Hi,
This is J.
G.
Larochette over here at Mindful Life Project.
Welcome and thanks for joining.
Let's repeat after me.
Mindfulness is paying attention to the present moment without judgment.
So we have our seven mindful skills to help us get back into the present moment,
To build our mental muscle,
To strengthen our prefrontal cortex,
Our upstairs brain,
And let our downstairs brain or amygdala to relax and not be engaged when there's no need for it to be going.
Mindfulness is so important.
It's like physical exercise for physical health.
Mindfulness is to mental health.
Today we're going to be doing skill three in mindfulness,
Which is body awareness.
Go ahead and repeat after me our little tagline that helps us remember what body awareness is.
From the top of the crown to the feet on the ground,
I'm in my body and the world all around.
So yes,
Body awareness is tuning into how our body is feeling in the here and now,
From the top of our head all the way to our toes.
And the body can help us really understand how we're feeling,
What we're feeling before sometimes it hits that downstairs brain,
That amygdala,
That stress response.
So it's really helpful for both being in the present moment and also really helpful for keeping ourselves more calm before we get into stress.
So we're going to do our body scan,
Which will be focusing our attention on one body part at a time.
And if that feels boring,
Remembering that's okay,
But then gently tuning back into the body so we don't get too lost.
So go ahead and let's get into our mindful position.
Let's get into it the same way we always do.
You can say this out loud after I say it.
I've got my feet on the floor.
I've got my spine in a line.
I've got my hands in my lap and my heart to the sky.
Then gently allowing your eyes to close or a soft gaze below.
Just remembering we close our eyes so we can really focus on our inner world so we don't get too distracted by the outer world.
And let's get to our body scan.
Use the sound of the vibratone bell to get into the present moment with mindful listening as we always do to start.
Just start by noticing how was the quality of your attention with the sound of the bell?
Were you able to hear the whole sound?
Were you kind of lost in the middle of it?
And then remember to pay attention again.
And remember the past is gone.
The future isn't here yet.
So we can celebrate the present.
So wherever you were with your sound awareness,
Your mindful listening,
No judgment.
And now let's do our body scan.
So let's start by focusing on the top of the crown on the top of our head.
Feel the hair on your head.
Feeling tingling.
Gently move attention to your forehead.
And notice is there tightness and looseness,
Softness or hardened.
Keep moving your awareness down through your eyes,
Your temples,
Your nose.
Just notice any sensations and feelings.
Then moving down to the jaw.
We can hold stress off in a certain body parts and the jaw is definitely one of them.
So if the jaw is tightened,
Can we just use mindfulness to loosen?
No need to do anything,
It just happens.
Then bring attention to your neck,
Throat,
Down your shoulders.
And if at any time you start thinking thoughts of the future,
The past,
Try to notice that and you can always use a little mental note.
Thinking,
Thinking,
Thinking.
You can say it out loud if you need to,
Or you can just say in your mind and then come back to the next sound,
Or the next breath,
Or the body part we're at.
That's the beauty of mindful skills.
We can use every skill at different times to help us get back into the here and now.
So now just notice your whole back.
Is it straight?
Is it hunched over?
Is there discomfort or is there comfort?
Is there strength or weakness?
Then wrap attention to your chest,
Your stomach,
And see if you can just bring a little softness to your belly.
Maybe with the next breath.
Let's continue down our body as we scan to pay attention to this human body as it is,
Without needing to change it.
Notice your right leg,
Your top of your leg,
Your left leg,
And slowly move down to the bottom of your legs.
Any tingling,
Any temperature,
Any sensations of movement,
Any tightness or looseness,
We're just looking to see what's there with heartfulness and compassion.
Then gently in the next few seconds,
Bring your attention to the feet.
Notice your toes,
And you can wiggle them a little bit and just notice the sensations there.
And now what we're going to do is finish our body scan by checking into the whole body again.
Maybe you notice with the breathing,
The whole body moves.
Breathing in,
The body kind of expands and gets like a balloon that gets bigger.
We breathe out,
It shrinks up a little bit.
Just know your whole body is here.
And we'll close our body scan by using mindful listening to the sound of the bell and seeing how long we can hear the sound until it's all the way gone.
As always,
It's your practice.
You can come out of your body scan by stretching,
By wiggling,
By maybe giving yourself a squeeze,
Maybe bringing your hands together.
Whenever your eyes open,
Just check in.
Is the body more relaxed or not?
No judgment.
Is your mind a little more calm or not?
No judgment.
And of course,
How's your heart feel?
What are the emotions?
And we welcome them all.
Emotions come,
Emotions grow.
We treat them all like friends.
You did a wonderful job.
I look forward to the next mindful sit with you.
Keep on using your practice.
Check into your body as much as you can.
Be aware of what's happening in the here and now.
See you next time.
