Greetings,
My name is Kirsten and I'm delighted to be guiding you through this body scan meditation.
There are a number of benefits to this practice.
Body scan meditation can help promote better sleep,
It can help us focus,
It can help us cope with chronic pain,
And the list goes on and on and on.
I encourage you to explore this practice a few times and notice what it does for you.
So let's start by finding your most comfortable position and that can look a number of different ways.
You can try sitting on a chair,
Sitting on a cushion on the floor,
You can explore lying down on your back,
And you can also try standing up.
And if at any point you need to adjust,
Feel free to move in a way that allows you to be comfortable and present.
So let's get started.
Your eyes can be open or closed in this practice.
You can try on both to see which one feels better for you today.
And just take this moment to notice where your body is making contact with the support beneath you.
Maybe you feel your feet firmly resting on the floor,
The sensation of pressure or temperature of cold beneath the feet.
Maybe you feel your bottom making contact with the cushion or your chair or your spine resting against the back of your seat or a hard surface.
Just notice how it feels to be supported here and perhaps you can relax into that support just a little more.
Feeling the shoulders relax and the jaw release.
Now take a moment to notice where you feel your breath most easily.
Maybe you feel it at the belly,
Just noticing it expand like a balloon on the inhale and slowly contract towards the spine on the exhale.
Maybe you feel your breath most easily at the chest,
Just noticing the rise of the chest on the breath in and the collapse of the chest on the exhale.
Or perhaps you feel your breath most easily at the very tip of your nose.
Maybe you feel a tingling sensation as you inhale and a sense of temperature of warmth as you breathe out.
Wherever you feel your breath most easily allow your attention to rest there for a few moments.
Just noticing how it feels to breathe in and how it feels to exhale.
Now slowly draw your attention to your toes and just notice what physical sensations you notice here.
Maybe you feel a sensation of tingling,
Of temperature,
Of pressure.
You might not notice any sensation at all and that's okay too.
You can notice that.
Allow your awareness to move up from the toes to the balls of the feet.
Noticing what sensations are here without judgment just accepting what you notice.
Notice the sensation at the arches of the feet and the heels.
Allow your attention to move to the tops of the feet,
To the ankles.
Lightly resting your awareness on these parts of the body as you slowly scan upward.
Notice what sensations you feel at the shins,
The backs of the calves,
The inside edges of the lower legs,
The outside edges of the lower legs.
Slowly begin to scan towards the knees,
Noticing how the knees feel.
What sensations are here?
Bring your awareness to the backs of the knees.
Slowly scan upward to the thighs,
The insides of the thighs,
The outer edges of the thighs,
And the backs of your thighs.
Just notice what sensations are present here.
Slowly begin to scan upward to the hips,
Into your glutes,
Noticing sensations of tension or temperature tingling,
Or perhaps not noticing any sensation at all.
And again,
That is also something to notice.
Allow your awareness to scan towards your belly.
Just noticing sensations or sense of movement here.
Scan up to the ribs,
The sides of the ribs,
Noticing the center of the chest,
And across the chest.
Move up to the shoulders,
Noticing how the shoulders feel.
Allow your awareness to scan down the arms,
The backs of the arms,
The inside edges of the arms,
The fronts of the upper arms,
The outside edges of the upper arms,
To the elbows,
To the inner elbow creases,
Down the forearms,
To the backs of the forearms,
Down the hands to the palms.
Now noticing each individual finger,
Noticing the thumbs,
The index fingers,
The middle fingers,
The ring fingers,
The pinky fingers,
Gently scanning to the tops of the hands,
Moving to the wrists,
Then back up the arms again.
Allow your awareness to move to the back of the neck,
Down across the shoulder blades,
Down the spine,
To the backs of the ribs,
To the low back,
To the back of the waist.
Noticing what sensations are active and alive here without judging what you notice.
Tingling,
Temperature,
Tension.
Slowly move back up the spine to the back of the head.
Move to the ears,
Noticing what sensations are present here.
Allow your awareness to travel to the jaw,
To the chin,
To the lips,
To the tongue,
To the gums,
To your teeth,
To your cheeks,
To your nose,
To your eyes,
To your eyebrows,
To the space in between your eyebrows,
To your temples.
Allow your awareness to rest on your forehead.
Slowly move up to the scalp.
Notice what you feel here.
Now gently scan your body back down in the other direction,
Lightly touching each individual body part,
Noticing what sensations are present here without judgment.
Just allowing your attention to slowly float down the body,
Accepting what is.
And then when you're ready,
Bring your awareness back to where you feel your breath most easily.
Again,
The belly,
The chest,
The very tip of the nose.
Just noticing how it feels to breathe in and how it feels to exchange that inhale for an exhale.
Thank you so much for sharing this practice with me.
Be well.
