Body Scan MBSR

A traditional bodyscan developed for mindfulness-based stress reduction courses (MBSR). This body scan is a 40-minutes long. This approach to the body scan is consistent with guidance in the MBSR tradition.

Transcript

Welcome to the 40-minute body scan.

Inviting you to find a comfortable position that could be either sitting in a chair,

That could be lying on the ground,

And some people even like to stand up for this.

It's completely up to you.

If you're lying on the ground and if it's cool,

It may be supportive for you to have a blanket.

If it's warm in your room,

You may want to open the window,

But it's important just to focus on getting comfortable,

Finding a comfortable position,

A posture of wakefulness.

So a posture where you're going to stay alert.

So if you're lying on the ground,

Being sure to situate yourself in such a way that fosters this posture of wakefulness.

And remembering in terms of an intention for this body scan that you're in charge,

That this is your practice.

So while I may be giving you instructions for how to scan the body,

Just remembering that whatever is supportive to you is what you should be engaging in throughout the course of this practice.

And doing so with a remembrance of the zones of experience that we talked about in week one.

This idea that there's a safe zone,

And that's a zone where sometimes we can drift off into mind-wandering where we aren't very wakeful.

And then there is the challenge zone where we're really pushing ourselves into the edges of our experience.

And then there's the overwhelming zone where our nervous systems are beginning to express themselves in ways that may be uncomfortable.

And so if we're finding ourselves in an overwhelming place that there are options that we have for helping to support ourselves.

One option is to leave whatever I am instructing you through with respect to the body scan and going instead to an anchor that is accessible to you.

An anchor of attention that is neutral.

That could be the weight of your body on the floor.

That could be your seat or your feet.

That could be your hands.

It could be a sound.

It could be any of those anchors that we have already been working with so far in class.

Sometimes it's just a gentle shift in posture that can help you if you're feeling at all overwhelmed,

Shifting your posture in some way.

If you're sitting,

You can stand.

If you're lying down,

You can go to sitting.

Sometimes just kind of moving yourself a little bit can be very supportive.

And then remembering too,

That there's always the option to exit the practice.

That this isn't something that you have to see to finish to its completion.

That that's always an opportunity.

That's always an option to you as well.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

That's important to remember as well.

Another important component to remember is that the body is not static.

That you're coming into this experience with a very dynamic body.

And so for some of you,

It may be hard to feel in some of these areas that we'll be scanning.

And for others,

It may be that you feel a lot of vibrant experience in some areas.

And this is the result of ideas and opinions about our bodies and how our bodies should be and how they should look.

And that we have strong feelings and emotions associated with our body that comes from these ideas and these opinions.

And also experiences that we've had in our life.

And so remembering always to take care.

That mindfulness is about not only bringing awareness to anchors,

Such as what we'll be doing in this practice,

But a certain kind of awareness.

It's a kind awareness.

It's a kind attention.

A kind attention to our bodies as we scan through them.

And being kind with whatever emerges,

With all of it.

And so inviting you now to bring awareness to the whole body.

And you can do this with either eyes closed.

You can do this with eyes open.

But to bring awareness to the entire body as it either sits in the chair that you're sitting in or as you're lying on the ground or standing.

And just sensing into what is here for you now.

Sensing into the length of the body.

The dimension of the body.

Balance.

Contact.

And bringing an awareness to first,

The outer portion of the body.

The clothing that you're wearing and the way in which the skin is meeting the clothing.

The way in which the floor is felt in terms of contact against the body.

Just sensing into what's outside.

What's outside?

What's on the outside of the body?

What feels alive?

And what maybe is difficult to access?

Maybe there's nothing.

Maybe there's a lot of feeling.

Whatever it is,

Is bringing attention to that now.

Then bringing an attention to,

Or your awareness to what is on the inside of the body.

What's felt on the interior.

It could be temperature.

Heat.

Coolness.

Subtle sensations.

There could be strong sensations.

There may be no sensations,

A neutral sensation.

Just meeting whatever is here now without judgment.

Without a desire for there to be something different or an aversion to what is there.

Just meeting whatever is with acceptance,

With awareness,

With a kind awareness.

And beginning to breathe.

Pay attention to the breath.

Beginning to notice the way in which the body is breathing.

Through the belly.

The rising and the falling of the breath in the belly.

The expansion of the belly.

Contracting.

Expanding.

And then noticing the breath in the nose as it moves through the nose and down the throat.

Perhaps sensing the breath or feeling the breath across the upper lips as it moves through the nose.

And then perhaps it is difficult for you to notice the breath.

And if that's the case,

Just knowing it's there.

Just knowing that the body is breathing.

And then perhaps moving to a different anchor.

An anchor that is more accessible or more neutral for you.

As I mentioned earlier,

This could be the weight.

This could be the feet or the hands or sound.

And with this expansive awareness of the whole body,

We begin now to narrow our awareness.

Moving down the body and anchoring our awareness in the left foot,

In the heel of the left foot.

Sensing into the contact there.

And then to the hardness,

To the softness of the left heel.

Any subtle sensations,

Strong sensations,

Or again,

Maybe neutral sensations,

Whatever is there.

Perhaps you're noticing the cloth of the sock around your foot and its contact with the heel.

Moisture.

And beginning to gently guide your awareness from the heel of your left foot and upwards across the arch of your foot and the instep into the pad of your left foot.

And into the toes of your left foot.

And taking in all at once all of the toes of your left foot.

Just sensing into what is there,

That contact.

And perhaps contact between the toes or with the toes and the ground or the toes and the clothing.

And then narrowing your awareness to the big toe,

To the knuckle of the big toe,

To the ridges and the contours.

To the nail.

And then guiding to the toe to the left of the big toe.

To the knuckle,

To the nails.

And then to the left of that toe.

To the nail.

Again,

To the knuckle,

The ridges and the contours.

And then to the toe to the left.

And to the pinky toe.

And guiding from the toes to the top part of your foot.

To the bones there.

To the skin,

The musculature.

Subtle sensations,

Tingling sensations.

Moving upwards from there into the ankle.

To this bone that connects the foot with the leg.

To the ridges and the contours of the ankle.

And into the shin,

To the calf.

To the tendon and the muscles in this area and this region of the leg.

This region of the leg that does so much work throughout the course of the day.

Remembering that the mind is going to get pulled away as we work through these regions.

And sometimes the mind will drift,

Will get pulled into stories about regions of the body that we're scanning.

Or sometimes it'll get pulled into a story about what is coming next or what has already happened.

And just noting that this is the tendency of the mind.

This is what the mind does.

It wanders,

It thinks.

And coming back gently.

After noting this mind wandering,

Gently guiding oneself back to this region of the body,

The leg,

The calf.

And then upwards into the knee.

Into the outer part of the knee.

And behind the kneecap.

And up along the ridges and the contours,

The terrain of the knee.

Sensing into the hardness,

The softness,

The sense of spaciousness in the knee,

The hollowness,

The density.

And moving up from the knee into the thigh.

Sensing into what is here for you in the thigh.

The subtle,

The sensations,

The strong sensations.

The bone,

The skin.

And the back of the thigh.

Moving towards the upper thigh.

And upwards into the hip.

Into the hip bone.

Into that felt sense of contact between the hip and the clothing that you're wearing.

The hip and the ground beneath.

And then expanding your awareness outwards and taking in the entire left leg that you've just scanned.

All at once,

The whole leg.

From the heel of the foot to this edge of the hip.

And bringing awareness back to the hip and moving along the pelvic region into the right leg.

And moving down across the thigh of the right leg,

Across the knee and the calf and the shin,

The ankle,

All the way into the foot.

Again,

With the right heel.

And sensing into what is there for you in the contact of the right heel with the ground,

With your clothing.

The hardness,

The softness,

The subtle,

The strong,

The neutral.

Remembering not to fabricate sensation,

Not to make something up,

Not to expect there to be sensation,

But just being with what is here.

Being fully with what is present.

Moving up along the right foot to the arch of the foot and the instep and the pads of the right foot into the subtle sensations there of moisture,

Temperature,

And into the toes of the right foot,

Into all the toes at once.

Sensing into the contact,

The way in which they touch one another.

And then narrowing awareness to the big right toe,

To the knuckle of the toe.

The nail of the toe.

Then moving to the toe to the right.

And then to the toe to the right.

And to the toe to the right of that.

And then to the pinky toe.

And upwards from those right toes into the upper portion of the right foot,

Into the skin there,

Into the bones there.

Scanning upwards into the ankle.

Again,

This structure that connects the foot with the leg,

To the bone,

To the contours of this bone,

To the bone,

The ridges,

The valleys,

The peaks,

The density there,

The hardness,

The softness,

The hollowness,

And upwards into the shin,

The calf,

The tendons there,

The muscle there.

The fascia,

The work that this portion of the body does throughout the course of the day.

Noting what is there.

Noting the tendency to drift away into thought.

Anchoring awareness in the calf,

In the sensations here.

Then moving upwards into the knee and the kneecap.

Moving around the top of the knee,

Behind the leg.

Sensing into the subtle,

The strong,

The neutral.

Presently minded,

Presently aware.

Presently focused.

Moving upwards into the thigh.

Up along the lower portion of the thigh.

Moving up and around.

The bone,

The muscle,

Moving upwards into the upper portion of the thigh.

Noting the tendency to drift away.

And then simply nodding at whatever it is that has promoted this drifting away.

Whether it's a sensation,

An emotion,

A thought.

Understanding that this is the tendency of the mind.

Noticing the tendency too to judge oneself,

To judge it as good or bad.

And then just gently guiding awareness back to the thigh.

And upwards into the hip,

To the hip bone,

To the entire structure of the hip.

To its contact with the ground,

With the floor,

With clothing.

And then all at once,

Expanding awareness out and taking in the entire right leg that has just been thoroughly scanned.

And sensing into what is there for you now in this leg.

What is sensed,

What is here.

And narrowing awareness back to the right hip and moving along the pelvic bone around the back and down into the buttocks.

Across the buttocks and up into the lower back.

Where so much of our upper body is supported.

Sensing into the contact of the lower back with perhaps the ground if you're lying down or the chair that you're sitting in.

Moving upwards from the lower back into the middle region of the back.

To the muscle there,

To the tendons.

Remembering that at any point in time,

You always have an accessible and neutral anchor to refer to should anything ever become overwhelming.

That you have these options for taking care of yourself.

That this is your practice.

Moving upwards from this middle region of the back and up along the spine.

Moving up along the spine,

Awareness up the spine and into the upper region of the back where the shoulder blades exist.

With the shoulders.

The subtle tingling sensations.

The sense of spaciousness,

Of balance.

And up along the upper back and into the upper region of the chest where the clavicles exist.

Scanning along this upper region of the chest,

Just below the neck and into downwards into the heart region.

And along our chest.

And then downwards from this region,

This central region of the chest into our bellies,

To our stomachs.

Responsible for so much of our daily activities,

Of processing food,

Of processing feeling.

Noting strong emotions that may emerge or strong sensations and thoughts and noting them.

And then coming back to whatever's felt in this region here and now.

Hallowness,

Spaciousness,

Temperature,

Heat,

Coolness.

And from this region,

Expanding awareness outwards again and taking in the entire core of the areas that we just scanned from the lower back and the buttocks up along the back,

Along the chest and into the belly.

Taking in this region of the body all at once.

Sensing into what is there with acceptance,

With the possibility for acceptance.

The possibility to meet whatever is here now with a kindness,

With a gratitude.

With an acceptance.

Spanning awareness out once again and moving up along the belly,

Back up into the heart region,

Into the upper portion of the chest and moving into the left shoulder.

And down along the left shoulder and the bicep through the elbow and into the left palm.

From the palm of the left hand to the moisture,

To the temperature,

Perhaps the contact of the palm against the ground or the skin or clothing.

A heat,

A subtle energy.

And moving upwards from the palm into the pad of the left hand to the calluses.

And into the fingers,

All the fingers at once.

Taking them all in at once.

And then meeting first with a narrow awareness,

The thumb.

And the ridges of the thumb and the knuckle of the thumb.

And the nail and perhaps the interior and exterior of the nail.

And then moving to the finger to the left,

The pointer finger,

The knuckle,

The nails,

The ridges and to the middle finger.

And to the ring finger and to the pinky.

And to all of these fingers at once and upwards into the upper part of the hand,

To the bones there,

To the felt sense of temperature,

Of balance and into the wrist,

To this portion,

To this region of the body that connects the hand with the arm,

To the boniness,

To the ridges,

To the hardness.

And upwards into the forearm.

And up along the forearm and to the muscles,

To the fascia.

To the tightness,

To the looseness,

Into the elbow.

And the contact there.

The interior and the exterior of the elbow.

And upwards into the bicep,

To this region of the body that works hard to pull,

To lift,

To move,

Responsible for so much activity.

And around the back of the bicep and to the tricep.

A subtle pull,

A strong sensation,

A neutral sensation,

Maybe nothing,

Again,

Not fabricating,

Just being with what is here.

Noting the tendency for the body to tell stories,

For the mind to tell stories about the body and for this tendency to mind wander and gently guiding awareness back again and again and again.

Into the shoulder bone,

Into the shoulder.

And then expanding awareness out and taking in the entire limb of the left arm at once.

And moving awareness back,

Narrowing down into the left shoulder and up along the upper region of the chest,

Along the clavicles,

Into the right shoulder and down along the right bicep and tricep and down into the elbow and through the forearm,

The wrist into the palm of the right hand.

Again,

Into the moisture there,

To the heat,

Sensations,

Tingling sensations,

Subtle energies.

Moving slightly upwards into the pad of the right hand and the calluses there,

The ridges and into the fingers and taking again all at once these fingers in awareness and the contact,

The contact perhaps between them as they touch each other or as they touch the floor or as they touch clothing,

The skin here and the sensitivity of the skin here,

The aliveness,

The dullness.

And then narrowing awareness into the thumb of the right hand,

Into the ridges there,

To the knuckle and in between,

Above,

External and internal nail and moving to the finger,

To the right,

To the pointer finger.

To the knuckle,

To the nail,

The middle finger,

To the ring finger and to the pinky finger.

And then up along the top portion of the hand and the bones and into the wrist,

To this connective region between the hand and the arm,

To the ridges,

To the valleys and the peaks of this bone and into the forearm,

To the muscle there and up along the forearm all the way into the elbow,

The outer elbow,

To the inner elbow,

From the elbow into the bicep,

To the tightness,

To the looseness here,

Feelings of activity,

Feelings of dullness and then behind the bicep into the tricep and into the shoulder of the right arm all along the region here and expanding awareness out briefly,

Taking in the entirety of the right limb,

The right arm,

Sensing into what is here for you now and then narrowing awareness back down into the right shoulder and moving into the back of the neck,

Right at the point at which it meets the upper region of the back and moving upwards along the back of the neck and around to the front of the neck and into the throat region right underneath the jaw then across the neck and in its entirety sensing into what is there for you in the neck.

Perhaps sensations of tightness or looseness and moving upwards from the neck into the jaw,

Up along the jaw upwards into right below the ears,

This region of the body that functions so integrally in our consuming food and eating foods.

So much work,

Just sensing into what is there for you in the jaw,

Moving upwards from the jaw across the mouth and the lips and upwards into the nostrils and over the ridge of the nose and across each of your eyes beginning with the lower lid of your eye,

The upper lid of the eye and the eye itself and the eyebrow and then upwards into the forehead across the entirety of the forehead and then downwards from the top of the forehead across the temples into your cheeks and your cheekbones and into the ears,

The interior of your ears,

The exterior behind the ears and moving downwards to where the neck meets the back of the head and moving up along that region all the way up across the lower region of the skull to the middle of the back of the skull and to the top of the skull across the crown and expanding awareness out briefly and taking in this entire head that we've just scanned and expanding out once more and taking now in the entirety of the whole body,

The whole body that we just scanned,

Sending gratitude for yourself for taking the time to do this practice,

For taking time out of what is most certainly a busy day for many.

Gratitude to the body,

Gratitude to yourself for this practice and when you feel it is supportive,

You can begin to open the eyes and take in the room around you.

You can begin to bring some movement back to the body,

Whether it's in the hands or the feet,

You can do some subtle shifting and again,

When it's supportive,

If you are lying down,

You can begin to sit up and if you are seated,

You can begin to get up and perhaps bring some movement back to the body and bringing with you into the course of your day some of the awareness that you cultivated during the course of this practice.

Reviews

I just completed your body scan practice, a lovely, gentle pace & flow to the scan. Thank you 🙏