Tune In To Your Body

The body scan is one of the most effective ways to begin a mindfulness meditation practice. The purpose is to tune in to your body—to reconnect to your physical self—and notice any sensations you're feeling without judgement. While many people find the body scan relaxing, relaxation is not the primary goal. We deepen our relationship with our body and ourselves by practicing awareness of our physiology and the connection with our psychology.

Transcript

Hello and welcome meditation family.

Thank you for joining us today.

Today we're going to focus on a body scan.

What we're to expect today is to connect on a more deeper level with our body,

Come to understand how it feels,

Some feelings,

Thoughts and emotions may come up.

This is very normal.

Okay,

Let's begin.

Firstly,

Let's get in a comfortable posture.

You can sit down for this meditation,

You can lie down as long as you're comfortable.

If you're going to sit down,

Try and sit your back straight,

Your head high and you may want to prop yourself up so your hips are above your knees.

It will allow you to be more comfortable.

Okay,

Let's get nice and comfortable and let's close our eyes.

Let's take a deep breath in and out.

In and out.

In and out.

We're beginning to fully relax and allowing our breath to return to its normal state.

Firstly,

Let's bring our attention to the breath coming through the nostrils.

Feel the coolness of the air as it comes in.

Feel if it's slightly warmer as it's released.

Pay attention to these subtle differences.

Notice the flow of the breath in and out of the body.

A lot of these processes,

Such as breathing or automatic,

Don't tend to take time to recognize them.

So let's take some time today to recognize such an important function that keeps us alive.

Notice how it feels in through the nostrils and out through the nostrils.

Cool and warmer.

Now let's follow the breath.

Are we breathing shallowly or are we breathing deeply?

Follow the breath down into the lungs.

See if we breathe into our stomach,

Down into our abdomen,

Releasing.

Feel if we can see,

Feel the breath on our body as it goes through our systems.

In through the nose,

Into the lungs,

Into the body.

And out through the nose.

In through the nose,

In through the lungs,

Into the stomach.

Oxygen flowing through your body,

Releasing the breath slowly.

Now let's bring our attention to our stomach.

How does our stomach feel?

Do we have any tight knots or tension?

Are we hungry?

Are we full?

Are there any cramps?

Or is our stomach at peace?

The stomach is a very important part of the body.

It's where a lot of our receptors lie for our emotional regulation.

Having a connection to this will allow us to connect to our overall emotional system and get a greater understanding of how we feel.

Let's breathe into the stomach.

Breathe in.

Release any tension.

Breathe in.

Release any tension.

Breathe in.

And release.

Let's bring our attention now to our right shoulder and focus our attention around the socket.

Go down through the right arm,

Into the bicep and the tricep.

Moving to the elbow,

The forearm,

The wrist,

The thumb,

The first finger,

The second finger,

The third finger,

The fourth finger.

Feel the top of your hand.

Feel your palm.

Bringing our attention now to the whole of the right arm.

Feeling the whole of the right arm.

Focusing now on the left shoulder,

Feeling the left shoulder socket.

Moving down into the left hand.

Bicep,

Tricep,

Elbow,

Forearm,

Wrist,

Thumb,

First finger,

Second finger,

Third finger,

Fourth finger,

The back of the hand,

The palm.

Bringing your attention to the whole of the left arm.

Feeling the whole of the left arm.

Bringing attention now to both arms and feeling both arms.

Let's bring our attention now to our left hip.

Going down the left hip,

The left top thigh,

Under the thigh,

The left knee,

The left calf,

The shin,

Ankle,

The ball of the foot,

The base of the foot,

The top of the foot,

The left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

All the toes together,

All five toes.

The whole foot together and the whole left leg.

Bringing our attention to the right hip and the top of the right thigh,

The lower right thigh,

The right knee,

The right shin,

The right calf,

The ankle,

The ball of the foot,

The base of the foot,

The top of the foot,

The left big toe,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth toe,

Fifth toe,

All five toes together.

Feeling the whole foot together and the whole right leg.

Feeling both legs together,

Including the hips.

Moving our attention now to the buttocks.

If we're sitting or laying,

Focusing on the pressure that we apply daily onto this region.

Noticing how it's connected to our lower back.

We move through into the lower back,

Into the spine,

Each vertebrae going up through the spine,

Feeling the muscles extend around the back,

Around the back of the rib cage,

Up into the shoulder blades,

Up into the shoulders,

Feeling the entire back all together and relaxing,

Letting go.

I'll keeping correct posture.

Feeling now the entire spine and the base of the spine up all the way into the neck and feeling the neck,

Feeling the back of the neck and as the neck goes around the muscles paying attention that the neck holds our head all day and releasing any tension and allowing the neck to relax and allowing the shoulders to relax with the neck.

Bringing our attention to the back of the head,

To the top of the head.

Feeling the entire top of the head,

To the forehead,

The temples,

The eyebrows,

The eye sockets and the eyes.

Keeping your eyes closed.

I want you to use your eyes and just look out into the darkness and see what you can see.

You may have some visualizations or some feelings.

Just remain calm and witness them.

Relax.

You may see light.

You may see an image of a ball.

You might recall a positive or negative memory.

Let that go now.

Bring our attention back into the body.

Feel the eyes again.

Bring your attention to the nose,

To where the breath enters the body through the nostrils.

Down into the mouth.

Feel your gums,

Your teeth.

Recognize how much work your teeth do on a daily basis eating and how strong and firm they are.

How soft your tongue is and what a powerful muscle this is.

How the tongue extends into the throat.

Bringing into attention to the jaw.

Relaxing the jaw.

Now to the ears.

To the top of the ears.

Down to the earlobes.

Bringing your attention to the whole of the head.

Feeling the whole of your head.

Bringing your attention now down through the head,

Through the throat,

Into the chest.

Feeling your organs,

Your heart,

Powerful muscle.

Moving your blood around your lungs pumping oxygen into your body.

Your heart moving the oxygen around into your organs.

Your organs working together.

Creating homeostasis,

Ensuring your survival.

Automatically taking care of you.

Knowing that your biology is there to protect you and maintain you.

Our bodies are a gift and they are a wonderful creation.

Bringing our attention back into the stomach.

Breathing if there's any more tension left.

Breathing in peace.

Breathing out love.

Breathing in peace.

Breathing out relaxation.

Breathing in peace.

Breathing out kindness.

Bringing our attention to the entire body.

Feeling the entire body breathing.

Visualizing everything working in its perfect nature.

Just be with that for a moment.

Well done.

Bringing our attention now.

Back to our body.

Back to the sounds around us.

Bringing our attention to the surface.

Keeping our eyes closed.

Coming fully back into reality.

Now I just want to recognize that we've taken the time today to connect with our body.

To have a deeper understanding of our connection to the physical world.

We spend all of our times in our body.

It's important to create a deep and meaningful connection with this.

It will deepen our life experience and deepen our relationship with ourselves.

You can now move your fingers and your toes.

You can slowly start moving your arms and your legs.

Relaxed.

Free.

Your joints may be stiff if you've been sitting for a little while now.

That's okay.

It's normal.

Maybe worth stretching after this practice.

Noticing what our body is telling us to do and to follow that.

It does most of the job for us.

Creating perfect balance.

It's good if we can help it along the way and listen to it.

We can now slowly open our eyes now and come back to where we're sitting.

Notice how things are now.

How things feel.

Okay meditation family.

Go throughout your day and practice mindfulness in your body.

I wish you the best.

Love to you all.

Reviews

I loved this body scan. Nice pace with gentle guidance. Thank you 🙏

The guide is very present and embodied feeling which helps greatly as a model