Hi,
It's Mandy here.
Welcome to this practice,
A guided exploration of noticing the spaciousness of the body.
It's based on Les Femi's Open Focus Body Scan.
And it might feel a little different to some of the mindfulness-based body scans you might have tried before.
In this practice,
We're encouraging to move away from a narrow,
Rigid focus,
Which is the kind of way we look at a lot of things in our daily lives as problems to solve,
Or when we're using devices,
Or we hone in on one thing and have the type of focus when our nervous system is in threat mode.
So today,
We're going to encourage moving towards a wider,
Open,
Diffuse,
Immersed sense of open focus by practicing having awareness of space,
Both outside and inside our bodies.
Some people find this very relaxing and others even experience an altered state of consciousness with a profound change in the relationship to difficult experiences.
And others find it simply annoying.
So just taking it one breath at a time,
There's no right or wrong way to experience this practice.
Just seeing if you can rest with a sense of curiosity around the word of space,
The feeling of space,
Even just imagining space as all of these different suggestions and invitations are offered to you.
So let's settle in.
We'll begin by just arriving into whatever meditation posture you've chosen to work with today.
Could be sitting,
Standing,
Or lying down.
Just noticing the support of the floor or the chair beneath you.
Allowing gravity to hold you without any effort.
If it feels right,
You might close down the eyes or just allow the gaze to soften.
Allowing your awareness to spread throughout the whole body.
Maybe even imagining your awareness is like water gently filling a vessel.
No need to direct or control it.
Just filling the body with your awareness.
Perhaps sensing the breath.
Not focusing tightly,
Just accompanying it,
Noticing the breath moving in and out of the body.
Like waves flowing in and returning to the ocean.
Arising and passing.
Nothing to fix or do in this moment,
Just simply breathing.
And when you're ready.
.
.
Gently sensing not only the physical sensations of the body,
But also the space in which these sensations are arising within the body.
The body filled with space.
Feeling into the volume your body is taking up in space.
Sensing that volume of space in the room you're sitting in.
The space you're taking up in the room.
Perhaps noticing how when you inhale,
The volume of your body increases,
Taking up more space in the room.
And as you exhale,
The volume of the body decreases slightly.
Expanding and contracting.
Filling and emptying.
And feeling into the space around your body in every direction.
The space above.
Below.
In front.
Behind.
And to the sides.
Space radiating out in every direction.
Experiencing your body not as a solid object but as a changing field of sensations arising in space.
Sensing the body perhaps as porous.
Spacious.
Dynamic.
Letting your awareness soften.
And become receptive.
Allowing.
When you're ready,
Bringing awareness in the way that you know how to the thumbs on both hands.
Can you sense the three-dimensional presence of your thumbs?
Noticing the sensations of the thumbs.
Maybe there's pulsing,
Tingling,
A sense of warmth.
And noticing the space around and within the thumbs.
And then sensing the presence of your index fingers.
And in the same way feeling both thumbs and index fingers at the same time.
As well as sensing the presence of thumbs and forefingers,
Can you sense the space between the thumbs and forefingers?
And now adding the middle fingers.
The ring fingers.
And the little fingers.
Allowing your awareness to rest in the felt sense of your whole hands.
As if they are clouds of sensations,
Floating in a gentle field of space.
Noticing both the presence of sensations and perhaps even the subtle absence of sensations.
The space between your fingers.
Just allowing your experience to show itself in whatever way it is.
Feeling into the aliveness of this spaciousness.
And if you're having trouble recognizing much at all,
Just noticing that.
Now sensing into the space of your wrists.
The forearms.
The elbows.
Upper arms.
Allowing your awareness to pour into the shoulders.
And letting that awareness broaden and widen,
Including both arms.
Sensing into these areas,
Not only as solid forms,
But as filled with space,
Surrounded by space.
Even permeated by space.
Checking out for you is there a difference between noticing them as things and sensing them as sensations floating in your open awareness?
And including the space of your shoulders.
Noticing any sensations in this part of the body.
Warmth,
Heaviness,
Buzzing.
And can you get a sense of the space between both shoulders?
Noticing what it's like to feel the contact with the floor or the chair and the space between the shoulders.
Just receiving these sensations in space.
Acknowledging the volume of this area of the body.
Guiding your awareness now to the neck and throat.
Resting in space.
Surrounded by space.
Can you get a sense of the space inside your throat as you inhale and exhale naturally?
Can you get a sense of the space inside your nose as you inhale?
And exhale naturally.
Sensing the space between your ears.
Sensing the space inside your mouth and cheeks.
Feeling into the whole volume of your tongue,
Teeth and gums.
Sensing the space occupied by your lips.
Can you get a sense of the distance between the space inside your throat and the space your eyes are taking up?
Feeling into the distance between the space inside your throat and the space inside your ears.
Sensing the space between your chin and the top of your head.
Sensing the space between the bridge of your nose.
And the back of your head.
Sensing the space between both of your temples.
Sensing the whole volume of your head and face.
Sensing the entire head.
Floating like a cloud of sensations,
Surrounded by the space of the room.
Letting your awareness drop down now and rest in the chest and upper torso.
The front.
The sides,
The back of the body.
Can you feel the waves of sensations arising and passing as you inhale and exhale naturally?
Sensing into the changing volume of the lungs as you inhale and exhale naturally.
Feeling into the space where all the organs of the chest abide.
The space of the lungs.
Heart,
Liver.
Stomach.
Diaphragm.
Sensing into the space between the sternum and the back of your spine.
Sensing into the space the heart is taking up.
And the tips of the shoulders.
Sensing into the whole aliveness of the chest area and the organs as they're gently suspended in space.
Surrounded by space.
Permeated by space.
Now sensing into the abdomen and pelvis.
Sensing in to the pressure.
Of your bottom making contact with the chair,
Stool,
Bed or cushion.
Can you get a sense of the distance between your sitting bones and your belly button?
Feeling into the volume of the whole round bowl of the pelvis.
Noticing if there's movement in this space as you breathe in.
And as you breathe out.
It may be very subtle,
Even receptive.
Sensing into the space between each hip bone.
Sensing into the space between the base of your pelvis and the diaphragm.
Constantly moving with each breath.
Letting yourself feel into the volume of the abdomen.
Like a bowl of space filled with your awareness.
Holding gently all the organs of digestion,
Elimination,
Reproduction.
Noticing any holding or softening that happens on its own.
Sensing this whole area not as a thing,
But as a field of sensation.
Filled with space.
Fluid.
Changing.
Dynamic.
Alive.
And gently including in your field of awareness the legs and feet.
No need to zone in or concentrate too tightly,
Just allowing the awareness to widen and soften.
Including the legs from the hip all the way down to the tips of the toes Can you feel both legs at once?
Can you feel into the volume,
The space your thighs are taking up?
Can you sense the distance between the top of the thigh?
And the back of the thigh which may be touching the chair.
Bed stole the floor.
Peeling into the whole volume of each knee.
Sensing into the space between the knees and the ankles.
That is the space of the lower legs,
The calves and the shins.
All the sensations arising in that space.
Surrounded by space and permeated by space.
Sensing into the space of the ankles and the feet.
Not just as physical forms,
But as clouds of sensations.
Arising in space.
Surrounded by space.
Permeated by space.
Can you get a sense of the distance between the heels and the toes?
Feeling into the space between your toes.
Sensing the space between the skin at the base of your feet and the skin on the top of your feet.
Sensing the space between both ankles.
Inviting your awareness to rest now in this spacious sense of the whole body resting here Not the body as a thing,
But as a field of aliveness.
A constellation of sensations.
Floating in the spaciousness of the room.
Noticing the breath moving within the body,
Within the space of the room.
Feeling the spaciousness of the body.
Aware of space.
Resting in space.
And allowing if any emotion,
Body sensation,
Thought or image arises,
Perhaps seeing if you can include that in this open awareness of space.
Neither rejecting or encouraging any part of your experience.
And letting go of any particular technique now.
Just coasting.
And resting in this open awareness.
Simply aware of sound,
Sensation,
Breath,
Thought,
All held in this wide,
Spacious field of your experience.
Seeing what's here to notice,
Perhaps stillness,
Movement.
Heaviness.
Lightness.
Or nothing much at all,
Just welcoming whatever's here.
And as we prepare to draw this practice to a close,
Just seeing if any part of your experience wants to linger.
A sense of presence.
Of openness.
Spaciousness.
Or of rest in the home of the body.
When you're ready,
Bringing some gentle movement to fingers and toes and just allowing the eyes to open when it feels natural.
Thanks.
I'll see you next time.
