Body Scan Practice (28:52)

Guided body scan practice based on Jon Kabat Zinn's Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program directs attention to specific areas of the body with the intention to observe sensation with as little judgment or reactivity as possible.

Transcript

Lying on your back with your arms and hands at your sides and legs outstretched.

Or with the knees bent and the soles of the feet on the floor if that's more comfortable.

Or sitting in a chair in a relaxed posture.

Making a choice to allow yourself to be exactly as you are in this moment.

Beginning to gently notice the breath.

The breath is so constant that it's easy to ignore.

So taking time with it now.

Feeling the sensations as the breath enters the body and leaves the body of its own accord.

Allowing the breath to move through its cycle of in-breath and out-breath without controlling.

If it feels right for you,

Paying attention to the belly,

The lower abdomen.

Noticing that it may be rising and falling with the cycle of the breath.

If you care to,

Placing your hands on your belly.

And feeling the movement of the breath,

The rhythm,

The rising and falling.

Simply riding the waves of your breath from moment to moment.

As you listen to this body scan,

If at any time sensations in the body become too uncomfortable,

Or emotions arise that are too difficult,

Knowing that it is always possible to return to the breath as a safe place,

A haven,

A retreat for you to rest in,

Until you're ready to venture again into the body scan.

Wherever this recording is in its progress.

If you've placed your hands on your belly,

Taking them off now,

And moving your attention to the top of the head.

Noticing that sensations may arise when you bring attention to a particular part.

Maybe tingling,

Maybe pressure,

Maybe a feeling of the breath or the pulse affecting this area.

Or perhaps there's no sensation.

That's okay.

That's simply your experience of this moment.

And when you're ready,

Moving your attention to your forehead.

Observing any sensations.

Perhaps furrows of tension or tingling or a sense of relaxation.

Allowing yourself to feel whatever you feel.

Now moving your attention from the forehead to the eyes and eyelids.

Noticing how you're holding them.

How much or how little pressure does it take to keep them closed?

Experiencing the eyes from the inside,

From behind the eyelids.

Are the eyeballs moving or still?

Is there darkness,

Light,

Color?

How does the breath affect this area?

When it feels right,

Shifting your attention to the cheeks.

Sensing the bones,

The muscles,

The skin of the cheeks.

Noticing any sensations that arise.

Sensations of coolness or warmth.

Noting perhaps that some sensations stay for a while,

While others pass quickly.

Noticing that intensity may change one way or the other as you bring attention to them.

And attending now to the nose,

From the bridge to the edges of the nostrils.

Perhaps feeling the breath in the nostrils as it enters and leaves.

Noticing temperature,

Moisture,

Sensations on the upper lip perhaps.

And now moving the attention to the jaw.

Being aware of the tightness or softness.

Allowing the teeth to part slightly,

Noticing any changes in sensations in the muscles of the face and neck or any other sensations that small movement may create.

And now expanding your focus of attention to include the mouth and lips.

Inside the mouth,

The tongue against the teeth or against the roof of the mouth.

If you care to,

Breathing in through the nose and out through the lips.

Allowing the air to play on its way out.

Observing the sensations of dampness,

Dryness,

Warmth or coolness.

And expanding the attention to encompass the entire face.

Not a picture of your face and your mind,

But really feeling the sensations in the area that we call the face.

What's there for you?

Aware of any thoughts and emotions as well.

Understand if thoughts or emotions arise,

Allowing them to simply to come into awareness and pass like clouds in the sky.

Shifting the attention to your neck.

Noticing how it is right now in the big muscles in the back of the neck,

From the base of the skull to the shoulders,

The throat.

Aware perhaps of the play of air or touch of clothing.

Being present in this experience.

Looking now to the shoulders,

Noticing their condition in this moment,

Any tightness or softness.

Recognizing that this is the condition now.

Understanding it,

Knowing that it does not need to be some other way.

And knowing also that conditions change.

Understanding if there is a sense of the breath in the shoulders.

How much of the body does breathing affect?

Shifting the attention to travel now to the upper and mid back.

Sensing the muscles,

Tight or loose.

Aware perhaps of sensations of the weight of the body here.

Maybe pressure against the floor or chair back.

Feelings of the texture of clothing.

Seeing how the breath moves in this area.

And bringing attention to the lower back,

To the sense of contact or lack of contact with the floor or chair.

The sense of yielding to gravity or resisting.

Any tightness or softness.

Noticing the tendency to move away from or toward any sensations or thoughts,

Feelings,

Judgments that may arise.

Recognizing that this is simply how it is in the lower back at this moment.

And experiencing the whole back now from the shoulders to the base of the spine.

Aware of the subtle and not so subtle motions of the back as you breathe.

Dwelling in the sensations of the back.

Not watching from your head.

Just knowing what the back knows.

And shifting now to the arms,

To the upper arms and forearms.

Aware of the pull of gravity,

The weight of the arms.

Feeling the muscles and joints,

The touch and texture of clothing.

Expanding the attention to include the wrists and hands.

Things of warmth or coolness,

Tingling,

Moisture or dryness.

How does the breath affect the arms and hands?

Is it possible to feel the pulse here?

Just being with what's here now.

And moving as you're ready to the chest.

Aware of the lungs and heart in this space,

Maybe sensing inside as the lungs fill and perhaps noticing the heartbeat,

The rhythm of the heart and the breath together.

Being present to the sensations of life.

And feeling the skin surface,

The touch of clothing,

Any sense of movement.

Now extending attention into the abdomen,

The belly,

Feeling inside first.

This place where we have our gut feelings,

There really are nerves here that sense and know.

Feeling into the motion of the diaphragm,

The sense of the breath and the belly.

And it seems right moving attention to the pelvic region from hip to hip.

Aware of gravity,

The weight of the lower body,

The buttocks pressed into the floor or chair,

Sensation in the hip joints,

The groin,

The lower abdomen.

Tuning in to the sense of the breath,

Of the pulse here.

How far do they reach?

And noticing thoughts and feelings that may arise.

Aware of judgments and as it's possible for you,

Letting them go.

Shifting the focus now into the upper legs,

The thighs.

Aware of gravity's work,

The pressing against the floor or chair,

The feeling of clothing against the skin and moving inward.

The quality of the muscles,

Tight or loose.

Is it possible to feel the bone running through?

And extending the attention now to the lower legs,

The calves and shins.

Noticing points of contact or lack of contact with the floor or chair.

Aware of gravity,

Aware as well that the legs are alive.

How does the breath affect them?

The pulse,

Is there a sense of the blood flowing?

When you are ready,

Exploring onward to the feet.

Feeling where they are on the floor,

Perhaps a sense of temperature.

Gravity warmth or coolness.

A sense of the breath and heartbeat perhaps.

And now expanding the attention to include the entire body from the soles of the feet to the top of the head.

Being present to the totality of the experience of sitting or lying here in this moment.

Perhaps feeling the breath,

How it has been a constant companion,

How it brings the whole body together,

As does the pulse,

The heartbeat.

Feeling the sense of gravity,

The sense of being held gently,

Closely,

Without fail.

Dwelling in what the body feels,

In what it knows.

In the last moments of this body scan,

Perhaps self gratitude for taking the time and energy to nourish yourself this way.

For continuing to make choices to live a more healthy,

Satisfying life.

And knowing that you can carry this awareness of your body's deep wisdom beyond this practice session and into each moment of the day,

Wherever you may find yourself.