Body Scan (Shorter MBSR Practice)

This is a mindful body scan practice that invites us to give ourselves the permission to invoke a newfound flexibility of attention and approach each experience of the body with curiosity and kindness.

Transcript

These body scan instructions are offered to support your development of mindfulness.

This means we'll be exploring and becoming more aware of our present moment experience as we move our attention through different parts of our bodies,

Becoming aware of our changing experience in the body and the mind,

Cultivating greater flexibility of attention and also a particular kind of taking care of ourselves by bringing intentional attitudes of curiosity and care.

It can be supportive to consider this practice as a time you're setting aside to be with yourself fully,

With nothing else to do.

Setting aside other concerns,

Other activities,

Choosing a time and place where you won't likely be interrupted,

Offering yourself this gift of your attention,

Setting the intention to be awake and present to whatever physical sensations are here for you from moment to moment.

At times,

We'll be focusing on a specific area of the body,

And in others,

Our attention will broaden to encompass an entire region of the body.

In the body scan,

We're offering our full-hearted attention to our experience,

Whether it is pleasant,

Unpleasant,

Or fairly neutral,

And becoming aware of our preferences of wanting things to be different from how they are.

Remember,

There's no right way to feel while you're practicing the body scan,

Whether the feelings are intense or subtle,

Of relaxation or tension,

Pleasant or unpleasant.

Mindfulness includes being aware of the way you're feeling,

Simply because this is the way you're feeling right now.

So simply notice if there's any tendency to try hard and relax.

Any striving to be in a particular state of mind and body that's different from what's here and now may actually create more tension.

Instead,

Be gentle with yourself.

Allow yourself to simply be aware of what's happening from moment to moment.

What's most important is acknowledging and meeting what's happening within yourself,

Looking at it clearly,

And being present with it as it is,

Because it's already here and it's part of your experience.

So beginning the body scan practice by moving into a posture now that's comfortable for you.

Perhaps lying on your back on a cushioned surface or sitting in a chair,

Allowing your eyes to close gently,

Your arms to rest alongside the body perhaps,

With the palms facing up towards the ceiling if that's comfortable for you,

Or finding some other restful position,

Allowing your feet to rest in a relaxed position.

You can do the body scan in any posture or position that feels best for you,

If lying on your back isn't comfortable.

It's really your attentiveness and bringing an attitude of curiosity and gentle investigation to your experience and not the way you're lying or sitting that's most important.

So sensing into the whole body now,

The whole length of the body,

From the head all the way down to the toes,

The front of the body,

The sides,

The back,

Noticing where the body's bearing weight,

The back,

The legs,

The buttocks,

Perhaps the head.

And bringing your attention now just to the fact that you're breathing.

It might be helpful to place your hands on your abdomen for a few cycles of breath,

Feeling as the belly expands with the in-breath and then flattens on the out-breath.

No need to change the breath at all,

But simply sensing into the movement of the body with the breath from the outside with your hands and from the inside feeling into how the belly moves on the in-breath rising,

On the out-breath falling.

And perhaps beginning on an in-breath,

Directing the focus of your attention from the abdomen down to the left foot and focusing your attention on the big toe of the left foot and simply noticing what sensations are perceptible to you in the big toe of your left foot right now.

And what do you notice with the other toes?

Perhaps there's moisture or dryness,

Tingling,

Contact with clothing,

Just noticing what you feel.

And importantly,

If there's no sensation,

Simply being aware of that.

And now moving your attention to the sole of your left foot,

The ball of the foot in front,

The arch,

The heel,

Discovering the sensations you find here.

And moving to the top of the left foot,

Aware of sensations at the skin and also sensing deep inside the foot.

Maybe there's a sense of temperature or solidity or pulsation,

Just noticing what's here for you.

And now expanding the focus of your attention to include the entirety of your left foot,

Broadening your focus,

Noticing any sensations that are here for you right now in the left foot.

And as you notice,

Breathing with this awareness,

Simply being aware of the in and out breath as you attend to the left foot.

And moving your attention now to the left ankle and circling your attention around the left ankle and deep inside the joint.

And moving into the left lower leg.

Perhaps there's a sense of the hardness of the bone or the relatively softer sense of the muscle,

Sense of contact.

And moving up into the left knee,

Exploring the knee joint,

This part we often take for granted.

How is it in the knee joint,

The knee cap?

Just what sensations do you find here?

And as we explore the body in this way with this sense of curiosity and interest,

At times you might find some parts of the body difficult to focus on.

And if that happens,

You can always return the focus of your attention to the sensations of the breath,

Perhaps just for a few cycles of in and out breath.

And when you feel ready to,

Returning to whatever part of the body we're at in the body skin,

Taking care of yourself in this way with this conscious choice about where to place your attention.

So if you're ready to,

Coming back to the left knee and shifting the focus of your attention up into the left thigh now,

Perhaps there's a sense of the weight of this part of the body,

The fleshiness,

Contact,

Where the thigh bone rests in the hip socket.

And now broadening awareness to include the entire left leg,

From the hip all the way down to the ankle,

Sensing into the entirety of the leg,

Perhaps breathing with this awareness of the left leg,

Sensing into whatever's here for you in the realm of sensation right now.

And now shifting the focus of your attention from the left leg to the right leg and into the right foot and the toes,

Focusing in on the big toe,

What's here to be felt,

And the other toes.

Perhaps there's pulsation,

Temperature,

Dryness,

Moisture,

Noticing what's here in the soul of the right foot.

Maybe there's a sense of the contact of the surface you're resting on.

Feeling to feel the sense of the entire right foot,

Whatever sensations are here,

And perhaps on an out-breath,

Letting go of the right foot and moving into the right ankle,

Exploring the right ankle in your awareness,

What sensations are here from the outside and deep inside.

And shifting into the lower leg,

The shin bone,

The muscle,

And into the right knee,

The kneecap,

The hinge joint of the knee.

Maybe this sensation is just simply knowing whether the knee is bent or straight.

And moving into the right thigh area and the hip joint.

And expanding our attention once again to include the entirety of the right leg now from the hip all the way down to the ankle,

And just what sensations are here as you rest here breathing with this right leg and whatever sensations are presenting themselves to you.

And moving into the pelvic area,

Perhaps beginning with the tailbone in the back and the buttocks,

The bony part of the pelvic basin,

And the softer part of the pelvis where the organs are.

Noticing maybe there's some sense of the breath in this area.

How deep does the breath go?

So no need to change the breath at all,

But simply sensing in,

Is there some sense of movement of the breath in this area?

And just simply noticing if and when the mind wanders off to thoughts,

Thoughts about this practice or about the future or the past.

And when you notice your mind has wandered off,

Simply coming back to sensing into this pelvic area.

And moving from the pelvis into the lower back.

Just what is this sense of this lower back?

Some of us have pain in this area from time to time,

Simply noticing whether there's pain here or no pain.

And perhaps if there is pain,

Maybe it's possible to feel deeper in beyond the sense of,

The conceptual sense of pain and just what are these sensations that I call pain?

Perhaps it's a burning or a stabbing or a tingling or perhaps it's shifting and changing in this area or if there's pain or discomfort in any other part of the body as you move through the body skin.

Seeing if you can bring a sense of gentle investigation.

So just how is it in the lower back right now?

And moving up the back to the mid back,

The bony part of the spine,

The muscles surrounding it.

Moving into the upper back,

The rib cage.

Perhaps there's some sense of the breath here as the rib cage expands on the in breath and contracts gently on the out breath without any effort needed at all.

Feeling the shoulder blades and expanding to feeling the sense of the entire back right now.

And shifting from the back to the front of the body,

Feeling into the belly.

Perhaps feeling this movement of the breath in the belly,

The expansion of the belly on the in breath and the falling back of the belly on the out breath.

And any other sensations here?

Any sensations of digestion,

Just what's here in the abdominal area right now.

And moving into the chest area,

The rib cage in the front,

The sternum connecting the ribs in the middle.

And deeper inside the chest,

The lungs as the air passes in and out of the body through the lungs.

Perhaps there's even a sense of the heart beating.

And also in this area that we often consider to be the emotional seat of the body,

Maybe there's some awareness of emotions as you come to this area of the body.

And simply acknowledging whatever emotional tone is here,

Even as you sense into felt sensations in the body.

Just acknowledging whatever else you're aware of and coming back to the body sensations.

And shifting attention now to include the entirety of the front of the torso expanding awareness and moving now into the arms all the way down into the fingers,

Sensing into just the posture of the fingers and the hands as they rest here with nothing else to do.

What sensations are here?

Then moving into the wrists,

Sensing into both wrists at the same time.

And moving into the lower arms and the elbows.

Maybe simply noticing whether the elbows are bent or straight.

And moving into the upper arms and the shoulders.

Expanding attention to feeling the entirety of the arms.

And perhaps on an out-breath,

Letting go of the arms and moving into the shoulders.

Moving into the entirety of the shoulders,

The front of the shoulders,

The top,

The back.

Often this is an area where we hold tension.

So you could just simply notice whether there's tension or holding in this area,

Which of course is not really necessary right now.

So it's possible maybe on an in-breath that some tension could be released.

But just simply noticing how it is in the shoulders right now,

Not needing them to be any particular way.

Then moving up into the neck and the throat,

The muscles,

The bones in the spine.

Maybe there's a sense of the breath moving through the throat,

The ability to swallow and speak.

Feeling with this awareness of the neck and the throat.

And moving into the head,

Beginning with the jaw.

The jaw bone all the way up to the joint just before the ears.

Perhaps noticing if there's some holding in the jaw,

If the jaw could just be allowed to be slack.

Feeling into the cheeks,

The ears,

The actual physical sense of the ears,

As well as any sense of hearing,

Any sounds,

Even the sound of this recording.

Feeling into the temples on the sides of the head,

The forehead,

The eyebrows,

The space between the eyebrows,

The eyes,

The actual eyeballs in the sockets.

Perhaps even if your eyes are closed,

There's some sense of color,

Form.

The actual physical sense of the eyes,

The muscles around the eyes.

And moving into the nose.

What sensations are here in the nose?

Is the breath perceptible here right now?

Perhaps there's some sense of the temperature of the breath as it moves through the nostrils.

And feeling into the lips and inside the mouth,

The gums,

The teeth,

The tongue.

And moving up the head to the top of the head,

Feeling the scalp.

The top of the head,

The sides of the head,

The back of the head.

Inside the head,

The brain.

Any sensations of the inside of the head.

And expanding to feel the sense of the entirety of the head and the face.

This face that often is holding different expression,

Emotional expressions,

Communicating with others.

And just as we rest here right now with nothing to do,

Nothing to communicate,

Feeling into the sense of your own face.

Breathing with the sense of the face and the head.

And expanding attention once again now,

Being present with the entire body.

Breathing strong sensations,

Subtle sensations,

Filling the entire body with awareness.

Breathing in and breathing out with this awareness.

If you'd like to,

You could gently sweep your attention through the body from the top of your head all the way down through to the soles of your feet.

Perhaps just in the time it takes to take one breath in.

And from the soles of the feet all the way up to the top of the head.

Possibly just in the time that it takes to exhale.

Releasing the body to simply rest here with whatever sense of ease is here present for you right now.

Resting with this body just as it is in whatever condition it's in.

Resting in this sense of embodied presence.

Understanding your ability to care for yourself in this way.

Through offering this conscious attention,

This kind-hearted attention from moment to moment as you experience this body,

This mind,

This heart.

Resting in this whole body awareness,

This breathing body,

Until the bells ring.

With all of that,

The bell arm again겠죠 est é Behold,

The bell's Sé Strí novel g anything rely only on one thing.

Reviews

Great pace and voice.

I liked the simple, clear instructions, without music and building expectations of greater happiness or health or abundance. I also liked the pace but would have liked more time at the end. I'll try the longer version. Thank you.

Julie, it was nice to take some time to do a Bodyscan with a familiar voice. We miss you in Toronto!

A very gentle voice 🌼

Thank you this was just perfect for today!🙏🌺🌸🦋

Great body scan. I will listen to this again. Thank you!

Wonderful body scan ❤️

Lovely 🙏🏻🥰 Thank you ❤️