Body Scan With Loving Awareness

Welcome to this body scan mindfulness practice held with the attitude of loving awareness. Where attention goes, energy flows, thus you are encouraged throughout to bring a kind, loving, non-judgmental attitude to your body as you scan through from head to toe, eventually becoming aware of every cell in your body. The meditation then shifts into a practice of mindfulness of the breath and spaces between the breath to bring calm, clarity, and relaxation to your day. Made with love, as always.

Transcript

Let's move into our beautiful body scan with kind and loving awareness. So find a comfortable seat or lie down somewhere that you'll be comfortable. If you're seated, Try to prop your hips a little higher than your knees to get that beautiful length through the spine. If you're lying down, Perhaps popping something underneath the backs of your knees, Perhaps you've got a bolster or you can press pause for a moment again and rolled up towel just to get that beautiful, Comforting position through the body. And begin to settle in. Making any adjustments that you need to your body, The wiggle of the shoulders, Hips. You can move the head around a little, Rolling. You're turning your head side to side, You're lying down and settling in. And as you do, Begin to cultivate the attitude of mindfulness. Mindfulness is present moment awareness that is both kind and non-judgmental. So as we move through this body scan, Bringing a wise attention to the body that is non-judgmental, You allow the body to be just as it is. And you bring love. You bring compassion. I find the easiest way to remember this attitude of mindfulness is to simply think of loving awareness. You know, It is said that where attention goes, Energy flows. So when we bring our awareness, Our attention to the body, We want our awareness to be loving. That's the energy we're bringing to our bodies, No matter how they feel today. So taking a few breaths here as you settle in, Cultivating the attitude of loving awareness. And now bringing your awareness to the top of your head, To your crown. Becoming aware of any sensations that are present at the crown. Perhaps there's no sensation. Taking note of that. And it can be beneficial with this practice as we begin to settle into awareness on the body. To just bring the hand to the top of the head, To your crown, Gently place it there to begin. So you're physically bringing your awareness to the top of your head, Your hand gently resting at the top of your head, Noticing the sensation here. Now allow your hand to drop away, Having connected in. Allow your awareness to spread across the entire scalp, Noticing sensation around the scalp. Non-judgmental kind awareness. Perhaps you notice tension. And see if you can just relax and let go, Softening your scalp, Releasing tension around the head. And now bring your awareness to your face. Perhaps noticing a very gentle hum of energy around the face. Noticing temperatures. To some places around your face feel cool or warm. Bringing your loving awareness to your face. And if you notice that your face has some tension in it, You can consciously relax the face, Softening, Or perhaps you gently bring your fingertips to the brow and softly smoothing the face gently with loving touch. Smoothing, Softening the face, Letting go tension. Bring your awareness now to the center of your head and become aware of sensations all around your head from the inside out. So you center your awareness to the middle of your head and then expand your awareness in all directions from the center of your head out. You can match this practice with the breath. Inhaling, Bringing your awareness to the center of your head. Exhale, Expanding your awareness in all directions. As you notice sensations around your head, Warmth, Tingling, No sensation, Just becoming aware. Allowing your awareness to move now to your throat and to all four sides of your neck. Noticing if there's any tension there, Perhaps your neck feels free. Notice how your neck feels. Noticing with loving awareness. And if you notice any tension, The compassionate thing to do is to see if you can just soften, Let go a little. Let your love feel awareness, Bring healing to this place. Noticing sensations from the inside of the neck out. Inhale, Bring your awareness to the center and exhale out, Noticing any hum of energy, Sensations. Observing loving awareness, I see something here. Allow your awareness now to move all around your shoulders. Your awareness settles here, Noticing how your shoulders feel. Do you need to move your shoulders to find a little more ease and freedom through the posture you find yourself in? Bring your awareness right inside the shoulders and allow your awareness to expand out in all directions. Inhaling awareness moves to the center of the shoulders and exhale, Expanding your awareness outwards. We become aware of every cell in the body. Noticing how your shoulders feel, Sensations, Remembering that numbness too is a sensation. It's very normal to have places in the body that we can't feel or notice so much. And sometimes it can be beneficial to bring a gentle hand to that place. Bring some warmth and attention through your gentle touch. Allow your awareness now to move down your arms, So your awareness centers on the upper arms and the forearms. Becoming aware of sensations from right inside your arms and expand your awareness outwards. Inhaling to the center of the arms, Exhaling, Shifting your awareness outwards. Perhaps you notice a hum of sensation, A dance of energy around your arms. Perhaps not, Just noticing. And see where you can soften if you find tension. And now allowing your awareness to move down to your hands. Notice the position of your hands. Now your fists curled in, Are they soft and loose, Just noticing. Become aware of the temperature of your hands. Are they cold? Are they warm? Just noticing. Noticing sensations in your hands from the inside out. Notice how sensations change or feel the same in different parts of the body. Everything is constantly changing. You might notice a really strong hum of energy in your hands that might grow stronger or perhaps it subsides over time as you pay attention. Sensations in the body change whether they're pleasant or unpleasant. And now move your awareness slowly, Mindfully back up your arms to your chest, Front of the chest, Back of the chest, Your upper back. Your ribs. Begin to notice sensations from the inside out here. Notice the sensation of breathing to this space. Notice with loving awareness. Noticing without judgment. This is how it feels to breathe to my heart space today. Noticing sensations from the inside out. Relaxing, Softening. Doing your best to allow energy to flow freely around the heart space, Front of the heart, Back of the heart and the sides. Allowing your awareness to move down to your abdomen, Your lower back and your hips. Notice if there's any tension you can let go of through the belly, The lower back, Your hips. Softening here. And becoming aware of sensations here from the inside out. Where can you bring more softness, More love? Doing your best to allow the breath to flow freely all the way down to the belly, To the hips. To become aware of sensation from the inside out. Letting go of tension as you do. Allowing your belly to soften. Softening any tightness through the hips. Noticing the sensation of your hips to the earth. The support underneath you or behind you. Spending a few more moments here with loving awareness, Noticing sensations from the inside out. Moving your awareness now to your legs, Moving down your thighs, Your knees, Your calves, Lower leg and centering your awareness around both legs. Is there a hum of energy around the legs? Become aware of any sensations. You might notice one leg feels different to the other or perhaps they feel the same. Noticing sensation from inside the legs, Moving your awareness outwards. Relaxing, Softening any tension in the legs, Letting go where you can. Noticing sensations in all their forms, Pleasant, Unpleasant, Neutral. Noticing with your wise and loving mind. Noticing with compassion, With great care. Now bringing your awareness to your feet, Taking in your ankles, Top of your feet, All of your toes, Soles of your feet, Letting your awareness center on your feet. Noticing sensation from inside the feet outwards. And how does it feel to center your awareness on your feet? Does it bring a sense of being grounded, Connected to the earth? Just notice. And then do your feet feel cool, Warm. It's a hum of energy around your feet. And now bringing your awareness simultaneously to your feet and your hands. Noticing sensation in the feet and the hands from the inside out. Breathing smoothly, Just allowing the breath to flow. So you notice the dance of sensation in your hands and your feet. And continuing with your awareness of hands and feet, Now include your legs and your arms. So aware of sensations in all your limbs, Arms and legs, Hands and feet. Bringing loving awareness to your arms and legs, Your hands and feet. And now bring your awareness, Hands, Feet, Arms, Legs, Hips, Our whole torso, Your head and neck. Becoming aware of the sensations from the inside out. Notice the dance of sensations throughout your entire body. And how does it feel to be aware of each and every cell in your body? Can you feel life moving through you? Can you feel love moving through you? Observing yourself in the eyes of love, The eyes of wisdom, And cherishing this body that carries your soul, Your consciousness through this life. Moving your awareness now to your feet, Centering your awareness on your feet. Perhaps you imagine that you are standing tall like a beautiful old oak tree, Standing tall and strong. From your feet, Extend roots deep into the earth, Grounding you and connecting you to the earth. Notice as your roots descend down deep into the core of the earth. Reaching down into the beautiful nourishing depths of the earth, And acknowledging that we too are part of the earth, Connecting in with all that is, And saying to yourself, I am connected to the earth, I am strong, And I am immovable, I am connected to the earth, I am strong, And I am immovable. Bring your awareness back to your feet, Letting go of the imagery of the old oak tree, The roots of the tree. Become aware of where your body is in space, And become aware of your breath. You may like to stay exactly where you are for this final part of the practice. You could shift positions, Come to a seat if you were lying down, Lie down if you were seated, Noticing what's best for your body. And as you settle back in, Become aware of your breath, Noticing the sensation of inhaling, And exhaling. And just allow your awareness to center on your breath, Inhaling and exhaling, Using your anchor so wherever you notice the breath more obviously, Perhaps the nose, The heart, Whole body, And let your awareness center there as you inhale and exhale. If your mind has wandered off, Just draw it back to your breath. I am inhaling, I am exhaling, And now begin to shift your awareness to the top of the inhale and the end of the exhale. So you shift your awareness from the breath itself to the spaces between the breath. Noticing that slight pause at the end of the inhale and the end of the exhale. Noticing the spaces between the inhale and the exhale. Notice what happens within your mind when you allow your awareness to settle on the spaces in between. And these are the spaces of being, Not doing. The quiet, Silent, Still spaces. Allow your breath to soften, Noticing the spaces in between the breath. Notice what your mind is doing. It's drifted away, Bring it back to the spaces in between the breath. Notice the length of the spaces in between the breath. Notice the length of the spaces in between the breath. Now letting go of the focus on the spaces in between and allow your mind to rest in open awareness. Just being in open receptive awareness. Now letting go of the focus on the spaces in between the breath. Now letting go of the focus on the spaces in between the breath. Now letting go of the focus on the spaces in between the breath. I'm beginning to deepen your breath now and bringing your awareness to your body, To your whole body. Noticing sensations from the inside out. How does your body feel? What sensations are present or not present? I'm beginning to wiggle your fingers and your toes. You can even roll your wrists and ankles, Bringing some movement into the body. Always stretch your arms overhead, Whether you're seated or lying down. It's always nice to gently brush the face, Your fingertips, Allowing your eyes to open and just looking around the room. Look up and down, Side to side, Just taking in the space around you. If you'd like to just feel free to press stop now, Allowing the practice to end. You could come to a seat otherwise if you're not there already, And bring your hands to your heart, Eyes closed down once more. Then bring your thumbs up to the third eye space, Give this space a little rub with your thumbs. And bring your hands back down to your heart, Pausing here for a few moments. Thank you so much everyone. Namaste and much love to you. I hope you enjoyed the practices of beautiful body scan, Noticing sensations, Bringing loving awareness, Non-judgment to our bodies. Hopefully you enjoyed that practice of beautiful, Spacious awareness, Noticing the spaces between the breath instead of the breath itself.