Welcome to My Body and the Space Around Me.
A body scan practice with a difference by Kirsten Docil.
This routine is good to practice in lying as long as you are able not to fall asleep.
Find a position of comfort.
You may even like to do this outside,
Resting on the earth.
An ideal position is lying on your back with your legs slightly apart.
You may wish to have a support under your knees for comfort.
Allow your arms to rest palm down,
A little way from your sides.
If this position is not comfortable for you,
Assume your most comfortable posture.
If you wish to try this in lying but you often go to sleep,
You may wish to simply allow your eyes to be gazing down at a 45 degree angle and soften your gaze rather than have eyes closed.
Gather your gentle but light,
Easy attention to the dialogue,
Hearing the words but not thinking about them.
Some concepts here are a little abstract.
Just be prepared to let the words be absorbed by you,
To wash over you.
Awake and alert in a state like that perhaps which you may come to if you are gazing into a campfire.
Alert and open.
Take a moment to transition to this calmed mental state now.
Scan down your body to ensure comfort and release any muscular tension as you go.
That will remain quiet whilst you scan through your body.
Now notice the way that you perceive the environment around you.
Pressure on your body,
Perhaps from clothing or covers from the surface that you are on.
The temperature on your skin,
Movement of air,
Perhaps a breeze.
Notice also sound and scent from this external environment.
Become aware of the boundaries of your skin,
The bag of your body containing bones and organs.
Become aware of the size,
The shape,
The outline and edges of your body.
The back body,
Front body,
Sides,
Arms,
Legs and head.
I invite you to travel inside now.
Notice the inside cavity of your skull.
Simply direct attention and observe with curiosity.
No judgement or thinking.
No rush.
Enjoy the luxury of time,
Allowing sensation or awareness to arise.
Drop to your mouth.
Sense the inside cavity of your mouth,
Soft and moist.
And travel to your throat,
Patiently resting a moment at each destination,
Sensing what is here now.
Sometimes emotions may bubble up.
Just notice that.
Move to your heart space.
Observe,
Welcome with kindness.
It may be that an awareness of a colour drops in,
A word,
A sensation,
An emotion.
As you're observing self,
You may note,
Ah,
I notice.
Then just let it be.
Travel to your solar plexus.
Allow this location the luxury of being attended to.
What is here now in this moment may be very subtle.
And to the gut,
The lower belly area.
Just observing and noticing the coming and going of internal awareness.
Acknowledge now the inside world of your arms and legs.
Take a moment to send gratitude to your body,
Your life in your body,
Here now.
Thank you body.
And a little reminder that the mind can have a bit of time off.
Spend a moment observing your breath,
The in and out flow of breath.
With easy and full expansion of your lungs,
Sense the support of your body from the inside.
Breath in the lungs supporting your physical body,
Supporting the ribs and the chest,
Supporting your back,
Supporting the base of your pelvic girdle.
Now imagine yourself as negative space,
Like an imprint shape,
Like the empty inside of a blown up balloon man.
Or the space inside an empty bag.
Bring attention now to the space outside the bag of the body.
Focus now shifting on sensing the space between your limbs,
The space around the body.
Sense into the space between your left and right big toes.
Direct your awareness to the space between your feet,
Arch to arch,
Heel to heel.
Sense the distance.
Recognize the existence of the space between your feet.
Sense the space between your calves,
Then your knees.
Your legs themselves become the negative space.
Now focus on the space between.
Don't think too hard here,
Just follow the dialogue lightly.
Travel all the way up to the top of your legs and here the legs are likely to be touching.
Notice that leg to leg touch.
Now sense into the space below your legs.
Imagine your legs could sink into this space as if you were relaxing on a soft sandy beach.
Sense the space below your legs.
Now feel into your hands,
Palm down.
Sense the space below your hands.
You may feel a slight cup of the palm.
Sense that space but allow your awareness to go further into the supporting surface.
The sensing of awareness may go deep or shallow,
Just go with it.
Feel the space below your arms.
Now sense the space below your body.
Feel your back body,
Then feel into below it.
Drop in as far as you wish to go.
Sense the imprint of your back body on the earth or the space on which you lie.
There may be pockets of space perhaps at your lower back or the back of your neck.
But let your sensing travel deeper.
Thank you thinking mind,
Not now.
Now sense the space from your front body into space.
Feel the boundary.
Feel the way your front body moves into that space as your belly pushes into it with the breath in,
As your body expands into that space.
Feel the support of the breath of inhalation on the inside of your body.
Air in your chest,
The air around your body.
Travel to your head.
Sense a cavity of your mouth and the nasal passages as they fill with air as breath.
Observe the space above your head,
Your feeling awareness expanding out from your head like rays of the sun.
Sense the space above and around your body.
Sense from your feet to the space outwards,
Close in and further away.
This may seem unusual but allow your thinking mind to honour your sensing experience.
Your body as a negative space,
The space around you,
The place of focus.
Can you sense this space around your body as endless,
No boundary,
Up,
Down,
Sideways.
The space that your body rests in has no boundaries.
Softly now allow your body-bag boundary to become soft,
Fuzzy and melted.
Imagine the boundary of your body dissolving into space.
You in space,
Peaceful,
Boundaryless,
Timeless,
Expansive.
Sense the softened boundary of your body in space,
Nothing and everything at once.
You're awake and alert,
Safe and curious.
Now begin to colour your body in,
In your mind's eye.
Colour in the soles of your feet,
Your calves,
Your legs,
Your body,
Your arms,
Your head.
Feel into your flesh and bone body here on the floor or bed or on the earth.
You may wish to bend your knees up gently and ground the soles of your feet.
Know once again their shape.
Sense the texture underfoot.
Sense your muscles.
Feel the pelvis and the spine become solid.
Feel your body pressing into the space around you.
Gently flex all your muscles.
Feel your body in this space.
Place your hands on your belly.
Feel the sensations on your skin or clothing,
Touch and temperature.
Invite yourself to fully inhabit your body,
Your awareness.
Reorientate yourself to your time,
Space and location.
If your eyes have been closed,
Gently open your eyes.
Know that you are here now.
Take your time to transition gently back into the reality of this moment.
Move slowly with care as you allow this sensory experience to settle for you.
Notice your mental activity and sense of ease.
Let that land and be absorbed into your being.
Thank you for following this track with trust and curiosity.
I wish you well as you step into your day.
Thank you.
