Taking Refuge in the Body

Explore the body as a gateway to Presence and Openness. The meditation is guided as though sitting, but can be done in any position.

Transcript

The theme of this meditation practice is Body as Benefactor,

Taking Refuge in the Body.

To help move the attention down from the thinking space into the body,

Let's take a few gentle,

Slow,

Deep breaths.

Inhaling,

Feeling the sensations of breath,

Fullness,

And then slowly exhaling and emptying.

Again,

Breathing in slowly,

Gently,

Deeply.

This time at the end of inhale,

Pausing a moment,

Really experiencing the sensations of fullness.

And then letting the breath slowly release,

Emptying all air from the lungs.

One more time.

And then let the breath be natural,

Relaxing in the jaw,

Softening in the belly,

Receiving the breath with ease.

We'll take a moment to reconnect to the attitude of mindfulness,

Being present in a way that we don't have to manipulate or interfere with what's happening.

Being curious,

Having a light,

Gentle,

Bare-boned attention without fixating,

Without being distracted.

No preference,

No prejudice.

Unbiased curiosity.

Let's bring the attention gently into the body.

Sensing the outer body.

Moving from head to toe,

Gently scanning the outer body.

Noticing places where there may be contact.

Pressure,

Space,

Movement,

Stillness.

Even though I'm using these words to guide you,

As the attention gently sweeps the outer body from head to toe,

It's in a way that's beyond language,

That's non-conceptual.

Balancing feeling with noticing,

Directly experiencing without drowning in the experience,

Yet without being indifferent.

So moving from the head,

Face,

Into the neck and shoulders.

Just noticing the outer body,

Experiencing what's present,

Just as it is.

And continuing down through the torso,

The front,

The sides,

The back.

Noticing space,

Contact,

Movement,

Pressure.

Feeling the arms and the hands from the outside.

How the hands are placed.

If there's a sense of cool or warmth.

What other sensations are here now?

Noticing the pelvis,

The sense of stability.

Any other sense of evenness or unevenness.

And then feeling the legs from the outside.

Other legs touching.

How are the feet placed?

Feel curiosity,

Unbiased,

Not needing to stop or control or change anything.

And now we'll experience the inner body.

Is there a sense of fullness?

Emptiness?

Heaviness?

Lightness?

Quivering?

Pulsing?

Is there inner pressure?

Constriction?

Opening?

How does the face feel in the inside?

The space between the ears?

The insides of the shoulders?

You might feel connected,

Disconnected,

Confused,

Clear.

Simply included is part of this experience,

Unbiased,

Welcome it as it is.

Experience the hands from the inside.

Any sense of vibration or tingling?

Feet?

Numbness?

Pulsing?

Letting the life live through this body,

Outer and inner,

Through these sensations,

Whatever they may be.

And now widening your attention so that you're including the entire body experience at once.

You're not focusing on any particular area,

Not scanning the body in any way,

But widening the field of attention so that you're feeling this body as a whole,

The totality of being in a body.

Some areas may have movement.

Other areas have pressure.

Some are still.

Some have space.

There may be warmth or coolness in different areas of the body.

What areas are most obvious?

And within that same space of awareness,

There are other sensations that are more subtle,

More neutral.

Simply being present to the totality of the body,

Realizing this body is a vast field of sensations.

Directly seeing,

Knowing,

The inner,

The outer,

The inner,

The totality of the body.

Seeing,

Knowing the impermanence.

The sensations arise,

They stay for a while,

They dissolve.

Some are throughout the body,

Some are pleasant,

Some are unpleasant,

Others are neutral.

Being present,

Yet stepping back and enjoying the show.

As the skillful means determine,

Is it best for you to have in the foreground a light sense of the breath or the weight of the body?

Is it helpful to periodically scan through the body,

Return back to the body scan?

Outer,

Inner.

How long can you rest in that more open attention?

Mindful of this entire body,

This breathing body,

This being embodied,

Not needing to stop or control or change anything.

Let be.

It may not be easy,

It may not be comfortable,

But that is included in the ease of letting be,

Not manipulating,

Not interfering.

The inner,

The outer,

The inner,

The totality of the body.

The preciousness of this body.

The life that's living through us in this body,

Through these various sensations,

Beyond good or bad,

Beyond pleasant or unpleasant.

Pure energy.

This body,

This precious vessel.

Without this body,

This breath,

These sensations,

We wouldn't be here now.

This body,

This precious vessel.

This body,

This precious vessel.

This body,

This precious vessel.

This body,

This precious vessel.

Reviews

Thank you, Janine! Missing you and our amazing sisters today, but I felt right at home in this meditation.

Very relaxing, namaste'

I really enjoy the way I'm guided to sense into my body from the outside as well as the inside; very interesting as I'm not often aware of EXACTLY how each area of my body actually feels.
The accent took me 2 listens to get comfortable with but I love this now & use it regularly.
Thankyou

very plain spoken with lots of space between dialogue. Effective and simple, Thanks

Excellent. I was just learning about body awareness in a book I was reading. This meditation providing perfect practice to help me learn this new skill.

Excellent thank you

This is coming home.

Once again, thank you muchly.

Sensing the body from the outside and then the inside has been an expanding of appreciation for my body. Thank you

Very well guided mindfulness of the body. Lovely

I enjoy being connected with my body in this meditation.

I had a hard time not correcting my posture in this meditation. Am I suppose to be completely still or is ot okay to move mindfully?

Gently expanded my body awareness.

Excellent - body wisdom paired with a loving voice and presence. Good pacing. Simple - like that there is no music in background - room to actually meditate. Thank you.

Enjoyed this body scan!

Very nice.....I loved the space between your words that allowed the suggestion to register. Wonderful. Thank you.

Very relaxing....a great way to become grounded. I especially liked the inner body scan. Thank you Janine!

Janine is a wonderful teacher. This meditation leads you to ease through body awareness at a pace that invites experiencing and exploration.

Perfect for being in the body, present and relaxation. Definitely book marking.