Sensing Into Source ~ A Nondual Body Scan

“All you need is already within you, only you must approach yourself with reverence and love" ― Nisargadatta Maharaj

This body scan invites you deeply into your true being — from the continuous flux of sensations, vibrations, and movements of the (inner) body, to the still and silent space that is your fundamental nature.

image: Getty

Transcript

Welcome to this body scan.

Let's begin by placing ourself in a very pleasant laying down position.

If you are wearing glasses then take them off so that your face can relax more.

And pay specific attention to not having any pain in your lower back.

And one way to do that is to either place your feet under your knees so that your legs make a square.

Or you can also put a bolster or a pillow or a rolled blanket under your knees.

And whatever you do it's helpful to put your feet on the floor for a second with your knees pointing at the ceiling.

Then pressing your feet down to lift your butt up.

And then grab the flesh of your buttocks with your hands and extend it away from your lower back.

And then with that extension place your buttocks back down.

And then place your legs however you like while keeping the extension.

And this should feel pleasant for your lower back.

This should give an immediate increase of space.

So notice that you're feeling that.

And then two more suggestions for your posture.

One is to place your elbows onto the floor with your fingers pointing at the ceiling.

And then pressing down so that you lift your chest up.

And then with that lift you can actually place or pull your shoulder blades a bit more down towards your hips.

And then you can lower down your chest again.

And this should feel very expansive in your chest.

And with all these adjustments notice that you're not sacrificing some other part of your body.

So we want to have correct alignment.

We want to have a kind of therapeutic position but not at the expense of other body parts.

So be mindful of that.

And then lastly make sure that your head is not tilted back.

And for many of us what is helpful to do in any way is to have a blanket of some thickness under the head.

Touching the shoulder heads but not going under the shoulders.

So you want your chin to be slightly pointing towards your chest without again exaggerating it.

You don't want to place your chin on your chest.

But you want to elongate your neck just as you elongated your lower back earlier.

And then when you have made these adjustments it's also time to let go.

So we want to place the body with care and attention but then also to kind of forget about it in a way because we don't want to become fidgety.

So as we're going to go towards the body scan I really want to invite you to accept now the way your body is placed and don't change it anymore unless you have an injury or some very sharp pain.

Then by all means don't suffer unnecessarily but also accept some discomfort that is inevitable.

So let's,

If you resonate with it,

Let's have an intention to really remain perfectly still.

That really adds greatly to the effect of this practice.

And just as a kind of preparatory move let's take a few longer deeper inhalations and exhalations.

Don't force it but just simply extend the inhale and exhale and specifically on the exhale find any relaxation that is available.

So at your own pace do that maybe five times.

Full,

Long,

Deep,

Pleasant,

Enjoyable inhalations and long,

Full,

Deep,

Relaxing exhalations.

And every time you exhale just let your body go.

And especially if you can notice at the very end of the exhalation you can even do a very small pause before you inhale.

Nothing pranayama like but just allowing the breath to come by itself and have that micro moment of absolute stillness at the end of your exhalation.

And just allowing the gentle persistent pull of gravity to relax your body more and more as you exhale.

Letting everything become heavy,

Soft,

Pliable.

So just by itself the space between your body and the floor will become increasingly smaller.

And then let's begin with the body scan.

We're not going for details here.

We're going to really take whole body parts and have a very open approach.

So let's start with the head.

Taking the entire head including the back of the head,

The sides,

The face,

The top of the head and also the inside,

Whatever is happening inside your skull.

And then with curiosity just become open as to what kind of sensations,

Feelings,

Anything at all you can notice in that area of your body.

However big or small,

However uncomfortable or pleasant,

We're just objectively witnessing it.

Meanwhile the body stays very relaxed,

Very heavy and pleasant.

And also we're not looking exactly for feelings,

We're not using a kind of telescope,

We're just becoming this field of awareness in which we're just noticing any warmth,

Cold,

Contraction,

Trembling muscle,

Maybe a little itch,

Whatever it may be.

And then there's nothing to do with that,

We're just being with it,

We're just witnessing it.

Very good.

And now I want to stay with the head or in the head,

But let's shift what we focus on right now.

So we're not ignoring anything,

The feelings,

The sensations,

They can all be there,

But we're now going to feel the space itself that the head is in.

So just,

It's very simple,

Don't kind of analyze this as a complex task,

It's super,

Super simple,

Just feeling the,

Let's say,

The 3D expansiveness where your head is.

And again it's no problem if you're really feeling maybe some very interesting or kind of persistent feelings or sensations,

That's totally fine,

We're just looking at something else,

We're just more becoming aware of the space itself.

It's a little bit like when you're watching the movie on the screen,

We're not ignoring the movie happening on the screen,

But now we're actually becoming aware of the screen itself.

And in our case,

It's the spaciousness of the head.

So just allow that to come into,

Let's say,

Focus.

If you're noticing that the mind is very active,

That's completely fine,

The mind is not our enemy,

It's not even an obstacle.

Whatever is happening in the mind is also happening in that space,

Just like whatever is happening sensation-wise,

Feeling-wise,

That is also happening in that very space that we're now just simply moving our attention towards.

And it's a very pleasant,

Expansive kind of non-focus awareness that is this spaciousness that is always there as the incredibly dependent background of all our experience.

So just see if you can notice that.

Very good.

And then moving our attention to the neck and throat area.

And again including also the inside,

So the throat,

The back of the neck,

The sides of your neck and also the inner 3D space.

Just tuning in there,

Stopping by to see if there are any sensations,

Any stimuli that you can feel.

And we're not analyzing it,

We're not interpreting it,

We're really just letting our feelings feel themselves.

It's just the body being with itself and we are witnessing this,

So let's witness in that way without judgment the neck and throat area for a few moments.

And then again whether you are feeling a lot or maybe not a lot at all,

Whether it's pleasant or unpleasant,

That's all unimportant.

Let's switch again to feeling the space itself in the area of the throat neck.

It's a very interesting field of awareness.

And if you're kind of not having the hang of it yet,

Just stay patient.

We'll do this a few more times.

Most important again is that we're not creating the space,

Also we're not exactly looking for it,

We're just becoming aware of it.

It's very very simple,

It's the least complex thing there is.

So if you're noticing any effort that's totally fine,

But just remember that effort is not the way to space.

Okay and then we're going to go one level down again in the body scan.

So now let's enter the whole torso.

So the chest,

The belly,

The flanks,

But also the entire back of the torso and including again the entire 3D innards of your torso.

And then let's just check in with some curiosity and a kind of unentangled witnessing with whatever is going on in that area.

Again if you notice the mind is somehow active or you're kind of following thoughts or getting involved with thinking,

Just stop that,

Just drop that.

It's not a problem,

But we're not doing that right now.

And just tune gently your inner gaze to feelings,

Sensations,

And notice specifically if you are noticing a lot of thinking,

Notice the difference between the language of the mind and a completely language-free silence that is in the body's doings.

In all the body's little happenings there is no speech,

There is no language,

It's just energy,

It's activity.

So just feel with your feelings all that can be felt.

And again there's nothing really that we're doing,

The body is always already feeling itself,

So we're just tuning the radio station of our awareness to that frequency.

You may notice how enjoyable that this is to do.

The body really loves receiving this attention.

This is a direct form of self-empathy.

So allow yourself to really enjoy the non-language presence that is the energetic body.

Or if you don't like that word,

Just simply the movements,

The doings,

The bubblings,

The quiverings of the body.

Then again let's shift one gear deeper.

To be a body,

It's a prerequisite that we are space-first,

So this spacious canvas of our existence is a companion even deeper than the body.

So simply notice again the expansiveness,

The spaciousness,

The space of the entire torso.

Very simple,

Very non-convoluted,

Simple space.

And one way to feel that is for instance,

Where first when we were relaxing the body and becoming kind of heavy,

Now you might notice that this space that you are deeply is actually weightless,

Is actually completely transparent,

Is completely silent.

Yet it very much is.

Notice how the breathing of the body is taking place in that space.

And then let's venture out into our extremities,

The arms.

Let's take just both arms at the same time.

So you can include the shoulders,

The upper arms,

The elbows,

The lower arms and the entire hands with all the fingers.

The skin,

The muscles,

The bones and everything in between.

Perhaps here what is most obvious is the pulsating heartbeat.

But whatever is noticeable in your field of awareness,

Simply be with that,

Witness that and welcome it.

We're objective but we're also very welcoming.

We're objective in a very kind and compassionate way.

So just let all the feelings and sensations be there in your witnessing process.

For a few moments.

And then again we're not going to leave exactly the space of feelings and sensations,

But we're going to turn the dial of our awareness to noticing the space.

Silent,

Quiet,

Spacious space in the entire arms and hands.

If at any point it's difficult to notice the space,

It's really very fine to just stay with the feelings and sensations.

And if it's available,

Going to that even more general aspect of our being,

That more fundamental part of ourself.

The very space that the arms are in.

Very good.

And then let's pay a visit to the hip and groin area as a whole.

So again anything outside and inside the hip and groin area.

Just becoming aware of any sensations,

Emotions,

What we could call energy,

Or simply sensations,

Movements.

Not creating anything,

Not trying to make anything happen.

There is no right way or wrong way to perceive.

We're just opening.

We're just opening up.

Very good.

And then here to the groin hip area,

Let's become more aware of the space.

In this area,

Dilating the pupils of our inner eye to perceive what is most subtle and most simple,

Most readily available actually.

And then gently letting go of the hip and groin,

Placing our attention on the entire legs,

Upper legs,

The knees,

The lower legs,

The feet,

Including everything in between and within.

If you feel almost nothing or nothing,

Excellent.

If you feel a lot,

Excellent.

There's no right or wrong feeling.

There's just whatever there is.

And it can at the same time be so interesting to witness what we ignore most of us most of the time.

It's so interesting to feel all those little movements,

Those little involuntary quivering muscles and the quiet heartbeat or itchiness or maybe a little jolt of pain,

Whatever it may be.

Notice that it becomes instantly interesting when we give it our full attention.

And then let's again tune into that base frequency of space itself in the legs,

Utterly still,

Utterly silent,

Somehow very alive,

Very awake,

Space itself.

And this awareness of space has this kind of quality of listening.

We're kind of listening to that space with our awareness.

I'll see if you can get into that listening and to let that listening actually be the essence of what silence is.

Silence is a deep,

Deep listening to being itself.

And now let's listen to that silence.

Let's zoom out and include the entire body.

Let's first for a few moments become aware of the entire body's sensations and feelings and maybe emotional charge or anything that you can feel with your feelings.

Perhaps becoming aware of the breath,

Not in a very intensely focused way but in a very pleasant recognizing way.

Oh hey,

There's the breath,

Pleasantly pulsating in and out.

Perhaps taking a very gentle,

Longer inhalation and then with your exhalation extending into the space of the entire body.

So now let's tune into the spacious substructure of the body in its entirety.

And here the breath is still taking place but it's taking place against the backdrop of an entirely translucent body of space.

And then maybe you want to stay here for a while.

The official end of the meditation of the body scan is here.

If you want to come out,

Then first very gently,

Very slowly place your hands on your torso somewhere so that the body gets a bit awakened to the sensing self again.

And then without moving your body at all,

On an inhalation,

Very gently open your eyes without focusing on anything,

Just allowing the light back in.

And at your own time,

When you feel ready,

You can just take your knees a little bit up to your chest and roll to your right side.

And don't come up straight,

Just give your body some time to adjust to laying on your right side.

And then very slowly you can curl up,

Pushing your head into the floor to help you and let your head be the last to come up.

And take it a bit slow after this practice.

Thank you very much.

Have a beautiful rest of your day.

Namaste.