Find a comfortable seat.
Comfortable for your body,
Could be sitting in a chair,
Sitting against a wall,
Sitting on a cushion.
And wherever you are,
Begin to become aware of your breath.
This practice is a very simple practice called a body scan,
Becoming mindful,
Mentally aware of the physical body from part to part.
And to begin this practice,
To start to relax.
Practice wherever you're feeling tension in your body.
If there's a place that you carry tension,
Your low back,
Your jaw,
Your shoulders,
Relax into that body part.
You can take a few breaths,
You can stretch,
You can move.
And now begin to bring your awareness into your toes.
Notice whatever sensations exist in your toes.
If your toes are touching the earth,
The feeling of the contact against the surface of the floor.
And move your awareness up into the soles of your feet,
To your heels,
The tops of your feet.
And let your awareness be throughout your entire foot,
Both the left and right foot.
Become aware of your ankles,
Your calves,
Your knees.
And as you do this body scan,
If there's any tension or discomfort,
Relax into that,
Breathe into that.
You may notice that you can't really feel that part of your body.
You may notice that there's some intense sensation that you may or may not have been aware of before.
Let go of any of the thoughts around that,
The stories,
The judgments.
And let yourself just be present with this sensation,
Which now is the feet,
The ankles,
Calves and knees.
And move your awareness up through your thighs.
Become aware of the sensation of sitting.
Whenever parts of your thighs are touching another surface.
And continue to move your awareness up into the pelvic area,
Into your seat,
Into the buttocks,
The muscles of the pelvis and the hips.
And take a few deep breaths into the lower body.
Whatever story comes up,
Whatever judgment exists,
Let that go.
Just being present with these sensations in your physical body.
And notice anything that's shifted for you.
Anything that feels different from when you first sat down a few moments ago.
Bring your awareness into your belly.
We're not changing anything with this practice.
You may notice when your awareness goes to a certain part of the body,
That relaxation just happens.
But our goal here is not to change.
It's just to be with sensation.
And move your awareness up into your rib cage,
Your chest.
Maybe becoming aware of your heartbeat.
Of the air moving in and out of your lungs.
Of the torso rising and falling as you breathe in and out.
And bring your awareness now into the back body.
The sacrum,
The tailbone.
And up one vertebra at a time.
Notice as well the muscles of the back.
As you move your awareness slowly from the lower back to the middle back to the upper back.
Becoming aware of the shoulders.
The upper arms.
The elbows.
Forearms.
Become aware of the palms of the hands.
The fingers.
And now this overall awareness of the upper body.
Without judgment,
Without any attempts to change.
Sit in this awareness.
Notice what is happening in the body,
Either in specific parts that are calling your attention or overall.
And bring your attention up into the neck.
Front of the neck and the throat.
The sides of the neck.
And the very top of the spine at the back of the head.
Continue to scan up through the back of the head.
The temples,
The very top,
The crown of the head.
And down through all the muscles of the face.
Sitting in this awareness now of the neck and head and face.
Of the torso and upper body.
Of the legs and the lower body.
And notice whatever is.
If something is trying to get your attention because of pain,
Because of discomfort,
Let that happen.
But notice the difference between the body trying to get your attention to distract the mind and the body trying to get your attention because the body has a need.
Continue to be mindful of the body.
And maybe thoughts arise that have to do with your body.
Around any discomfort or pain that you feel.
Something that you'd like to do about that.
Either in this moment or at another time.
All of those thoughts are okay.
But we won't let them distract us.
We'll bring our attention back again and again to the physical body.
And in that way to the awareness of this moment.
And bring your attention now to the rise and fall of the torso as you breathe in and out.
And notice the difference between the body and the body.
And with the attention on the chest and moving into the heart.
We close our practice by offering gratitude to ourself.
And to something else in your life for whom you are grateful.
And still in this state of mindfulness we take one last moment to observe the effects.
Observe how you're feeling now.
Observe the sensations that exist now.
And as you gradually open the eyes we set an intention to keep this mindfulness and awareness with us as we move throughout the rest of our day.
Namaste.
