Bodyscan Meditation (MBSR)

This longer body scan practice can be used by those who are completing an MBSR, or those wanting to deepen their connection to their bodies. By bringing healing awareness, kindness, and attention into the body we can learn to manage stress, pain, and difficult emotions with more equanimity, and wisdom.

Transcript

The body scan.

The body scan is a practice of exploring the mind and the body as it is.

This is precious time with yourself,

Bringing kind awareness to you just as you are.

Generally,

We do the body scan lying down on our backs,

With the feet relaxed and arms splayed comfortably by the sides.

This sometimes leads us to wanting to fall asleep,

And it's important to note that the body scan is actually time spent with alert attention to the body,

And as best you can,

Staying present.

It helps sometimes to keep the eyes open if you're getting sleepy.

If you suffer from conditions of pain,

You can also do the body scan sitting up or even standing.

Once you've made sure that you will not be disturbed for the next while,

You can take the posture that feels right for you.

Make yourself comfortable,

Make sure your body is warm,

And welcome yourself into this special time.

As you settle in,

Take a few moments to feel your body.

Are you holding on tightly or are you relaxed?

Can you observe and just let be?

Suggest to yourself that this is time to slow down and attune to the world of sensations and experiences that arise in your body.

Notice any expectations that you might have about this time.

This is time to just allow your experience to unfold without making anything happen.

So when you're ready,

In your own way,

Bringing awareness to your breath,

Notice where you feel the breath most strongly,

Whether it's at the belly,

The chest,

Or the nostrils.

Come present to each breath,

Taking life just one breath at a time.

If you find your mind wandering at any point,

Just gently bring your attention back to the breath,

Following the waves of your breath as best you can.

And now when you're ready,

In whatever way feels right for you,

Allow your attention to move to the toes of the left foot,

Taking time to sense the toes as they are.

Can you feel the individual toes?

Can you feel the spaces in between the toes?

There is no right or wrong experience here.

Just noticing whatever is there to be felt,

Whether sensations of tingling,

Temperature,

Or even numbness,

Or the sensation of no sensation.

And now moving your awareness to the sole of your left foot.

See if you can effortlessly connect your breath with an awareness of the sole of the left foot,

However that feels right for you.

Notice any sensations that are there to be felt in the sole of the left foot.

Sensions of temperature,

Texture,

Tingling,

Numbness.

There's no need to judge or analyse what you notice,

Rather just taking this time to be present to the sole of the left foot as you find it.

And now moving your attention into the left heel,

Noticing how it feels to make contact with the floor.

Aware of sensations of pressure,

Or heaviness,

Or lightness,

Or noticing whether it's difficult to detect any sensation at all.

And now moving the light of your mindful awareness into the top of the left foot,

Sensing what is there to be felt.

How seldom we have time to just feel our way into our own bodies.

And so now taking time to just feel into the left foot as a whole.

Can you notice if the left foot feels heavy or light?

Can you feel any sensations of temperature?

Do you notice any pulsing or tingling sensations?

And moving your awareness now into an awareness of the left ankle,

Feeling this precious joint of the body,

Perhaps valuing the work that it's done for you during the day.

You don't have to go into a whole big story about this in your mind,

But rather just feeling that sense of appreciation and kindness towards the left ankle.

When you're ready,

Moving your awareness just like you might move a paintbrush into the lower left leg,

Breathing with,

Feeling the waves of sensation that might reside in the left calf and the left chin.

Can you let this moment be as it is?

And when you're ready,

Moving your awareness now into the left knee,

Feeling the knee both inside and out.

Aware not only of the surface area of the knee,

But aware of what's right inside the knee,

The patella,

The nerves,

The fluids.

Perhaps including as you allow your attention to rest there any sense of beauty or the function or the miracle of the left knee.

If you find tension or pain or tightness in this part of the body,

You can either soften into it or just let it be as it is,

Learning to breathe with the sensations as they are.

And now,

Just as you might tune into a particular radio station or frequency,

You're going to take time to tune into the region from the left knee to the left hip,

Mindful of the sensations as they rise,

Shift,

Change.

Realizing the quality or the texture of the sensations in this part of the body.

Aware of the hamstrings at the backs of the left leg,

Aware of the left thigh muscles,

Honoring this part of the body as important as any other region of the body,

As it's all one seamless whole.

Every part and system of the body supports every other part.

And now taking time to notice the entirety of the left leg.

Just taking some time to be aware of the sensations now in the left leg and in the right leg at the same time.

Can you detect any difference in the quality of sensations between the two legs?

And now when you're ready,

Bringing your attention into the toes of the right foot,

Becoming aware perhaps of the individual toes or the spaces between the toes.

Or perhaps you might just have a vague awareness of this extremity of the body.

Taking time to dwell in the region of the right toes just because you can.

Just because they're there to be felt or noticed and it's so seldom that we do so unless we stab a toe or hurt ourselves in one way or another.

And now bringing your awareness into the sole of the right foot.

Feeling the surface area of the sole of the right foot.

Perhaps sensing in some way the arch of the foot.

And then allowing your gentle attention to embrace the top of the right foot and the right heel.

Taking time to explore the whole of your right foot as you find it.

And of course if you find that your mind has wandered and you've lost attention,

No need to give yourself a hard time about it.

And you've noticed just swing your attention back this time into the region of the right foot.

And moving the attention now into the area of the right ankle.

Area of the joints,

The muscles,

The nerves,

The miraculous structure of the right ankle.

And then allowing your kind awareness to embrace the lower right leg.

Perhaps feeling the sensation of how the calf is supported by the floor beneath you.

Feeling the sensations of the skin.

And inquiring into the sensations within this part of the body,

The muscles,

The bone,

Blood.

Feeling the vitality in this part of the body.

Moving the attention now into the region of the right knee.

Feeling the knee.

Knowing the knee from within.

And then allowing the attention to inquire into the region of the right thigh.

The right hamstring.

And the long bone that goes right from the right knee right up to the hip.

This is your time to be with this part of the body from the right knee up to the right hip.

Receiving what is there to be felt with acceptance.

Not striving to be anywhere other than where you are now.

Receiving with this part of the body.

And when you're ready feeling now into the region of the hips and the pelvic girdle.

Just aware of the systems of elimination and reproduction,

The genitals,

The buttocks.

Feeling into the central point of the body.

You may notice from time to time that your mind has wandered off.

And again,

There's no need to worry about this phenomenon.

The nature of the mind is to wander.

And with mindfulness,

Whenever we can,

We notice this and return our attention to the present moment.

So exploring the sensations in the region of the pelvic basin,

The buttocks,

Genitals,

Hips.

Feeling in touch as best you can with the particular energies,

Histories,

And functions.

And feeling into the back now.

Notice the place where the spine meets the ground.

Feel the sacrum wedged in at the back of the pelvic basin.

You might notice how the undulation of your spine gives shape and support to your whole structure.

Can you feel the muscles surrounding the spine?

Taking time now to expand your awareness outwards from the spine to include the whole of the back.

The lower back.

The mid back.

The upper back.

Notice if the sensations that you experience are pleasant,

Unpleasant,

Or neutral.

And see if you can meet whatever you might find without judgment.

Breathing now into the entirety of your back and as you exhale,

Drawing your attention into your abdominal area.

Take some time here to notice the rising and the falling of the belly with your breath.

Feel the sensations in this part of the body that houses a number of different organs,

Systems,

Structures.

You might be able to sense any movements in the region of the digestive system.

You might want to include any emotional tone or feelings that might reside in this area.

You might be able to sense too the wisdom,

The beauty of this part of the body.

And so when you're ready,

Moving your attention into the upper chest,

Taking time to feel into the ribcage,

Noticing the ribs and the spaces between the ribs,

Perhaps becoming aware of the movement of the diaphragm as you breathe.

Just sensing the incredible structure of the ribcage that protects the organs within.

And now allow your attention to reside in the region of your chest.

Allow your attention to be kind and gentle,

Appreciative of the region of the heart.

You might even be able to feel or hear the heart beating in the region of your chest.

You might be able to notice any feelings that reside in the region of the heart,

Whether you might be heavy hearted,

Light hearted,

Peaceful in your heart,

Anxious.

Or whether it's difficult to notice anything at all.

And now taking time to explore the region of your lungs,

Feeling the chest and perhaps taking a deep breath in,

Filling your lungs and cradling the air in the lungs,

Feeling the sensations in the chest.

As you exhale,

Notice the sense of release as the lungs help you to let go of the air.

Feel how the chambers of your lungs are constantly helping you as they absorb oxygen and release carbon dioxide and as your heart pumps nutrients into your whole body.

You can feel the rhythms of life right here in your own body.

Notice the continuous recycling of vitality and energy with the breath.

Now OsVed,

OUND previews of the studio,

Walking with your shining your light of awareness into your shoulders now.

Are the shoulders tight or relaxed?

Is one heavier than the other?

We often carry the burdens of our lives in the region of the shoulders,

So take time to explore how that is for you.

And then in your own way bringing the awareness down both arms into the hands and the fingers.

Sense where your arms make contact with the ground.

Notice any sensations that come and go.

Feeling into the armpits,

Each surface of the arms and the hands as they are.

Filling and surrounding the arms and the hands with your awareness.

Feeling into the region of your hands.

Inhabiting perhaps with the sense of awe,

The details of the veins,

The folds of the skin and all that your hands are able to do on a daily basis.

Feeling into the region of your hands.

Inhabiting perhaps with the sense of awe,

The details of the veins,

The folds of the skin and all that your hands are able to do on a daily basis.

The hands can express tenderness,

Anger,

Grief,

Kindness.

For now just letting your awareness spill into the region of your hands.

Dropping in now to the region of the neck and the throat.

You might be able to hear or sense the breath as it moves through the throat.

You might be able to notice if the muscles of your neck are soft or relaxed.

Becoming aware of the vertebra that hold all of the skull and connect the muscles of the neck and the throat.

Becoming aware of the vertebra that hold all of the skull and keep it in position.

This is a small area of the body and yet there is so much that we can explore within it.

As your awareness moves now into the region of your face you might like to take some time to feel into the jaw bone.

Is it feeling tight or relaxed?

Can you soften into this region by just becoming aware?

And moving your attention into the region of the mouth,

Feeling and sensing the teeth,

The position of the tongue,

The movement of the saliva,

Inhabiting the world of the mouth just because we're taking time to get to know it better.

Then moving your attention into the region of the cheekbones and the temples.

Again not worrying if your mind has wandered from time to time.

Just being gentle with yourself as you return your attention.

And of course this doesn't have to be pleasant all the time.

If it's unpleasant in any way just noticing and breathing with unpleasant.

And now bringing awareness to the region of the eyes,

The spaces between the eyebrows and the area of the forehead.

Suggest to yourself that you can just allow the entirety of your face to be as it is.

Allow the eyeballs to rest in their sockets.

Aware of how they can sense light perhaps.

Aware perhaps of the miracle of sight in the optic nerves.

And then allowing the region of the ears to be held with gentle awareness.

Aware of the intricate structure of the ears.

Aware of the capacity of your ears to receive sound.

No need to judge or label what you're hearing.

Just noticing the ability you have to take in sound as it is.

And then feeling the back of the head.

Feeling the weight of your head.

Allow your head to be received by the floor or bed beneath you.

And moving the awareness from the back of the head to the top of your head.

Becoming aware of regions where there might be hair or where there might be no hair.

If you can,

Bringing the awareness within the skull to the miraculous organ of your brain.

And now becoming aware of your whole body once again.

Feeling the entirety of your body and the envelope of your skin.

Noticing if your body feels heavy or light or neither.

Staying open to all sensations and emotions that arise.

If it works for you,

You might like to imagine that at the top of your head is a tiny hole,

Almost like the blowhole of a whale,

Through which you could draw your next in-breath.

And that you could exhale the air out through the bottom of the feet.

And then moving the air in through the soles of the feet and letting it move out through the top of the head.

Bring acceptance to however you find yourself,

Moment by moment as the breath flows.

Whatever thoughts might arise sensing your wholeness.

When you're ready to move,

You might like to rub your thumbs over your fingertips or wiggle your toes or do whatever you need to do to bring movement into the body.

You have spent valuable time cultivating kindness and friendliness towards your mind and body.

Trust that you've honored yourself in a special way.

That there are many ways to restore and nourish our bodies.

Spending time in mindful meditation as you have just done is deeply restoring for both mind and body.

Allow yourself to hold yourself in the special and replenishing way and thank yourself for doing so.

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Reviews

I liked this...nice slow rotation through the body. Quiet gentle instruction. Thank you. ☮️💖🙏🖖