Body Scan For When You Only Have A Few Minutes

In this 12 minute body scan, Dr. Brewer helps you get in touch with the sensations in your body and develop mindful curiosity. This curiosity-based approach will help you relax in the present moment and begin to unwind the patterns of stress, anxiety and worry that are triggered by unwanted or uncomfortable sensations in your body.

Transcript

So sit or lie down in a comfortable,

Quiet spot.

Allow your eyes to close gently and take a few minutes to just notice the movement of your breath.

Now when you're ready,

Bring your attention to the physical sensations in your body,

Especially to the sensations of touch or pressure,

Where your body makes contact with the chair or the floor.

On each out breath,

Allow yourself to let go of any tension that you might be holding in your body right now.

The intention of this practice is,

As best you can,

To simply bring awareness to any sensations you feel as you focus your attention on each part of your body.

If you find your mind wandering,

Just gently bring it back to awareness of your body.

Now take a moment and just thank yourself for making the effort to be here right now.

Notice what this feels like in your body.

Now bring your awareness to the physical sensations in your abdomen,

Becoming aware of the sensations that are there as you breathe in and as you breathe out.

Having connected with the sensations in the abdomen,

Invite the focus of your awareness to the toes of your left foot.

See if you can bring a childlike fascination to the sensations,

As if you're exploring them for the first time.

Focus on each of the toes of the left foot in turn,

Bringing a gentle curiosity to the quality of the sensations you find,

Just noting what they feel like,

For example,

A sense of tingling,

Warmth,

Pressure,

Pulsing,

Or no particular sensation.

If there are areas you can't feel,

Just keep your focus there,

Noticing whatever you can feel about that area.

When you're ready,

Let go of awareness of the toes and invite your awareness to notice the sensations on the bottom of your left foot.

Bring a gentle curious awareness to the sole of the foot,

Feeling all the sensations there.

Now invite your attention to the top of your left foot.

Then move to the ankle.

Now moving it up to the calf.

Now up to the knee.

Detect and simply note as best you can all the sensations in these areas.

You might think of your awareness as a spotlight,

Moving slowly through your body,

Bringing into awareness any sensations in that area.

Again,

If there are areas where it's difficult to detect sensations,

Just feel as much as you can.

Now invite your attention to your left thigh.

Notice the sensations there.

Maybe you feel the pressure of your leg against the chair or the floor.

Throughout this exercise,

Your mind will inevitably wander away from your body from time to time.

This is entirely normal.

It's what our minds do.

When you notice this,

Gently acknowledge it,

Noticing where the mind has gone off to,

And then gently return your attention to your body.

Now invite your attention down to the right foot and the right toes.

Continue to bring awareness and the gentle curiosity to the physical sensations,

Allowing whatever sensations are here right now just to be here as they are.

Now notice what you feel in the bottom of your right foot,

In the top of your right foot.

Notice what you feel in your ankle.

It could be pulsing,

Pressure,

Tingling,

Warmth,

Coolness,

Or anything else.

Now invite your awareness up to your calf and notice the sensations there.

Now up to your knee.

If you feel any pain or discomfort in any of these areas,

Just be aware of it.

And as best you can,

Let the sensations be as they are.

Now gently guide your awareness into your right thigh.

Notice the sensations there.

Now bring your awareness to your hips and to your waist.

Feel your weight on the chair or on the floor and all the sensations.

You can even become fascinated.

What are the sensations that make up your experience right now?

Now move your focus slowly up to your abdomen.

What does it feel like?

Feeling it rising and falling with each breath,

For example.

You can even start with your skin,

Noticing the sensations there.

And then move your attention inside your abdomen to your internal organs.

Now invite your awareness into your rib cage.

Just feel as many sensations as you can.

Now up to your chest.

You might note pulsing when you notice your heart beating or movement when you notice the movement of your ribs when you breathe.

See if you can bring a childlike fascination to the sensations as if you're exploring them for the first time.

If you notice your thoughts wandering or if you become distracted by a sound or feel restless,

Just note this as thinking,

Sound,

Or restlessness.

And gently guide your attention back to the sensations in your body.

Now guide your attention to the fingers of your left hand.

Feel each finger and the places where they contact the chair or your body or the floor.

Now bring your awareness to your whole hand.

What happens when you pay attention to your whole hand all at once?

Just resting in awareness of it.

Now bring your awareness up into your wrist,

Into your forearm.

Notice all the sensations there.

Bring your awareness up to your elbow.

Bring your awareness up into your upper arm.

Now bring your awareness into your shoulder.

Now gently invite your attention to the fingers of your right hand,

Feeling each of them separately.

Now guiding your attention into the palm of your hand and up into the wrist.

Bring your awareness to your forearm and up into your elbow.

Now bring your awareness into your upper arm and into your shoulder.

Now bring your awareness into both of your shoulders at once.

Notice any sensations that are there.

Let your awareness now come into your neck.

Notice if there's any tightness or tension,

And just note that.

Perhaps it's pressure,

Tightness,

Tension,

Heat,

Or whatever sensation's most predominant.

Now bring your focus up to the back of your head.

See if you can feel the hair on your head.

Now bring your awareness to your left ear.

Then over to the right ear.

Now bring your awareness into your chin.

Focus now on the sensations in your face,

Your teeth.

What do your teeth feel like?

What does your tongue feel like?

Just be curious.

Now bring your awareness to your cheeks and your nose.

See if you can feel the temperature of your breath and if that changes when you breathe in and out.

Now pay attention to your eyes and the muscles around your eyes.

What do they feel like?

Now move your awareness to your eyebrows and your forehead.

Just be curious.

Bring that childlike fascination to each sensation that you feel.

Now bring your awareness to the very top of your head.

Now after you've scanned your whole body in this way,

Spend a few moments resting in awareness of the body as a whole.

Notice how it doesn't take much effort to simply rest in awareness of whatever sensations are arising.

Now very slowly and gently,

While still maintaining an awareness of your body,

When you're ready,

Gently open your eyes.

Allow your awareness to expand to include the rest of the room.

Reviews

Sensational. Instantly effective. Feel calmer, really relaxed and ready for my day.

Concise, clear and excellent. Promotes awareness and serenity.

I thought it was a bit quick at first but I soon settled into the rhythm. I felt relaxed and at ease aim my body. Thank you 🙏

Thank you for the great and helpful body scan. It allowed me to relax completely.

Adorei. Uma forma interessante de meditação na base das sensações.

Great concept, I hope that you have longer meditations like this.

Body ALIVE. Thrumming with aliveness. Great. Shame about the abrupt ending! 💚

Judson Brewer is the man.

Detailed and thorough really helps open my mind up to how much more aware I can be.

Great body scan, thanks very much:)

Good guidance, thank you

A fine body scan—midway between a fast basic one and a long slow one. I like the degree of specificity here.

Fine for beginners, although some total newcomers might feel overwhelmed by the very same attention to detail that I enjoy so much. (If so, try something simpler, then return and give this a try.)

Minor note: Pretty sure there’s no clear signal the exercise is ending.

Keeps me in the moment.

Excelent! Short body scan but very precise and well guided 🙏🏼

This is a wonderful tool. I’ve only used it once so far but plan to use it to help sleep tonight.

Good body scan, does move kinda fast. I would describe it as more grounding then relaxing. Still a good meditation though.

Excellent. Very relaxing and does wonders for my eating behaviour. I also do it as a part of ‘Eat Right Now’ program.

Well, that was surprisingly trippy! I’ve done a number of guided body scans. On the surface, this seems like many others. But wow - this time I went deep!

Now that's a fantastic and thorough body scan, thank you!

Thank you for this x

Good quick refresher