Awareness of sensation.
This practice strengthens your awareness of sensations in the body.
So let's begin by sitting in a way that feels comfortable or lying on your back on a mat,
Thick rug,
Or bed if you won't get too sleepy.
Sitting or lying so you are alert yet at ease.
The eyes can be closed or open with a soft gaze.
So settling now and becoming aware of the whole body sitting or lying down.
Now taking your attention all the way down into your feet and feeling whatever sensations are present.
Becoming aware of the contact of your feet and the floor.
Exploring this sense of touch.
Perhaps noticing tightness or pressure from shoes or socks if you're wearing them.
Now shifting attention into the toes and noticing what sensations might be there.
Coolness,
Warmth.
Is it possible to feel the big toe of the right foot?
Maybe the little toe of the left foot even without moving them.
So expanding your awareness to include both feet,
The heels,
The bottoms of the feet,
The sides,
The tops.
Just being with whatever sensations you feel.
Now shifting attention into both ankles.
What do they feel like from the inside?
And moving awareness up the legs to include the shins and calves.
Maybe feeling air or the touch of clothing against the skin.
Maybe dryness,
Itching.
Coming to the knees.
What can you feel here?
Tightness,
Aching.
And there may be places where you don't really feel any sensation and this is fine.
So just noticing that there's no sensation.
Now bringing attention to the feeling of the weight of the body.
Noticing where the body meets the chair or the floor.
Feeling the sensations of sitting or lying.
Can you notice the appearance of pressure?
Heaviness,
Warmth,
Contact where the body meets the chair or the floor.
Can you sense where one begins and one ends?
Now letting the attention rise up through the body and into the lower back.
Exploring what feelings you might notice in the muscle and the bone here.
Maybe tightness,
Support,
Contact,
Pressure.
Shifting your attention from the low back into the stomach and noticing if there are sensations you feel deep inside the belly or maybe sensations outside the body here.
And now moving your attention into the middle and the upper back.
All the way up to include the shoulders and the neck.
What can you feel here?
Stillness,
Movement,
Tension,
Ease.
Now shifting attention from the upper back into both arms,
From the shoulders and moving awareness down both arms and noticing sensations along the way.
At the skin and inside the arms in the muscle and the bone.
The upper arms,
Elbows,
Forearms,
Wrists and hands.
Now being with what can be felt in both hands,
All the fingers,
All the way down to the fingertips.
Noticing maybe tingling,
Pressure,
Moisture,
Warmth,
Stillness.
Maybe even a feeling of pulsation in the hands.
Noticing sensations just as they are in the hands.
Shifting attention now from the hands to the belly and maybe noticing that there's movement from the breath.
Rising and falling.
Moving the attention up into the chest and the rib cage.
Exploring what can be felt here.
Maybe a feeling of expanding and contracting as the breath comes and goes.
Is there a sensation from the heart beating deep within the chest?
Now taking attention to the very top of the head and then moving the attention to the forehead.
Exploring and noticing what can be felt from temple to temple.
Tightness or ease,
Smoothness,
Wrinkles.
And including both eyes and the muscles around the eyes.
What is the sensation of the eyes resting?
Exploring now what can be felt at the cheeks,
The nose,
Maybe air moving in and out.
Noticing sensations at the mouth.
Are the lips open or closed?
Maybe noticing feelings of moisture or dryness.
Maybe sensations in the teeth,
The tongue.
Exploring sensations in the jaw.
What do you feel here?
Tension or ease?
Now expanding attention to include the whole body and noticing that you're breathing.
Tuning in to the feeling of breath wherever it's easy and comfortable to feel it.
Just noticing the many sensations of breath coming and going.
Can you be with these waves of sensation of breath for a few moments?
And when you find the attention has wandered it's not a mistake or even a problem.
It's just what minds do.
Totally natural.
Seeing how it's possible to gently and kindly practice bringing the attention back to the breath and starting fresh.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Simply bringing attention to these changing physical sensations as best you can.
So in a moment I'll ring a bell.
See if you can listen to the full length of its sound and when you hear it finally dissolve back into silence.
Gently allowing the eyes to open or raise your gaze and take in the room.
And knowing that spending time appreciating the sensations in the body is truly an act of love.
