This is a body scan meditation.
Start with lying on your back in a comfortable place,
On your bed,
On a couch,
Or on the floor.
This can be done seated if that serves you best as well.
We want to make sure that we are awake in this practice,
So if at any time sleepiness starts to become pretty strong,
Feel free to open the eyes.
You can continue then with the eyes open.
Start with the attention starting to settle here on the abdomen area.
Feeling this rising and falling of the belly.
This rising and falling of the breath.
Movement inhales and exhales like a wave coming and going.
See if with bringing the attention to the breath is there an experience of the feeling of the breath.
Are there sensations that can be observed related to the breath?
Maybe that's in the abdomen,
The ribcage area,
The chest,
Riding the waves of your own breath.
Now notice the body as a whole from the top of the head down to the toes.
Feeling into any sensations that can be associated with the places where the body is in contact with the floor or the seat.
Noticing those contact points.
Now bring the attention to the toes and to the feet.
It might be helpful to also imagine that the breath is being directed to the feet as well.
Allow yourself to feel into sensations in the feet,
The toes,
The bottoms of the feet,
The tops of the feet.
Maybe a lot is felt,
Maybe nothing is felt.
Whatever is experienced is the experience.
Continuing to breathe,
Let the attention now travel up the legs.
The ankles,
Shins,
Calves,
Knees,
Up to the thighs,
The upper legs.
Noticing the right and the left leg here.
Letting the breath be with the legs,
Maybe experiencing the breath going up and down both legs.
Now the attention can go to the hips,
Up to the belly,
Abdomen area,
Ribcage,
Chest,
And then around to the back,
The buttocks,
The low back,
The mid back,
The upper back.
This whole area of the torso,
Let the breath be very present here.
Those waves of inhales and exhales.
Notice that there's a feeling of any sensations in the body.
This is what we mean when we talk about a felt sense,
An internal experience of the feeling of the body,
Tingling,
Warmth,
Coolness,
Heaviness,
Lightness.
And if there's like a nothingness there,
That's okay too.
We can also observe that.
Nothing needs to be forced,
Nothing has to be any certain way.
Allow the attention now to go to the shoulders.
Noticing right and left shoulder.
Traveling now down both arms.
And it might be that the arms feel different from one another.
Upper arms,
Elbows,
Lower arms,
Hands,
Fingertips.
The attention is traveling.
Let the breath be there too.
Breathing down the arms and then up the arms,
Back to the shoulders and now to the neck.
From the neck up to the chin.
The jaw,
Mouth,
Cheeks and nose,
All around the eyes,
The forehead.
Letting the breath be here with the whole front of the head,
The face.
As we also go to observe the back of the head,
From the neck,
Traveling up.
Is there any feeling of the scalp,
The skin on the head,
Up to the top of the head here.
Again,
Noticing the body as a whole from the top of the head,
Down to the toes and from the tips of the toes,
Up to the top of the head.
Noticing again those contact points of the body with the seat or the floor,
Solid.
We can feel how solid the body is,
How solid the surface is.
Continuing to breathe all the while.
Inhales,
Exhales.
As we begin to close this short body scan practice,
Can wiggle the fingertips and the toes,
Just noticing what it feels like to have movement.
If the eyes have been closed,
Opening them up to just look around and see a few things in the environment right now.
And once again,
Observing this wave of the breath,
The in breath and the out breath.
Continuing to notice it as the transition happens from this practice to the next part of the day.
Thank you for taking the time to practice.
May you be well.
