The Body Scan: Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy

The Body Scan works with the breath, attention, increased concentration, and gentle curiosity. The body's sensations can serve as an anchor for our attention and assist in the development of mindful awareness.

Transcript

The body scan.

Finding a space where you're able to relax and lie down.

This is a longer practice,

So you want to find a space where distractions are minimized,

It's quiet,

Either lying on the floor or a mat.

And spending a few moments to adjust your posture,

Your position,

So you find that your body is balanced.

Perhaps elongating your spine and then allowing it to fall naturally,

Your shoulders relaxed,

Your arms and your hands by your sides.

And closing your eyes if you're comfortable,

Or shifting your gaze downward towards your nose.

Taking a few moments to tune your attention in with your breath and your body.

As you notice your breath coming in,

Imagine you're collecting your awareness,

Your attention.

As you breathe out,

Settling in to your body and into this practice.

Noticing where your body makes contact with whatever it's resting on.

There may be pressure against your back,

Your legs,

Your feet.

And feeling the body pressing against the surface,

Either heaviness or lightness.

Continue breathing naturally,

With each in-breath collecting your awareness,

With each out-breath settling in.

Noticing the sensations of the breath,

Perhaps noticing the expansion of the abdomen as you breathe in,

And the resting as you breathe out.

There may also be more subtle sensations at the nostrils,

The temperature of air moving in,

And the warmth of air moving out.

On each out-breath,

Allowing yourself to continue settling in.

Reminding yourself,

Right now there's nowhere else to be.

This practice is here to bring awareness to the body.

There's no need to try to calm yourself or change things in any way.

The goal is not to feel different or more relaxed.

The intention is that as best as you can,

You're bringing your present awareness to this moment,

To any sensations that you may detect in the body.

Continue noticing the rising and falling of the breath as it moves in,

As it moves out.

On the next in-breath,

Imagine you're collecting your awareness,

Your attention,

And then as you breathe out,

Imagine your breath is sweeping your attention all the way down to your left foot,

Your left toes.

It may take a few breaths to get your attention down.

Imagining your left foot resting here,

And imagining that you're able to breathe all the way down,

Bringing your attention here.

As you collect your attention in your left foot,

Your left toes,

Begin noticing the sensations in this area.

Perhaps noticing the pressure of your toes against each other,

How they may be resting,

If there's pressure of a sock or a shoe.

As you breathe out,

Releasing your attention from your toes and breathing in,

Expanding your awareness,

Your attention now to the left foot.

Observing sensations in this area as if you had a spotlight.

Any sensations that may arise,

Allowing them to be there,

Noticing perhaps tension,

Tingling,

Lightness,

Pressure,

Or numbness.

If there's no sensation at all,

Observing this,

The absence of sensation.

And when you're ready,

Breathing out,

Releasing your attention from your left foot,

Breathing in,

Bringing it up to your ankle,

Your left calf,

And your left shin.

You may examine each area in parts,

The ankle,

Spending a few moments here,

The calf,

And then all the way up through the leg into the shin,

Everything in between in your lower left leg.

You may notice sensations on the skin,

Or there may be sensations deeper within the muscles,

The joints.

Perhaps there's a pulsing,

Trying to be curious as best as you can to each sensation.

There's no need to change it.

There's no need to try to do anything.

Rather,

Seeing if you can observe each sensation in turn,

Drawing your awareness up to your left knee,

Spending a few moments here,

Curiously exploring any sensations.

What's here in this area for you?

What sensations are arising at times?

There may be difficult areas or tension holding.

Imagine that you're breathing in,

Creating a little space and breathing out,

Releasing,

Softening,

Breathing in,

Creating space,

Breathing out,

Softening.

And if you've noticed that your mind has wandered,

Drifted off,

As best as you can,

Bringing it back on the next in-breath,

Returning to the sensations of the breath,

The body.

You may breathe in,

Collecting your attention,

Your awareness,

Moving all the way down to whatever sensation you were last focused on,

And then breathing out,

Settling into the practice.

With your next breath,

Bringing your attention all the way down now to your right foot,

Your right toes.

Again,

It may take a few breaths to bring your attention here in this area.

Really collecting it,

Imagining your focus,

The spotlight is now on your right toes.

Bringing that curious mind to these sensations,

The pressure of your toes making contact with each other,

Tingling,

Lightness.

As you breathe out,

Releasing your attention from your toes,

Breathing in,

Bringing your attention to your right foot.

What sensations are you noticing in this area?

Seeing if you can bring this gentle,

Curious mind to the sole of the foot,

The arch,

And all the way to the heel and where it makes contact with the floor.

As you notice and observe these sensations,

Seeing if you can bring the sensations up to the forefront of the mind while your breath is still breathing naturally in the background.

And then when you're ready,

Breathing out,

Releasing your attention from the right foot,

Breathing in and bringing your attention up now to your right lower leg,

The ankle,

The calf,

The shin.

Noticing each physical sensation as it arises and then allow it to pass through.

On your next out breath,

Releasing your attention from the right lower leg,

Breathing in all the way up to the right upper leg,

The thigh,

All the way up to your hip bone.

Observing the sensations in this area,

Seeing if you can bring that curious mind here.

There may be more sensations in a particular area and some areas may have an absence of sensation.

Seeing if you can really be playful and curious with each area.

And breathing out,

Releasing your attention from your right upper leg,

Breathing in now and sweeping your attention up to your lower back,

Your pelvis,

All the way down to your tailbone.

Everything in between.

If there's an area of holding or tension,

Again,

Seeing if you can breathe into that area.

On the in breath,

Imagine there's space,

Goodness,

And then as you breathe out,

Softening.

Using your breath to breathe into an area and breathe out,

Releasing,

Letting go.

When you're ready,

Bringing your attention up to your middle back,

Your abdomen,

Everything in between.

You might notice again the abdomen expanding on the in breath and perhaps there's a changing in your back,

Your spine as you breathe in as well.

Spending a few moments here watching these sensations.

If you find your mind is drifting off,

That's natural.

Minds will wander and again as soon as you notice it,

Gently bringing it back.

Using your breath at any time to release wherever you're focused and breathe in,

Bringing your attention back.

And if you find that you're falling asleep,

Drifting off,

You might want to open your eyes very briefly,

Shifting your gaze upward.

And when you're ready,

Bringing your awareness out up to your upper back,

Your shoulders,

Exploring the sensations here.

Noticing if there's an area of tension,

Perhaps you can notice where that area begins and where it ends.

Finding the perimeters of whatever that sensation is and noticing if there's any thoughts or judgments about it.

Is it pressure?

Is it heat?

Is it coolness?

Is it throbbing,

Tingling?

As if you're watching whatever that sensation is.

When you're ready,

Breathing out,

Releasing wherever your attention was focused,

Breathing in,

Bringing your awareness down all the way down to your left fingertips,

Your left hand.

Spending a few moments here observing these sensations.

You may notice how your hand is resting,

What it's resting on,

The feeling of your fingertips making contact with each other.

When you're ready,

Breathing out,

Releasing your attention from your hand,

Your fingertips,

Breathing in all the way up to your left forearm,

Your elbow.

Gently exploring these sensations,

Noticing them,

And bringing your awareness up to your left upper arm,

All the way up to where it makes contact with the body.

Exploring these sensations for a few moments.

And then when you're ready,

Breathing out,

Releasing your attention from your left arm,

Breathing in,

Sweeping your attention all the way down to your right fingertips,

Your right hand.

Spending a few moments here,

Noticing the sensations in this hand,

The tingling,

Pressure,

Contact.

Is there a temperature of the room?

Are you able to feel the air around you?

When you're ready,

Breathing out,

Releasing this area,

Breathing in up to your right forearm,

Your right elbow.

Exploring these sensations for a few moments.

Breathing out,

Releasing,

Breathing in,

Bringing your attention up to your right upper arm,

All the way up to where your arm makes contact with the body.

Noticing the weight of your arm or the lightness.

What sensations are here?

You might notice really subtle sensations all the way in within the bones,

The joints,

Or there may be more prominent,

Vivid sensations.

And when you're ready,

Breathing in and bringing your attention up now to your upper body,

Your neck,

Your throat.

Feeling the point where your body makes contact with your neck.

Is there holding?

Is there tension?

Is there an impulse to want to shift and move?

Noticing sensations as you swallow,

Feeling the movement,

The contraction of muscles,

Releasing it all the way down.

And when you're ready,

Breathing out,

Releasing,

Breathing in,

Bringing your attention up now to your jaw,

Your mouth.

Noticing your lips pressed against each other or if your mouth is open.

Feeling sensations in this area,

Really bringing that curious mind.

What is here?

Drawing your attention up to your nose,

Your cheeks.

Really imagining that you're sensing your face.

You might notice your eyes resting,

Your brows,

All the way up to your forehead.

Spending a few more moments here,

Noticing your face.

And then bringing your awareness now to your head,

Your hair.

Perhaps noticing where your head is making contact with the floor.

Is there tingling or any sensations on your head in this moment?

And now that we've scanned all the way up from our toes to our head,

Sending your awareness now to hold your whole body in attention.

Spending a few more minutes here,

Being aware of the body as a whole,

Allowing your breath to breathe naturally,

Flowing in and out.

There may be familiar sensations or there may be new sensations,

Ones you hadn't observed before.

As you notice these sensations,

Your attention might be drawn in towards them.

Noticing them,

Spending a few moments on them,

And then expanding your awareness back to your whole body.

There may be sensations that have changed over the course of this practice.

If so,

Just noticing them,

Observing that.

Perhaps a sensation may change as you watch it,

Observe it.

Or it may feel like it's becoming more intense or softening.

On your next out breath,

Releasing your attention from whatever sensation or thought it was focused on.

Breathing in now,

Reconnecting back with your breath.

Be in noticing sensations of the abdomen moving with each in breath with each out breath.

Then noticing the contact your body makes with the floor,

Whatever it's resting on.

Feeling the pressure,

The weight of your body.

And then very gradually begin inviting some movement in,

Whether it be wiggling your fingers,

Your toes,

Or taking a very gentle stretch.

In a few moments this practice will end.

And as it does,

Seeing if you can maintain this present awareness in the next few moments.

Reviews

I have to sit during body scans it I fall asleep. But this was a amazing and very soothing