing body.

So taking the attention out into the whole of the body.

All the way from the feet up to the crown of the head.

And from the crown of the head down to the feet.

And you could experiment if you'd like to with breathing in as if you could breathe in through the crown of the head.

All the way down the body,

Down to the feet.

Letting the breath be released through the feet and then breathing in through the feet,

Up through the body and out through the crown of the head.

So it's as if a breath,

Like a wave,

Is just flowing through the body,

Up and down.

Soothing,

Refreshing,

Nourishing.

As you lie here,

Sensing,

Sensing touch,

Sensing temperature.

Perhaps sensing sounds,

Hearing.

Sensing smells,

Smelling.

And even though the eyes are closed,

Perhaps there's images,

Seeing.

Allowing thoughts to come and go.

Allowing emotions to come and go.

Resting in your experience.

Allowing yourself to be just as you are right now.

Allowing your experience to be just as it is.

A sense of letting be.

Letting be,

Letting go.

Breath by breath.

Resting.

Receiving.

Opening to what's here.

As best you can.

Moment by moment.

Shortly you'll hear the bell that marks the end of this meditation.

So just taking this opportunity to check in with how you are right now.

What's happening for you.

And seeing if it's possible to take this capacity to really be in contact with the body,

To be in tune with what's happening into the body,

In the body.

In touch with your own experience with this sense of friendliness and curiosity into the next moments of your day.

Thank you.

Reviews

Lovely meditation for deep relaxation. 🙏🏼

Niiiiiicccce

Zoe‘s soothing voice sincerely helps one tune into the subtle sensations of the body

Lovely voice, pace, and gentle guidance.

Loved this. Brilliant guidance, easy to follow, soothing and kind. Will be bookmarking this one! thank you 🙏🏻💕