(MBSR) Longer Body Scan

A more spacious version of the Body Scan practice than the 30 minute version. (And no train!). Enjoy.

Transcript

As we begin to settle into this practice,

Let's take a few moments to feel how we are in the mind and in the body,

Feeling into moods and emotions,

Feeling how we are holding ourselves in the body,

Acknowledging any sensations,

Any thoughts,

Any emotions that are being felt and letting be,

Becoming aware now of the flow of the breath into and out of the body.

Breath breathing,

Staying present to each in-breath and each out-breath,

One inhalation at a time,

One exhalation at a time,

Abdomen rising with an in-breath and falling with an out-breath,

Breathing in and breathing out with awareness,

Following the movement of the abdomen with each in-breath and each out-breath,

Taking our lives one inhalation at a time,

One exhalation at a time,

Breathing in,

Breathing out with awareness.

And if you find in the silences that the mind has wandered off to the future or to the past,

Make a simple mental note,

Mind wandering,

And then come back to the breath,

To this breath.

Following the waves of the breath,

Breathing in and breathing out.

And now gently withdrawing attention from the breath,

Allowing the breath to fade into the background as we shift our attention throughout the body,

Becoming aware of any felt sensation of the body,

Feeling into this felt sensation,

Noticing tightness,

Tingling,

Pain,

Restlessness,

A warmth or a coolness perhaps,

Feeling into the felt sense of the body,

And if at all possible allowing ourselves to gently soften as we go through the body,

Noticing any sensations,

Any thoughts,

Any emotions,

Acknowledging anything we're feeling in the body,

And letting be.

We also note if we're not able to soften a part of the body,

Our practice informs us to simply let sensations be,

Acknowledging what we were experiencing and letting be.

And now let's shift our attention to the left foot,

The sole of the left foot,

The toes,

The spaces between the toes,

The ball of the left foot,

The heel,

The arch,

The top of the foot,

The skin covering the foot,

Noticing what we feel,

Acknowledging what is there.

Continuing attention to include the ankle,

The bones,

The tendons,

Ligaments,

The entire left ankle region,

Gently bringing attention into the lower left leg,

Feeling any sensations and letting be.

Seeing the awareness rise into the large calf muscles,

Noticing any sensations here,

Exploring the thickness of the lower leg,

Noticing any sensations and letting be.

And now the knee area of the left leg,

The kneecap,

The insides of the knee,

Letting the awareness rise into the thigh area of the left leg,

The large muscles here,

The entirety of the left leg,

Noticing any sensations that are being felt in this area of the body.

And now shifting awareness to the right foot,

The sole of the right foot,

The toes,

The spaces between the toes,

The ball of the right foot,

The heel,

The arch,

The top of the foot,

The skin covering the foot,

Noticing what you can feel,

Acknowledging any experience,

And continuing attention to include the right ankle,

The ankle bones,

The tendons,

Ligaments,

The entire right ankle area.

And now bringing attention into the lower right leg,

Letting the awareness rise into the large calf muscles,

Noticing any sensations here,

Exploring the thickness of the lower right leg,

Aware of any sensations and letting be.

And now the knee area of the right leg,

The kneecap,

The insides of the knee,

Letting awareness rise into the thigh area of the right leg,

The large muscle groups here,

The entirety of the right leg,

Noticing any sensations being felt in this area.

Feeling now both legs,

Aware of the contact they're making with the surface,

Aware of the hips and the pelvic area,

Noticing.

And now releasing awareness of sensations in the body,

The hips and the legs,

And coming back to the breath again.

Feeling the breath,

For the next few breaths,

Mindful breathing,

Abdomen rising,

Rising with the inhalation and falling with the exhalation.

Rising and falling,

The whole body breathing,

Feeling the body as a whole.

And now gently releasing awareness of breathing and shifting attention to the buttocks,

The hips,

The pelvic girdle,

Gently becoming aware of the large muscles here making contact with the supporting surface.

Aware of the pelvic floor and the area just above it.

Aware of the entire pelvic bowl,

The intestines,

The lower abdomen,

The systems of reproduction and elimination,

Deeply exploring here,

Feeling this area of the body with awareness and letting hundreds of thousands of individuals make contact feeling this area of the body.

Tenderly,

Coming back to the lower back,

Noticing the muscles and the contact the back makes with the surface you're lying on,

Noticing that support.

Aware of the spine now,

Aware of all the nerves encased in the spine,

Branching out to all parts of the body,

Awareness rising up from the lower back,

Coming to the mid portion of the back.

Aware of the long muscles of the back,

Muscles that hold us upright,

Feeling into the back and letting be.

Aware of the very bottom of the rib cage now in the back,

The ribs attaching to the spinal column,

Aware of the back of the lungs,

The back of the heart,

The shoulder blades.

And now shifting attention from the back of the body,

Around the sides of the body and into the abdominal region,

Aware of the stomach,

And breathing in aware of any movement of the abdomen as breath moves into the body and out of the body.

Shifting our focus to the breath,

The belly expanding on an inhalation and lowering as the breath moves out of the body.

In the chest region,

Aware of the lungs filling with oxygen on each in-breath and releasing with each out-breath.

Focusing the movement of the rib cage with the breath itself.

And now letting attention on the breath fade into the background,

Becoming aware of the muscles in the chest region,

The heart,

The beating of the heart,

The entire heart region.

Seeing the skin,

Any sensations,

Acknowledging what is felt and letting be.

Bringing awareness now to the upper chest and shoulders,

The right and left shoulder,

Filling into the entire shoulder region of the body and letting be.

Bringing attention now down the left arm,

To the left hand,

Coming right to the fingertips,

Aware of any sensations here.

Perhaps noticing moisture,

Coolness,

Warmth,

Feeling and letting be.

Aware of the fingernails and the thumbnail and the joints of the fingers,

The knuckles,

Aware of the skin on the left hand,

The palm,

Noticing the wrist,

Exploring the fine interlocking of blood vessels in the wrist.

The delicate skin on the underside of the wrist,

The bones and muscles in the lower left arm as well,

The elbow.

Looking in the upper arm now,

Perhaps aware of the triceps and bicep muscles,

Aware of the bones inside the left arm,

The bones resting in the shoulder sockets,

Aware of the left armpit.

And now a shifting awareness to the right arm,

All the way down to the right hand,

Coming to the fingertips,

Aware of any sensation here,

Perhaps noticing moisture,

Coolness,

Warmth,

Feeling and letting be.

Aware of the fingernails and the thumbnail,

The joints of the fingers and the knuckles of the right hand,

Aware of the skin,

The palm,

Noticing the wrist area,

Exploring the fine interlocking of blood vessels at the wrist there,

The delicate skin on the underside of the wrist,

Exploring the bones and the muscles in the lower right arm,

Feeling the elbow,

Exploring the upper arm now,

Perhaps aware of the triceps and the bicep muscles in this arm,

Aware of the bones inside the right arm,

The bones resting in the shoulder sockets,

Aware of the right armpit.

Aware of any sensations here,

Perhaps noticing moisture,

Coolness,

Warmth,

Feeling and letting be.

Aware now of both arms and bringing attention once again to the shoulders,

Aware of the back of the shoulders,

The tops and sides of the shoulders,

Exploring in detail all parts of the shoulders,

Both right and left arms,

Any sensations in this area of the body,

Feeling and letting be.

Aware now of the throat and the neck,

Aware of the ability to speak and to swallow,

Noticing the muscles of the neck,

The strong muscles that hold up the head and the place where the spinal column meets the skull bone,

Aware of the jaw,

The hinge joint on each sides of the face,

The muscles of the jaw.

Aware of the mouth,

The lips,

The gums,

Feeling the teeth.

Aware of the mouth,

The roof of the mouth and the back of the mouth,

Aware of the tongue resting on the floor of the mouth or on the roof of the mouth,

Bringing attention to the cheeks,

To the nose,

The bridge of the nose.

Aware of the nostrils,

Noticing any coldness or warmth here.

Aware of the eyes,

The eyeballs,

The eye sockets,

Feeling eyebrows,

Eyelashes and the forehead.

Aware of the ears and feeling into the ears this ability to hear at this moment.

And now directing attention to the top of the head,

The skull bones,

The tiny muscles of the scalp,

The hair and the hair follicles.

Aware of the back of the head,

The sides of the head.

Aware of the temples,

The brain,

The head as a whole.

Feeling into any sensations and letting be.

Now,

Let's expand this feeling,

This field of awareness,

Feeling into the body as a whole organism.

How the body rises up on an inhalation and releases on an exhalation,

Letting whatever arises go wherever it needs to go,

Being present.

And now,

Let's expand this feeling,

This field of awareness,

Feeling into the body as a whole organism.

Perhaps now in these last minutes,

Practicing mindful inquiry,

Being present to what may be within us as we feel into this mind and body,

Feeling and acknowledging any feeling,

Any thought,

Any sensation and letting be.

Tell The Opening,

Acknowledging,

Feeling the body as a whole connected.

Letting any feeling or thought simply be as we gently come back to the breath.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Rising with the in-breath.

Lowering with the out-breath.

Staying with the waves of the breath.

And as our time comes to an end,

We may wish to take a few moments to congratulate ourselves for taking this time,

For being an active participant in our own health and well-being.

Letting be.

Letting be.

And allowing now these few words of Frederick Lehrman to be of comfort and support.

Go lightly.

Simply.

Too much seriousness clouds the soul.

Just go and follow the flowing moment.

Try not to cling to any experience.

The depths of wonder open of themselves.

Right.

And now as the bell rings,

Moving the toes and fingers,

The hands,

The feet,

The feet,

Beginning to move and stretch,

Moving in any way that feels comfortable and giving

Reviews

This meditation came to the rescue when I couldn’t soften into a more relaxed state by myself. Thank you!!

Excellent way to greet the morning🙏

Thank you. Totally relax, doesn't feel like 37min long session.

Lovely deep body scan, thorough and gentle, with time at the end for enjoying the stillness of the mind. Thank you! X

Wonderful just what i needed! Thank you

Excellent body scan. Perfect pacing, soothing voice, very good sound quality. Thank you.

Lovely spacious body scan.

excellent calming of tge mind

I usually struggle with body scan meditations but the timely details and format of this guided meditation kept me engaged. Thank you.