Body Scan Meditation

This body scan guided meditation is a particularly good practice before going to sleep. You will be invited to release tension in the body as your awareness moves from one part of the body to the next, leaving you more relaxed.

Transcript

Find as comfortable a position as possible.

The position is not so important as the quality of the attention that you bring.

With the body scan meditation,

It doesn't matter what's happening in your mind and body.

Your job is simply to pay attention to it as best as you can,

Understanding that it's the nature of mind to wander,

That's what minds do again and again.

Simply bring the mind back as soon as you've noticed that it's wandered,

To wherever we are in the body.

The body scan meditation is the purity of the non-doing,

Of coming back to the present moment again and again and allowing it to unfold however it might be.

It's a time of simply being with things,

Just as they are,

Just in this moment.

Let us begin.

First,

See if you can get a sense of yourself,

The whole body and mind,

The general global feeling of you right here in this moment,

Getting a general sense of the quality of the mind.

It may be agitated or calm.

Without trying to change anything,

Just checking in,

Checking in with your body,

Scanning for the more overall sensations of contact,

Pressure perhaps,

Or reduction of stiffness.

Checking in with your chest and your belly,

Noticing any strong emotions,

Again without trying to change anything,

But rather bringing the mind a bit closer to your actual experience in this moment,

And if there is discomfort of strong emotion,

Just leaving it as you find it,

Just as it is,

Not trying to fix it,

To improve it,

Or even to relax it.

And when you're ready,

Bringing your attention down to the abdomen and feeling the rising and falling of the belly as you breathe,

Allowing your attention to float kind of like a boat on the waves of the sea,

As you feel your belly rising and falling with each breath.

And when you're ready,

Bringing your attention now down to your toes,

See if you can feel them without moving them,

How's that you become aware of your body,

What allows you to feel what's happening in your body,

Feeling the toes as best you can,

And directing the breath to your toes,

Imagine the breath traveling all the way in through your nose,

Through your body,

Into your toes.

You might imagine that visually or just intuitively,

Or in whatever style that makes sense to you.

And on the next exhalation,

Allow your toes to dissolve in your mind's eye,

And letting your attention move up to your feet,

Perhaps even imagining them in your mind's eye,

Discovering your own way in connecting and feeling your body,

Feeling your feet,

All parts of the feet,

Allowing them to be just as they are.

And when you're ready,

Directing the breath down to your feet in exactly the same way as you did with your toes.

And then on the exhalation,

Allowing your feet to dissolve in the mind's eye,

And moving your attention up into your lower legs.

It can be helpful to feel the most obvious sensations first on the outer envelope of the skin,

The pressure,

The contact of your lower legs make with the mat.

And then to see if you can refine your awareness,

To explore the body for more subtle sensations.

It's almost like scanning a part of the body as if your awareness were a kind of 3D radar or a close-up lens of a camera.

And if a part of the body feels blank,

Simply notice that.

You don't need to fill it in.

And see if you can experience each part of the body as you go,

Allowing this to be just as simple as it is,

Feeling the sensations.

And each time you become aware that your mind has wandered,

Gently and patiently,

It's courting the mind back to wherever we are in the body.

Directing the breath now to the lower legs,

And on the next exhalation,

Letting them dissolve in the mind's eye,

And moving your attention to the upper legs.

Checking it for any sensations there.

Now sending the breath to the upper legs,

And again on the exhalation,

Allowing this part of the body to dissolve,

And moving your attention now to the buttocks,

Hips,

And genitals.

Feeling the contact that the buttocks make,

And exploring any subtle sensations in the hips and genitals,

Allowing it to be just as you find it in this moment.

Directing the breath now to the pelvic region,

And again on the exhalation,

Allowing this part of the body go,

Moving your attention now to the abdomen and lower back,

Feeling of course the movement of the breath not only in the belly,

But in the lower back too.

Not looking for anything special,

Just feeling the things as they are in this moment.

The movement of the breath in the body,

The pressure of your clothing perhaps,

And maybe even some subtle sensations in your abdomen.

Now consciously directing the breath to the lower torso,

And again on the exhalation,

Just letting this part of the body go,

And moving your attention now to the middle and upper torso.

Again allow yourself to feel the subtle sensation of contact,

Perhaps the shoulder blades on the mat,

And the movement in the ribcage as you breathe,

Sides as well as front,

Perhaps a touch of clothing on the chest.

Exploring as best you can this very simple level of sensations,

Physical sensations in the body,

Bringing your awareness systematically to each part of the body,

Perhaps feeling inside the ribcage,

Seeing if there is a sense of awareness of the vital organs inside your body,

Lungs,

Diaphragm,

Heart,

And then directing your breath up to the chest,

And again on the exhalation,

Just letting this part of the body dissolve in your mind's eye,

And moving your attention now down to your hands.

Once again see if you can feel your hands without moving them,

But instead moving your mind's awareness to your hands,

Feeling the sense of touch,

Temperature,

Getting a closer sense of what's inside that part of your body,

And if there is no sensation just notice that,

Bringing awareness to all those parts of the body that we would typically take for granted,

They all have extraordinary functions,

All those joints,

Bones and muscles,

Each construct a little differently to allow particular kinds of movement,

And yet how often do we pay attention to them unless they are hurting,

And now directing the breath down to your hands,

Perhaps imagining yourself breathing in and out of your hands as best you can,

And on the next exhalation just letting the hands go,

And moving your attention up through your wrists into your arms,

Again feeling the obvious places of touch and contact,

But also checking inside the arms,

Getting a sense of any tightness or warmth,

Tingling,

Feeling deeper into the muscles,

Whatever is there,

Just feeling them,

Again directing the breath to this part of the body,

Perhaps imagining yourself breathing in and out of your arms,

And again on the exhalation letting go of the arms,

And moving your attention now up into the neck and shoulders,

Just see how your body feels in this moment,

Feeling into the neck and shoulders,

Even if there is tension there or discomfort,

See if you can simply allow it to be just as it is,

No need to make it relax or try to relax,

Trying to relax often simply creates more tension,

Allowing the body to rest and be just as it is,

And bringing the mind back again and again to observing physical sensations in the body,

And now directing the breath to the neck and shoulders,

Breathing in and out of this part of the body,

And on the exhalation letting them to dissolve in the mind's eye,

And moving your attention now onto your face,

Begin at the top of the face,

Your forehead,

And if you can feeling behind the mask of the face,

Feeling deeply into the face,

Moving down the face,

Bring awareness to the eyebrows,

The eyes resting in their sockets,

Cheeks,

Jaw,

Nose,

Lips,

Mouth,

Feeling inside the mouth your teeth,

Relaxing behind the incredible complexity of the facial muscles,

And then directing the breath to the face,

You might even imagine your face kind of floating up and down the breath,

Or use your own imagery to help you deepen the experience,

Again on the exhalation just letting this go,

And move your attention now to the back of your head,

And the weight of your head on the cushion,

See if you can actually feel the skull and the scalp,

Your hair,

Refining your attention as best you can,

Directing the breath now to the back of your head,

Breathing in and out of this part of the body,

And on the exhalation letting this dissolve too,

Now imagine your breath throughout the length of your body,

All the way,

In and out,

Up and down,

Sending the breath to every single cell in your body,

And then exhaling back again,

Sweeping the body with each in-breath,

Cleansing the body,

Bringing awareness to the vitalizing force of the breath,

As it moves through your body,

And bringing awareness of the whole body,

Weight and shape of the body,

Just feeling your own body,

And when ready,

Gently open your eyes and begin to move,

There is no rush