Tools For Life: Body Scan

The Body Scan is used to enhance stillness, healing, balance and harmony in the body.

Transcript

The Body Scan Make sure that you're comfortable and in a place that's preferably undisturbed.

Take the phones off the hook or put them on silent.

You can do the Body Scan either seated or in a comfortable lying down position.

You can also keep your eyes either open or closed.

The intention of the Body Scan is to bring gentle,

Compassionate awareness into the body.

Take the time right now to make any adjustments you might need to,

To settle into this time.

Begin by becoming aware of your body as a whole.

Notice any areas of tension or tightness.

Notice the sensations in the body as they come and go.

And now,

When you're ready,

Bringing your awareness unto the breath.

Feeling the in-breath and the out-breath with awareness.

Without attempting to change or alter the breath,

Just letting the breath be as it is.

Do you feel it more strongly in the nostrils,

The chest or the belly?

How far down in your body do you feel the breath?

How far down in your body do you feel the breath?

And now,

When you're ready,

In whatever way feels right for you,

Just guiding your attention all the way along the legs,

Down the body,

Right down to the toes of the feet.

Taking time now to explore the toes of your feet with your own awareness.

Noticing sensations of temperature,

Tingling,

Tension,

Noticing the particular toes or the spaces between the toes,

Or noticing if it's difficult to detect anything at all.

Allowing your awareness to scan the toes of the feet with no particular agenda other than to notice.

And when you're ready now,

Just breathing into the toes of the feet.

And as you breathe out,

Moving your awareness and allowing it to embrace the soles of your feet.

Aware of the small surface area that carries your body around during the day.

Opening up and staying receptive to the sensations that are there to be felt.

Aware of the surface area of the sole of your foot.

And then,

When you're ready,

Moving your attention now and allowing it to embrace the entirety of your feet.

And now,

When you're ready,

Moving your attention now and allowing it to embrace the entirety of your feet.

The left foot and the right foot.

Perhaps you can detect any differences in sensations between the two feet.

Getting to know the feet from within.

Not analyzing or thinking about the foot,

But feeling,

Sensing.

Moving your awareness now into the ankles.

Moving your awareness now into the ankles.

Feeling the ankle joint.

Bringing appreciation to the ankles and all they do for you on a daily basis.

Guiding your awareness now into the region from the ankle up to the knees.

Meeting the sensations there with careful and kind attention.

The human body is moving in a very gentle,

Gentle,

Gentle motion.

Taking in a lot of attention.

The human body is filled with wisdom and sensations to be noticed and received.

Taking time now to explore the region of the knees.

The sensations that are there,

Noticing if the sensations are solid or changing.

Aware of the exterior of the knees and the internal miraculous workings of the knee joint.

If you find that your attention is wandering away from the body into thoughts,

Fantasies,

Memories,

Judgments,

Commentaries,

Just noticing that with kindness and returning your awareness now into the region from the knees all the way up to the hips.

So including in your awareness the area of the thighs,

The backs of the legs,

The inner thighs.

Allowing your awareness to receive the sensations of temperature,

Tingling,

Pulsation,

Getting to know this part of your body from within.

As we move into each part of the body we're cultivating a kindness,

A compassion,

A care just by noticing.

There's no right or wrong way to do this.

As best you can,

Learning to feel into the body without judgment.

And so when you're ready breathing into the entirety of the legs and shifting your attention once again,

This time embracing the pelvic girdle with your attention.

So aware of the buttocks,

The inner thighs,

The inner thighs,

The inner pelvic girdle with your attention.

So aware of the buttocks,

The hips,

The genitals,

The reproductive organs,

The life in this part of the body.

Paying close attention as best you can to what's there,

Right now to be noticed.

Breathing into the region of the pelvic girdle and as you breathe out allowing your awareness to embrace the area of your belly.

You might be able to detect the movement of your breath in this part of the body.

Feeling into the depth of your belly.

Noticing any sensations of tension,

Tightness,

Softness or any emotional quality in this part of the body.

As you allow your awareness to rest in the belly,

You might be aware too of the amazing inner organs,

The workings of the digestive system,

The vitality in this part of the body.

Shining the light of your awareness now into the region of the ribs.

Again you might be able to detect the movement of the breath.

Aware of the ribs and aware perhaps of the spaces between the ribs.

And now dropping into the region of the heart.

You might be able to detect your own heartbeat or you might have a vague sense of the region that we call the heart centre.

Taking time to get to know any emotional quality,

Any emotional tone that might reside in this part of your body right now.

Not judging what you find but just letting it be.

Holding the area of your heart with kind awareness.

And now moving the attention further up the body into the region of the shoulders.

Often a repository of tension or tightness.

For now,

Just allowing the shoulders to be as they are.

Noticing the sensations in both shoulders.

And guiding your awareness now further down the arms from the shoulders down to the elbows.

Including in your awareness the area of the biceps and the triceps.

Perhaps you can be aware of any sensations of weight or gravity,

Tension or softness in this part of the body.

Staying curious moment to moment.

Dwelling now in the region of the elbows.

Aware of the joints and the fluids that allow the elbows to work for you on a daily basis.

And now guiding your awareness down the arms right the way down to the wrists.

Feeling the lower arms.

Perhaps noticing if there's any awareness of the radial pulse in the area of your wrists.

And now taking time to explore the region of your hands.

Aware of the palms of your hands with their unique fingerprints.

Aware perhaps of the individual fingers.

Aware of the thumbs.

Each moment is an honouring of each part of your body.

So honouring the hands for all that they do on a daily basis.

And then breathing into the entirety of the arms and the hands.

And once again moving the attention and turning towards the area of your spine from the base of the spine all the way up to the neck.

Aware of this intricate mechanism.

Aware of the vertebra of the spine and their capacity to allow you to bend and stretch.

Aware of the shape of your own spine.

And then expanding your awareness outwards from the spine to become aware of the entirety of your back.

Aware of the lower back,

The mid back,

The upper back,

The region of the shoulder blades.

Aware of the supportive part of the body.

And then breathing into the region of the back and moving the attention into the area of the throat.

You might like to swallow once or twice just to get a felt sense of this part of the body.

And then guiding your attention into the area of the face.

Feeling the jaw,

Noticing any sensations of softness or tension here.

Exploring the region of the mouth,

Noticing sensations of saliva,

Noticing where the tongue is positioned or the sensation of the teeth.

And feeling now into the region of the cheeks and the cheekbones,

The temples,

The forehead which is often also a repository of tension,

The eyes and the eyelids.

Exploring the region of your face from within and letting your face just be as it is.

Taking time now to just become aware of the area of the ears,

Aware of the organs of the ears,

Aware of the capacity of the ears to receive sound as it is.

No need to analyze or judge what you're noticing,

Just receiving sound as it is.

And now allowing the attention to move into the region of the head and the scalp.

Feeling any sensations of heaviness or weight.

Aware not only of the head but the amazing organ that we call the brain.

And now taking time once again to feel the entirety of your body sitting or lying here breathing.

You might have a sense right now of what is whole and what is right within you.

Acknowledge yourself for having taken this time with yourself and see if during the rest of the day you can just from time to time hold your body with kind awareness.

Reviews

Great to listen to with a calm kinda and well paced guidance. Thank you 🙏

Lovely thank you 😊

A very clear concise mindfullness meditation with no distractions. A winner