Body Scan For Relaxation

The body scan is a practice that can support relaxation, stopping and resting and developing mindfulness. It is a core practice from the 8-week mindfulness based stress reduction program. This particular approach to the body scan is inspired by the original scan from Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Transcript

So this exercise is an invitation to slow down,

To exit the mode of doing and to allow yourself to invite yourself to enter this present moment and to connect with the body,

The body that is your constant companion,

For better or for worse.

So traditionally this exercise is done laying down,

But the position isn't so important.

What's important is that you're as comfortable as is possible for you.

Comfortable yet alert and as the body temperature will drop during the course of it,

It can be quite useful to cover up with a blanket or ensure that you're warm in some other way.

So as you settle in,

It's good to know that there's no wrong experience to have.

So in this exercise I'll talk and the voice is meant to guide and support and the invitation to you is to follow along,

Present in this moment and observing with the attention whatever it is that arises.

So some people notice that they feel very relaxed during the exercise and some people don't.

From whatever you experience,

You're invited to welcome it and become curious about it.

So allowing yourself to just be here with nowhere that you have to go,

Nothing that you must achieve,

No one else at this moment that you need to please and no right way to feel.

Along the way if you notice that you're starting to fall asleep,

It's not a problem.

It might be just what the body needs most.

Some people find it helpful to open their eyes or even hold a hand in the air to remain alert.

So settling in and inviting the body to let go,

Already becoming aware of any particular thoughts that might be present or emotions.

Anything if impatience or boredom or perhaps excitement is around.

And then allowing the attention to move to the points where the body is making contact with the surface that you're on.

Feeling how the body is carried by the surface.

Feeling how gravity pulls the body down towards the ground.

Even if you want giving yourself over,

Letting go,

Being held.

And you might become aware of how the breath is moving in and out of the body.

It might be shallow or deep.

Might be fast or slow.

But without even trying the breath just flows in and flows out.

And you might notice how the belly may move up and down with each breath.

And if you want you might even invite the breath to go just a little bit deeper,

A little bit slower,

A little bit fuller.

Even if at any time the attention wanders away,

The moment you notice it is a moment of mindfulness.

And you can just gently invite the attention back into the present moment.

Feeling curious about what's here now.

So allowing the body with each out-breath to let go a little bit more.

And then moving the attention like a spotlight from the breath on the belly down into the left leg and all the way to the left big toe.

And becoming more curious than you've ever been before about this big left toe.

What sensations are present?

Or perhaps not present?

Perhaps you feel something.

Perhaps you don't.

There might be tingling or pulsing or warmth or maybe cold.

Feeling whatever it is that you discover.

Perhaps even imagining as you breathe in how the breath moves into this body part.

And as you breathe out letting go.

Bringing the attention to the pinky toe.

The left pinky toe.

And then all the toes in between.

What is there here to notice?

Here in the toes of the left foot.

And the toes can be still and with the attention exploring,

Noticing,

Welcoming what you meet.

And then allowing the breath to flow in down into the toes and then back out letting go.

Bringing the attention to the sole of the left foot.

Noticing whatever there is here in the sole of the left foot.

Perhaps the feel of fabric touching the foot or something else.

It's your experience.

Breathing into the sole of the foot and then letting go.

Bringing the attention to the top of the foot.

And then to the left heel.

Maybe there's the feel of the ground beneath the left heel.

Pressure,

Pulsing.

Something completely different.

And then broadening the attention from just the heel to the whole left foot.

Seeing how the attention can be focused like a pinpoint or more expansive.

The whole left foot,

A mass of sensations,

Temperature,

Energy.

Moving the breath,

Moving into the left foot and then letting go of the left foot.

Moving the attention into the left ankle.

Noticing anything that's here to be discovered.

For choosing to move the attention to the lower left leg,

The calf,

The shin,

The muscles and the bone in between.

What do you notice here?

In this moment?

Different than any other moment?

Can you welcome whatever this moment brings?

Moving into the left lower leg.

And as you breathe out,

Inviting the left lower leg to soften and shifting the attention to the left knee.

Joints that often carry us.

That when they work well,

Are rarely noticed.

When they work less well,

Well there's often many emotions that arise.

Frustration,

Anger.

So what's your experience right now with the left knee?

Let me welcome.

And at any point if you notice that the attention drifts away into thoughts or reactions.

Noticing wherever it's gone.

Noting that this is normal.

This is how the human brain works.

And aware that this noticing is a moment of mindfulness.

And a chance to invite the attention back.

In this case to the left knee.

And all the sensations or lack of sensations that might be present.

Allowing the breath to flow into the left knee.

And then letting go.

Inviting the attention to the left upper leg.

The thigh.

The large muscles on the front and the back.

Breathing in here.

To the left upper leg.

And if it feels right,

Inviting it to soften.

To let go.

And then bringing the attention into the left hip.

So what's here to notice in the left hip?

Could it be possible to find curiosity for the experience now in the left hip?

As if you've never noticed or paid attention to the left hip before.

Allowing the breath to flow into the left hip.

And letting go.

Moving the attention to the groin.

Aware of whatever there is to feel here in the groin.

And moving the attention to the right hip.

Any difference between the right hip and the left.

Allowing the attention then to expand,

To include the whole pelvis,

The bowl of the pelvis.

Mass of sensations.

Relax thereof.

And breathing in to the bowl of the pelvis.

Breathing out,

Letting go.

And then traveling with the attention all the way down the right leg,

Into the right foot,

To the right big toe.

Aware of anything that arises as the attention shifts to the right big toe.

Reactions,

Thoughts,

Emotions.

There's no right experience.

This is after all an exercise in becoming aware of what's present in each moment.

Without greeting it.

Without needing to change it.

So what's there at the right big toe that you might notice?

And how about the pinky toe?

And all the toes in between.

And then breathing in all the way down to the toes of the right foot.

And as you breathe out,

Letting go.

Shifting the attention to the sole of the right foot.

And noticing what's here in the sole of the right foot.

Is there tingling?

Or pulsing?

Could perhaps warm or cold?

And breathing in to the sole of the right foot.

Letting go.

Keeping the spotlight of attention at the top of the right foot.

As if the top of the right foot were a dear friend.

And you were quite curious.

Wanting to know how it was doing.

And then allowing the breath to flow to the top of the right foot.

And as the breath moves out,

Letting go.

Shifting the attention into the heel of the right foot.

And then the ankle.

Allowing the attention to expand to include the whole right foot.

Open attention to the whole of the right foot.

Breathing in to the right foot.

And letting go.

Shifting the attention by choice to the lower right leg.

The calf.

The shin.

And the bone in the middle.

The whole lower right leg.

The object of your attention.

So what do you notice?

Sometimes you might notice many things.

And the next time you might notice something completely different.

So what do you notice today?

And then breathing in to the right lower leg.

Inviting it to let go as you breathe out.

And then guiding the attention into the right knee.

Something was here.

Inviting the breath to flow in.

Letting go.

Shifting the attention to the upper right leg.

Its muscles.

The top on the bottom.

Perhaps there is tension in this leg.

In these muscles.

At this moment.

Perhaps not.

Either way is okay.

And you can breathe in inviting the breath into the upper right leg.

And breathe out.

Letting go.

Shifting the attention into the right hip.

Back to the whole pelvis.

And then to the back,

The spine.

Inviting the attention to run through the whole length of the spine from top to bottom.

From bottom to top.

What can you notice here?

In the length of the spine.

And all the little muscles around the spine.

Broadening the attention to include the whole surface of the back.

Lower back.

Middle back.

The upper back.

And the right shoulder and the left.

This can be a sensitive area.

An area prone to tension.

Or soreness.

What do you notice here?

In the whole surface of the back.

And you might notice how the breath moves in and around the spine as you inhale.

Might notice how the lungs expand.

The sides of the rib cage moving out and back in.

Aware of the sensations of breathing.

And allowing the attention to roam to the front of the body.

The chest.

The right side of the chest and the left side of the chest.

The center of the chest.

Perhaps noticing its rise and fall with the breath.

You might also become aware of the heart beating inside the chest.

Pumping blood through the whole body.

Taking in oxygen from the lungs and circulating it into the bloodstream.

Before cleaning out the waste.

Bring it to exit with the exhale.

And you might breathe in to this whole chest area.

Filling it.

And inviting it to soften as the breath flows out.

Letting go and allowing the attention to move into the whole belly region and all in this region.

The intestines.

Kidneys.

Liver.

Gallbladder.

Breathing as you breathe in how the breath moves in between the organs.

And as you breathe out letting go.

Inviting a sense of softness into this space.

And allowing the attention to move upwards from the belly region up through the chest and into the shoulders.

Down both arms.

All the way down into the hands and into both thumbs.

The left and the right.

The right and the left.

The index fingers.

The middle fingers.

The ring fingers.

And the pinky fingers.

What do you notice?

What sensations are present?

What's the experience now in the fingers of both hands?

Allowing the attention then to encompass the whole of both hands.

Breathing in.

Letting go.

Injecting then the attention into both wrists.

Do you feel the pulsing of the arteries running through the wrists?

Or perhaps something else?

It's your experience and whatever the experience is,

It's just fine.

If you choose you might welcome it.

Including any thoughts or emotions or reactions that might arise.

So bringing the attention then to the lower arms,

Both lower arms,

Both elbows,

And both upper arms.

Inviting the breath to flow in.

Filling the arms and the hands.

And then letting go.

Using to place the attention into the throat and the neck.

You can hear in the muscles of the throat there can be tension.

Sensation.

Pulsing of arteries.

So imagining the breath,

Feeling this area of the neck and the throat.

And letting go.

Shifting the attention into the back of the head.

Maybe there's pressure on the back of the head where it's touching the ground.

And then allowing the attention to move towards the right ear and the left ear.

And both cheeks.

And the chin.

And the jaw.

Aware of the muscles in the jaw.

A place where often tension and emotion are held.

Anger.

Frustration.

If it feels right,

You might imagine the breath flowing into the muscles of the jaw.

And as the breath flows out,

Inviting them gently to let go.

Then inside the mouth,

The tongue,

The roof of the mouth,

The lower lip and the upper lip,

The tip of the nose,

The whole nose.

And then the right eye.

And the left eye.

Aware of sensations of any tension of the experience of this moment in the eyes.

And the right eyebrow.

And the left eyebrow.

And even the space in between the eyebrows.

What about the forehead?

What feelings are there at the forehead?

And imagining how the breath fills the whole face area as you breathe in.

And then letting go.

Feeling the muscles to soften,

To let go.

Shifting the attention then to the top of the head,

The crown of the head.

Noticing whatever there is here to be noticed.

And then remembering that the attention is like a spotlight that can be laser focused or quite expanded.

You might choose to expand the attention to include the whole body from head to toe,

Including both arms and hands.

Not thinking about it,

Just aware of all the sensations in the body as it's moved by the breath.

In this moment,

On this day,

Like never before.

And you might imagine how the breath as you breathe in that it moves from the crown of the head all the way down to the toes.

As you breathe out that it moves from the toes all the way back out through the crown of the head.

Breathing in through the crown of the head all the way down to the toes.

And out up from the toes all the way through out the crown of the head.

Breathing in a wave through the body.

And if that's difficult to imagine,

That's okay too.

You can just be aware of whatever is present in this moment.

Meeting it and greeting it.

Curious.

Welcoming.

As if for the first time.

Attention waking up.

Meeting this moment.

This body.

This time.

And resting now for just a moment in this awareness,

Allowing sensations to come and to go in silence until you hear the sound of my voice again.

Yea,

To witness the And now we're going to move to the end of this session.

So allowing the attention to feel the points where the body is in contact with the surface beneath you.

And perhaps as you breathe in,

Allowing the breath to move in and perhaps you might feel like moving the fingers and the toes.

Maybe even taking a stretch as if you're waking up and taking all the time that you need.

As you allow the attention to become aware of the space around you,

Even with your eyes closed,

Allowing the attention to become aware of the space that's around you,

Whatever room that you're in.

Feeling the surface beneath you and you might roll over onto your right side,

Taking your time and appreciating yourself.

Viewing the time that you've just spent as a gift to yourself,

Allowing yourself to stop,

To be,

To notice and be in touch with the body.

Welcoming this moment,

This body,

This experience.

So in whatever way feels good to you,

You might think yourself.

Knowing that you can bring this attention and this way of being into the rest of the day with you.

And of course you can return to this exercise at any point,

Whether to train the attention and develop awareness or to practice pausing and stopping,

Exploring the value of being instead of doing.

Reviews

Very relaxing. I appreciate the amount of talking as find that easier to stay in the present. Thanks

I enjoyed this. It is not too directive and the narrator has a soothing conversational tone.

Thanks so very, very much. Great relaxing practice.

Very nice. thank you for the few moments of silence at the end.