The Body Scan For the next while I invite you to welcome yourself into this space.
You might like to suggest to yourself that this is a time to slow down,
To nurture and nourish yourself through just becoming aware.
Make sure that you are comfortable,
Either seated or lying down.
Turn off your phones,
Remove any distractions and if necessary cover yourself to keep warm.
We can begin our practice now by bringing attention solely to the breath.
Feel the expansion of the ribcage and belly on the in-breath and the deflation on the out-breath.
Let yourself breathe normally and naturally.
No need to change what you are already doing perfectly.
Allow the breath to be as it is.
If it is shallow,
Allow it to be shallow.
If it is deep,
Allow it to be deep.
Explore the realm of acceptance of the breath as it is,
Feeling the rise and fall of the abdomen.
Now take time to check in with the whole of your body.
Where are you holding tension?
Can you feel sensations in the body?
Is there a general mood or emotion?
Can you allow whatever you find to be there without having to analyse or change it?
When you are ready,
Bringing the attention to the soles of your feet.
Welcome any sensations that you might find there with kindness.
Feel the surface area of your feet and acknowledge with awareness whatever is felt there.
Use your awareness as if you were a scientist or an explorer,
Noticing what you find without judgement.
Moving your attention now to the toes.
Can you feel the individual toes?
Or the spaces between the toes?
No need to analyse what you find.
This is about taking time to feel and connect with your toes.
As we do this we learn to connect with the wisdom and signals within our own bodies.
And now focusing your awareness to the tops of your feet.
Feeling into this part of the body.
Can you notice the quality of the sensations?
Are they shifting and changing or are they solid?
And then moving the attention into the heels.
Perhaps feeling any sensations of pressure,
Tingling,
Movement of energy that might be there to be felt.
Bringing the mirror of mindfulness now to the lower legs.
From the ankles to the knees.
Allowing yourself to receive any sensations.
Tingling,
Temperature,
Tension,
Tightness.
Are the sensations the same in both legs or are they different?
Can you allow your legs to be supported by the ground beneath you or are you holding on tight?
What can you discover on your exploration through your body?
Breathing now into the lower legs.
And as you breathe out you might like to dwell for a while.
And as you breathe out you might like to dwell for a while in the region of the knees.
Noticing and feeling the sensations in the exterior of the knees and also inside.
If you find that your mind is wandering into judgment,
Commentary,
Story.
Choose just for now to disengage from the thoughts and to bring your awareness back into your body.
Feeling now into the region from the knees to the hips.
Including in your awareness the thighs and the backs of the legs.
Is this part of the body heavy or light?
Are the sensations solid or ever-changing?
Taking time now to check in to the sensations in the area of the pelvic girdle.
The hips,
The buttocks,
The genitals,
The sitting bones,
The organs of reproduction and elimination.
You might like to bring compassionate awareness into this part of the body.
For all the work and life within that is occurring just beneath your awareness.
For now we can take time to observe,
Feel and experience without judgment the miracle of the pelvic area.
And now bringing your awareness into the region of the belly.
You might be able to notice the gentle movement of the breath in the abdominal region.
You may notice whether this part of the body is tense and tight or soft and relaxed.
There is no need to judge yourself if you discover tension,
Pain or tightness.
Rather just breathe into the area or see if you can bring acceptance to the sensations of the belly as they are.
When you are ready,
Now breathing into the abdominal region and as you breathe out bringing your focus into the region of the chest.
Feeling the breasts,
Sternum and rib cage and noticing if you can feel the shifts in the body with the movement of your breath.
You might want to take a deeper breath in now and hold the breath in your lungs for a few seconds before you exhale.
Discover and explore the sensations in your lungs and their amazing capacity to hold your breath.
If you notice anxiety at any point,
Can you just be with it?
The mind often wants to judge,
Analyze or push away unpleasant experiences.
Here we learn to be with the breath and to be with whatever we find.
Take time now to explore the region of the heart.
Can you detect the rhythm of the heartbeat?
Are there any emotional qualities residing in this region?
No matter what emotional tone you might find,
Sadness,
Joy,
Peacefulness,
Anxiety,
Fear,
Can you bring acceptance and non-judgment to the experience?
This does not have to be any particular experience other than what it is.
If you encounter a difficult emotion or sensation,
See if you can learn to just be with it,
Just as you might learn to swim in cold water by dipping your toes in first.
Breathing into the heart and as you breathe out exploring the region of the neck and shoulders.
Sometimes we discover sensations of tightness and tension that we've been holding in this part of the body.
There's no need to judge that,
Rather just breathing with what you find.
Softening into what is with acceptance.
Taking time now to explore the region of the arms from the shoulders all the way down to the wrists.
Notice how your arms are held.
Are the sensations the same or different in each arm?
You might like to take some time just feeling into the region of the hands.
Can you feel sensations in the palms?
Tingling,
Pulsation,
Shifts in temperature?
Can you be aware of the individual fingers and the thumbs?
Can you feel the spaces around each finger?
Breathing into the arms and hands with kindness and then sending your awareness into your spine,
From the sacrum at the base of your spine all the way up to the neck.
Feel the position of your spine against the floor or the chair.
Notice any areas of tension,
Tightness or lightness.
Allowing yourself to soften into any pain or tension.
Even if you cannot change the tension,
You might discover your capacity to just be with things as they are and to let the sensations of the body ripple wherever they might need to go.
And now feeling into the region of the throat and the neck.
Embracing what you feel with awareness.
Noticing the sensations in the cheeks,
Jaws,
Nose,
Temples and forehead.
Feeling the entirety of your face as it is.
You might notice the area around your eyes and the tiny muscles around your eyes.
Notice any emotional quality here or any sensations that can be felt.
Often when we put our energy into avoiding our feelings and sensations,
They come back knocking at the door in other ways.
So we take this time to learn to feel.
And often when we acknowledge what is there,
It can soften or dissipate.
So bringing your awareness now into the region of the head and the scalp.
Feeling the areas where you might have hair or no hair.
Noticing the sensations in the head.
Does your head feel heavy or light?
And now drawing a deep breath into the body and allowing your awareness to embrace the whole of your body lying or sitting here.
See if you can experience all sensations with compassion.
There is no need to push yourself,
Just be with what you can feel as best you can.
For the last few minutes of the practice,
You can stay with your awareness of breathing.
Or you can take some time to bring awareness to the realm of thinking.
So take time now to observe the thoughts and mental events in the mind.
Like clouds going by in the sky or just as sensations and emotions come and go.
So too do thoughts and we can observe this phenomenon by just taking time to notice.
Are your thoughts solid or do they change?
See if you can notice the ever-changing nature of thoughts.
Some thoughts may be like dark clouds or hurricanes and may sweep you out of the moment.
Other thoughts might be light and barely noticeable.
See if you can create room to notice how the thoughts move,
To watch the stories in the mind and to give them the space they need.
Not reacting to them,
Just observing them as changing mental phenomena.
Finally,
Come back to the awareness of the breath as it is.
Acknowledge yourself and thank yourself for taking time out in this special caring way.
Give yourself credit for wherever you are in your life,
No matter what your condition.
There is always wholeness within.
And as we end,
You might like to extend your wishes and prayers of kindness to yourself and to all those being challenged by feelings of anxiety.
Extending wishes of compassion and healing to all.
