Welcome to the body scan meditation.
Allow your body to discover a comfortable way to sit.
Lead your posture to an upright position,
But not up tight.
A long spine for a clear channel of energy.
If it feels okay for you,
Close your eyes and place your attention on the sensations of the breathing body.
If you decide to keep the eyes open,
Allow your gaze to rest on one specific location.
Now invite yourself to connect to and sustain your attention on the full length of a smooth and slow inhale.
Allow yourself to experience the full length of a smooth and slow inhale.
The entire inhale.
Now see if you can connect to and sustain your attention on the full length of the exhale.
Allow yourself to experience the full length of the exhale.
The entire length of the exhale.
As you continue to become more aware of the breathing body,
Slowly bring your attention to the forehead.
Feel the energy here behind the eyes and at the temples.
Release any tension in the muscles of your face.
Bring awareness to the hollow space of the mouth.
See if you can release any tension at the neck or the throat.
As you send the breath down into the body,
Begin to pour your awareness down into the body.
Slowly begin to move awareness across the top of the shoulders,
Releasing any tension that you can be aware of.
Releasing any tension in the shoulders.
Let your awareness slowly move down into the biceps,
The elbows,
Down into the forearms,
And now to the wrists.
Bring awareness into the hands and begin to feel the sensation of the fingers.
All ten fingers.
If you begin to recognize that the mind wanders or you become lost in thought,
Plans,
Or even memories,
Just take a short pause and bring your attention back to the sensations of the breathing body.
As you continue to do this over and over again,
See if you can also bring an attitude of kindness and compassion towards yourself.
If you find this to be challenging,
You can offer yourself a simple phrase of,
May I be at ease.
May I be at ease.
May I be at ease.
Now bring your attention back to the center of the body.
Feel sensation of the breath at your belly.
Allow the belly to soften as you feel the rise and fall of your breathing.
Allow the breath to fill into the belly and to release from the belly.
Allow your awareness to drop into the body by connecting with the experience of gravity.
Feel the grounding sensation and the pressure of the body as it sits.
Now begin to connect your attention to the touch points of the sitting,
Breathing body.
Extend your awareness across the top of your thighs.
And now into the knees.
Down the front of the legs,
Feeling thin shin bone in the front of the lower legs.
The muscles of the calves in the back of the legs.
Slowly arriving down to the ankles and now to the feet.
Bringing a full awareness into the left foot.
Slowly moving over to the right foot.
Now to both feet,
Resting.
Now bringing your awareness to the top of the head,
To the face,
To the throat,
And to the neck,
To the shoulders,
The upper arms and the lower arms.
The hands,
The collarbone,
The center of the chest,
The abdomen,
The hips,
The upper leg,
The lower leg,
And the feet.
Open full awareness now to the global sensation of the entire body.
Recognizing that there is a body.
There is a body sitting.
There is a body breathing.
Allow your awareness to rest within the body.
As best you can establish present time,
Mindful awareness of the body.
Turning back to the breath and back to the body.
Any time you recognize the mind wandering or if you feel any indication of stress.
Recognizing present time,
Mindful awareness of the body.
Returning back to the breath.
Returning back to the body.
Any time you recognize the mind wandering.
Any time you recognize the feeling of stress.
Any time.
