Hello and welcome to this body scan meditation.
So finding a comfortable seat or lying down on the floor,
Somewhere you can find ease through your body.
Once you've found this place,
Either seated or lying down,
Settle in.
Make any adjustments that you need to your body and allow yourself to settle in.
And to begin,
Taking three big breaths,
Taking a nice big inhale through the nose and filling up the lungs and a long slow exhale out.
Taking two more full deep breaths like that,
Just in your own time.
And as we move through this body scan practice together,
Can you set your intention to bring a kind or loving awareness,
A compassionate awareness to your body and whatever arises as you move through the body scan.
So you're scanning with love,
With compassion,
With kindness and wisdom.
Bringing your awareness to the top of your head,
Allowing your awareness to centre around the top of your head,
Noticing sensations,
Noticing a hum of energy,
Tingling,
Whatever it is,
May even be the sensation of nothing,
Just noticing.
Now allow your awareness to expand to your face and the whole head,
Your ears,
Your brow,
Your cheekbones,
Your jaw,
Your lips,
Your eyes.
Noticing sensations from the inside out as if your awareness was to centre at the centre of your head and expand outwards,
Noticing sensations around the entire head and face.
Perhaps you allow your facial muscles to soften a little here,
Bringing in a relaxed expression to your face.
Allowing your awareness now to move down to the neck,
Noticing sensations from the inside out,
Paying attention to your throat,
The sides of your neck,
Back of your neck.
Perhaps here noticing if it would serve you well,
Especially those seated,
To sit a little taller,
Allow a little more freedom through the neck as you make any slight adjustments.
Perhaps you notice the swirl of air in the back of the throat with each breath,
Noticing sensation from the inside out.
Drawing your awareness now to your shoulders,
The entire shoulder area,
Noticing sensation from the inside out.
Often this can be a place of a lot of tightness or tension.
Sometimes that can mean numbness,
Perhaps it could mean pain.
Just noticing the kind attention.
Perhaps you breathe to these spaces,
Allow a little more space for energy to move and flow.
Noticing sensation from the inside out.
Now bringing your awareness from the tops of your shoulders,
Slowly down the arms,
Moving very slowly,
Noticing the upper arm,
Awareness of sensation from the inside out,
Travelling down to the elbows.
Perhaps a pause here to notice sensations,
Or perhaps lack thereof.
Your awareness continues to move down the forearm,
Slowly,
Slowly,
Moving down to the wrists,
Into your hands.
Noticing sensations at the hands from the inside out.
A hum or gentle vibration of energy,
Of warmth,
Of coolness.
Just noticing.
Allowing your awareness now to travel up your arms,
Back past your shoulders,
And now moving down the torso ever so slowly.
Noticing sensation at the heart space,
Centre of the chest.
Noticing sensation from the inside out.
The beating of your heart,
Your breath to your chest.
Notice if there's space around your heart,
Is there space to take a deep breath.
Noticing how that feels in your body.
Your awareness now travels down to your belly.
See if you can soften your belly,
Breathing down to the belly.
Beautiful smooth breaths,
Deep breaths.
Noticing sensations from the inside out.
Front of the belly,
Sideways,
Lower back.
Just noticing your kind,
Loving attention.
Allowing your awareness now to move down past your hips,
The pelvis,
The front of the pelvis,
The sides,
Back of the pelvis.
Noticing your sit bones to the earth,
Those who are seated,
Back of the pelvis to the floor,
Those lying down.
Noticing sensation from the inside out.
Bring your awareness to the tops of your legs,
And ever so slowly your awareness travels down the thighs,
Noticing sensation from the inside out.
The hum of energy that surrounds the upper legs.
Moving down,
Down to the knees,
Kneecaps,
Sides of the knees,
Back of the knees,
Inside your knees.
Your awareness travels down to the lower leg,
Slowly,
Slowly.
Noticing sensation from the inside out.
A hum,
Swirl of energy.
Even noticing the temperature of the air that surrounds you,
Feeling it on your skin.
Your awareness now moves to your ankles,
And down into your feet,
Soles of your feet,
Top of your feet,
Your toes.
Aware of sensation in the feet,
In the inside out.
Now bring your awareness to your entire body,
Bringing a kind attention to your entire body.
Noticing sensation from the inside out.
Noticing your body as a field of ever-changing sensation and energy.
A true reflection of impermanence.
We notice sensations as they shift and change,
They calm and go,
They intensify and then they settle.
Relaxing your body,
Seeing if there's any places you can let go of tension.
Perhaps your belly,
Your jaw,
Your eyes.
Let's take three smooth deep breaths here,
Just noticing the sensation of the breath as it calms and goes.
Now slowly beginning to blink open your eyes,
Allowing the light in,
Perhaps looking around,
Noticing colours,
Textures,
Shapes.
You might like to bring a little movement to your body,
Perhaps stretching your arms overhead,
Leaning side to side,
Waking up the body.
Perhaps you stay,
Taking some moments for yourself to sit in quiet stillness,
Or slowly beginning to move out of the meditation,
Taking whatever time you need.
I hope you enjoyed this body scan practice.
Trust your heart and mind are filled with love and wisdom.
Thank you for joining me.
