Body Scan To Come Home To Yourself

Deepening our awareness of body sensation reveals our motivation. Becoming aware of such motivation guides us to “right action”. If ever there was a need in our world for self-knowledge and right action, it is now. Contemplative practices such as a “Body Scan” restores patience and perseverance, much-needed qualities now.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Meg Ranaldi of Body Centered Inquiry and welcome to this Somatic Movement Session,

A Body Scan.

For this session you'll be on a padded or carpeted surface on the floor or you may be on a bed.

Provide good support for your low back with a roller or rolled up blankets.

Use a rolled up bath towel or yoga blanket for your head and neck support.

Take off your glasses,

Jewelry,

Belt,

Etc.

Have clothing that allows for ease and warmth.

Turn off the tech other than what you need to listen in.

And when you're ready,

Please come to lie on your back.

And take the time you need to be comfortable.

And notice how you go about making yourself comfortable.

It's an important learning in itself and it's an act of self kindness.

When you're ready,

Please come to lie on your back.

And begin to notice how you come to the ground today.

I refer to floor or bed or anything that we sit or lie upon as the ground.

Allow your eyes to softly close.

Have your arms long by your sides if that's comfortable for you.

And become aware of your state of mind.

Is it agitated,

Speedy,

Slow,

Open,

Curious?

And let yourself be lying there on the ground,

Breathing,

And supported by the ground beneath you.

Sweeping or scanning the body has been around for centuries.

It is an excellent counterpoint to our fragmented lives today.

Becoming aware of body sensation through the practice of body scanning reveals our motivations for acting.

And in the world as it is today,

It's important to be aware of our motivations for acting.

Learning to the ground of our being and then responding to the world as it is,

Is an essential practice.

Allow your awareness to settle more and gently begin to turn your attention inward.

Allow your awareness to come to your breathing while feeling the ground beneath you.

Breathing is an indicator of our state of mind.

The mind rides on the breath and the breath rides on the mind.

Allow your attention to gather at the out-breath.

There's a natural pause at the end of each out-breath if we're paying attention.

By being aware of that alone,

Our breathing slows,

Our mind slows,

And we drop a bit more into the ground beneath us.

There's a natural pause at the end of each out-breath and then there's a moment when our breath naturally arrives and begins again.

So breathing out,

Respect the pause.

And breathing in,

There's another pause at the top of our breath.

Take your time to find it.

You can pause the audio at any point.

This is your time.

Notice how with awareness,

Awareness of breath,

You begin to regulate your state of mind and your state of being.

This is a useful and deceptively simple resource available to you anytime.

Take more time to attune yourself more deeply to your breathing cycle.

Breathing in,

There's a little pause.

Breathing out,

There's another little pause.

And then the next breath arrives by itself.

And I want to clarify here that this is not about holding the breath at the top or forcing the breath out at the bottom.

It's more subtle than that.

And while keeping a part of your attention on your breathing,

Bring another part of your attention or expand your awareness to include the back of your head.

And notice your head's contact with the ground,

With your head support.

Just notice.

There's no need to change anything.

Allow your awareness to shift to the back of your neck.

How big or small a space is there between your neck and your support?

There's no right answer.

Every person listening to this audio will have a different experience.

There's just what you notice and your experience.

Allow your awareness to move to the back of your shoulders.

Does the back of one shoulder seem closer to the floor or to the ground than the other?

Which one feels closer to you right now?

Allow your awareness to move to the back of your shoulder blades,

Right and left.

What do you notice about the contact of your shoulder blades and the ground beneath you?

Beneath the shoulder blades are your upper ribs in the back.

Take a moment to see if you can invite breath up into those ribs that ride beneath your shoulder blades,

Allowing breath to arrive,

To pause,

To leave,

To pause,

And arrive again.

Take your time.

There's a lovely quote from Steven Levine that I often use in these body scans,

And it goes like this,

Quote,

Sweeping through the body,

Exploring what is.

We receive life as it has developed in the body.

Wherever there's awareness,

Sensitivity germinates and life gradually reinhabits that area,

End quote.

Notice how your mid-back makes contact with the floor,

And then gliding down to the back of the waist,

The soft tissue.

Take time to invite breath into the soft tissue between the lower ribs and the start of the bony pelvis,

On the left side and on the right side.

Notice how the quality of texture changes as you shift your awareness from soft tissue to bone,

As you encounter the pelvis.

Allow your awareness to move into your left and right buttocks.

Breathing,

Being aware of the ground that's always beneath you.

And follow your awareness down the back of your thighs,

Behind the knees,

The calves of the right and left leg,

And down to the back of your heels.

Make sure you have your legs uncrossed.

How does the right heel touch the ground,

And how does the left heel touch?

And become aware of your feet and the direction that your feet are pointing.

Is one foot pointed more toward the ceiling,

And the other pointed more to the left or right?

Just notice.

And breathing,

Being aware of that cycle of breath that comes in and pauses,

Goes out and pauses and begins again.

Now gently shift your awareness back up to the top of your head,

The crown of your head,

And then shifting gently to your forehead,

And then onto your nose.

Be aware of how your eyes rest in their sockets.

We look at the world often with the surface of our eyes.

Think about how deep into the sockets your eyeballs rest,

And imagine gazing at the world from the backs of your eyes.

Even with your eyes closed,

You're looking at something.

Notice how you do that,

And remembering all along to breathe.

Allow your awareness to land on your cheeks,

Right and left,

Your ears,

Your upper lip,

Your lower lip,

And your tongue.

Could you invite more softness into your jaw?

And in your throat,

What's there?

Could it be a little softer,

Or more open?

And if you invite softness into the back of your neck,

How might that affect your throat?

Or vice versa?

Allow your awareness to land on your collarbones,

And then allow your awareness to shift down your left arm to your left hand,

And all the fingers of your left hand,

Receiving sensation.

And then allow your awareness to move down your right arm to your hand and fingers of your right hand.

Do you arrange the arms and hands the same way,

Or differently?

Just notice,

And allow your arms and hands to rest comfortably.

And shift your awareness to your chest,

And move your attention through the right side of the chest,

And down the ribs of the right side.

And then shifting back up,

And allow your awareness to move down the left side,

Through your left chest,

And down the left side of your chest,

Into the ribs on the left side.

And as you breathe in,

And as you breathe out,

Is there some movement in those ribs?

And bring your awareness to your abdomen,

As it rises and falls with your breath,

All by itself.

Let your awareness gently move to your pubic bone,

And down through your pelvic floor.

Can you ever so softly imagine breathing into the pelvic floor?

And then allow your awareness to move through each leg,

To your ankles,

Feet,

And toes,

And linger there.

Breathing in,

Notice the pause.

Breathing out,

Notice the pause there.

Simply allow the breath its natural cycle of work and rest.

Even our hearts pause between cycles.

Rest is a good thing.

Rest is essential to our resilience.

Let yourself be,

Receiving the support of the ground,

Receiving sensation,

Receiving breath.

Each time you visit this practice,

You'll find yourself more able to respond,

Rather than react,

In daily life.

It is indeed an ancient practice for modern times.

Thank you.

That's the end of the session.

Take good care.

Reviews

Thank you Meg, I learned this Breathing from Jilian ( Biofield awareness institute) and you gave a wonderful version where a learned new sensations about my body, warm greetings Jochen

Audio is clear, love the pauses, instructions and inquiries. No bell at the end. Thank you for taking the time to make this.

Thank you for sharing your gifts with the world. May you be well.

This body scan has a lot of depth for how relatively short it is… lovely, I’ll return! Thank you 🤲🏼✨

A new favorite body scan guided exercise. Very week done!
Much appreciation.

Just what I needed to soothe my overactive mind. I have ME and am constantly tired but wired. Like the breath watching as I scan the body. Many thanks 🙏 💕