Standard Body Scan (MBSR)

32 minutes body scan in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) style. Recommended daily practice for increasing body awareness and concentrations. Assigned during the first two weeks of MBSR.

Transcript

Welcome to the body scan,

A practice that can help to increase awareness of the body,

Feeling of presence,

And can often relax us.

Finding a comfortable position,

Lying down,

Perhaps a pillow under the head or the knees,

The body scan can also be done sitting up.

It's good to emphasize a relaxed,

Settled,

Soft position for the body.

Beginning by gathering our attention into the body through awareness of the breathing,

Feeling the breath coming and going,

The body expanding and relaxing.

You might imagine the whole body filling and expanding slightly like a balloon,

And then releasing and softening again.

Feeling the contact of the body against the floor or the chair,

With each breath allowing the body to settle,

To drop,

To sink in.

Noticing if there are areas of the body that feel tense or inflamed or energetic in some way.

Acknowledging with kindness that the body is not always completely comfortable,

Not always the way we prefer,

And that we can be with the body as it is,

With awareness and gentleness,

As we breathe and allow the whole body to be present in our field of awareness and to settle and soften as it's able.

And now let's narrow our focus and direct attention down,

Length of the body,

To the toes,

As we explore each area of the body in a tour of our own body,

Seeing if we can hold our awareness there with curiosity and openness,

Whether we feel much at all.

No need to change or manipulate or make anything happen.

Our intention here is to wake up to the feeling of the body as it is now,

And to accept whatever it is we can perceive at this moment on this day,

As we wonder if the toes are warm or cool,

Tense or relaxed,

As feeling the presence of the toes.

And inviting awareness to the bottoms of the feet,

Arches,

Heels,

Balls of the toes.

What can be felt right now in the bottoms of the feet,

These feet that hold us up all day.

Perhaps there is some tingling,

Maybe more dull.

And inviting awareness to the upper parts of the feet,

Feeling any differences in sensation in this area just a few inches away,

And yet perhaps quite different.

And then tuning into the feeling in the feet as a whole,

Left and right,

What is present right now in our feet.

And inviting awareness up into the ankles,

Inner or outer,

Upper or lower.

It's the feeling right now in the ankles.

And continuing up into the lower legs,

Might start with the feeling of pressure or contact between the lower legs and whatever the surface is that they're against.

What does that smushing into the soft muscle and skin feel like?

And from there inviting awareness to extend outward to the rest of the lower legs,

Hard areas and soft.

What's in contact with the skin?

Are there sensations of pulsing or vibration?

Or perhaps we don't feel much at all.

Accepting that mindfulness practice is a process of exploring and curiosity and there's no particular result that we seek or expect.

And inviting awareness now into the knees,

These complex joints that allow us to walk and sit and stand.

What can be felt under the kneecaps or the backs of the knees or the sides?

Inhabiting our knees with awareness as if that was all of our experience right now,

Being our knees.

And let's allow awareness up into the upper legs and thighs.

What's present in this area of the body right now?

Mindfulness is paying attention in the present moment.

Curiosity,

Acceptance,

Intentionally.

If judgment arises about this area of the body or the body in general we can notice that powerful mind state and let it be and return to the actual sensations and feeling in the body as it is right now.

We notice the feeling in the thighs and the upper legs above the knees all the way up into the hip sockets.

Warm,

Cool,

Vibrating,

Pulsing,

Still.

Feeling on the skin and beneath the skin.

What can be felt?

And now let's bring awareness up through the hip sockets and explore the feeling in the pelvic region of the body.

Maybe a little broader,

More diverse,

Hard bone of the pelvic bone,

Organs here of reproduction and digestion.

Perhaps an area of some vulnerability or tenderness.

Just being present we don't need to figure anything out or understand anything here.

Just inhabiting the pelvic area with this soft light of awareness.

And through all this we're still breathing.

You can imagine the breath coming in and out of the area we're exploring that may help to focus awareness and perhaps bring a little relaxation into the mix.

But our primary object is just to notice what can be felt right now in the pelvic area of this body in this moment.

And inviting awareness up into the low back.

For many of us an area of some vulnerability or tenderness,

Maybe there's injury history.

So notice the feeling right now of the low back of its position.

Feeling around the spine and the sides of the lower torso.

Are there subtle changes in sensation in the low back as we breathe in and out?

And allowing awareness to move up into the belly.

Can we feel here a sense of rising and falling,

Expansion and contraction as the diaphragm moves just above the belly hanging off the rib cage as it is?

What's the feeling in the belly as we breathe?

And are there areas of sensation in the belly,

The stomach,

Other parts of the lower abdomen inhabiting our belly?

Bringing awareness up into the center of the chest now,

Right around the belly button.

We know from anatomy there are many organs here.

What can we feel directly?

What's the feeling in the center of the chest as we breathe in and out?

And this lower awareness again down into the back and the spine,

Feeling the middle spine,

Its position,

How it's held,

How it feels.

Curious now about the middle back.

And let's travel up the spine into the upper back.

What can we felt here?

What can be felt now in the upper back of the body?

And rising awareness up into our chest,

Our upper chest,

Noticing rising and falling here as the breath comes and goes.

Dropping down into the lungs themselves for a minute.

Can we inhabit our own lungs with awareness?

Feeling them expanding out into the rib cage and down towards the back and inhalation.

Softening,

Releasing on the exhalation.

Feeling how the diaphragm pulling down and relaxing back up allows this process to go forward breath after breath.

How fortunate we are to be breathing.

Now let's bring awareness up and out to the sides and tune into our shoulders.

This area where many of us hold so much tension.

Noticing as we tune into the shoulders,

Breathe into the shoulders if that works.

And perhaps some of that tension is released and softened.

And can we notice what exactly are those sensations?

Where is the tension if there is any in the shoulders right now?

Feeling the shoulders,

The way the scapula come around into the upper back.

Inviting some softening and release without needing to make anything happen.

And let's begin to travel down the arms.

These arms that work so hard for us.

Holding,

Manipulating,

Bringing things forward and pushing things away.

These arms that are now at rest.

Can we appreciate that we have arms?

Bringing awareness into the upper arms,

Feeling the feeling there.

Being curious about the sensations in the elbows right now.

Left and right.

And tuning into the lower arms to the forearms.

And the muscles a little bit tense and ready for action.

More softer,

More open.

Bringing awareness into the wrists,

These joints that allow us to move the hands around so fluidly usually.

What can be felt right now in the two wrists?

And then tuning into the hands.

Really interesting to just notice our hands more.

Feeling into the palms and how the hands are positioned.

Are they a little cupped?

And tuning into the fingers and thumbs.

Where is the sensation that we can notice in these many joints and ligaments?

Blood vessels,

Skin of these ten digits that allow us to grasp and stroke.

And let's bring awareness to the very fingertips.

This point of the body that we use to give something its first touch to see what it's like to see if it's safe for us to touch.

What are the fingertips in contact with right now?

Then let's wrap our awareness around the backs of the fingers and the backs of the hands.

What can be felt there?

Just a short distance from the palms and the front face of the hands and fingers.

Feeling now on the backs of the hands.

And then let's begin to travel back up the arms through the wrists,

Lower arms,

Elbows and upper arms and returning again to the shoulders.

Noticing how the shoulders are now on this return.

And let's gather awareness up into the collarbone,

The front of the throat.

It's the feeling there as we breathe and bring curiosity and awareness.

So attention there that can be softened a little bit.

And then let's gather our attention into the neck.

How's the neck right now?

Back of the neck,

Sides,

Front of the neck.

So much moving through the neck from the head,

Exchanges with the rest of the body.

Possibly we can feel the movement of air up and down the trachea.

Does it feel different going up or down?

And are there other movements and energies,

Vibrations or pulsation that can be felt in the neck right now?

And beginning to explore the head starting with the jaw.

The jaw joint we read moves more over a lifetime than any other joint.

What's the experience of it right now?

Can we bring awareness down the lower mandible,

Down to the joint alongside the skull?

Perhaps letting that lower jaw drop into the joint a little bit.

The mouth may part a little.

Just feeling this sort of cage around the mouth of the upper and lower jaw,

Its connection at the joint on both sides of the skull.

And entering the mouth with this awareness in this journey of exploration.

Noticing the mouth as it is,

Not as we think it is or expect it to be.

It's feeling right now.

Perhaps there's moist areas almost certainly,

But maybe also dry areas,

Hard,

Soft.

Noticing gums or palate,

Tongue,

Throat.

Salivation.

What's happening in this experiential way right now in the mouth?

And then bringing awareness up into the cheeks.

How are the cheeks held right now in this moment?

Can they be allowed to soften and drop a little?

We don't have to put on any kind of face right now.

It can be interesting to drop awareness down into the sinuses below the cheeks.

Can there be a feeling there of movement of air,

Cool or warm?

So you breathe in and out.

We might follow that movement of air through the sinus and nasal passages up into the nose.

Feeling the feeling in the nostrils as the air comes in and the air goes out again.

And bringing awareness now into the eyes.

Letting the eyeballs rest gently in the sockets.

Feeling what there is to be felt right now in our own eyes.

The mind is long gone by now.

Just like with all these practices,

Gently bringing it back again and again as necessary as we feel the feeling in our eyes.

And now let's raise awareness up into our forehead and the bridge of the nose.

Another area where many of us hold tension.

Maybe a connection there with a certain kind of concentrating or trying hard.

But we're developing another way of efforting,

A softer way here.

So can we allow the forehead to soften and broaden as we tune in to the sensations that are present there right now?

And rising awareness further up into the crown of the head.

Can anything be felt there right now?

And let's allow awareness to swing around to the back of the head.

If the back of the head is pressed against something,

You might notice that positive feeling of contact,

Of pressure kind of smushing into the back of the head.

Skin,

Little flesh,

Skull,

What can be felt?

And then let's broaden our awareness from just these smaller areas from the back of the head now to expand out and feel the whole of the head.

The whole skull,

The whole head,

The face,

The jaw,

This head as we inhabit it in a different way,

A different way of living in our head,

A sensory way.

Feeling the head as we breathe in and as we breathe out.

Appreciating the richness of the body,

The presence of the body.

For life,

There's so much more right with the body than there is wrong with it.

And now as we move towards the close of our body scan,

Doing our best to be as present as we can be as we expand the circle of awareness further and further bringing the whole body back into view.

Feeling the head with the neck and the upper chest and upper back,

The shoulders,

Including the arms down to the fingers,

The middle chest and back,

All of it together,

Connected,

Interacting,

Breathing into awareness more and more of the body,

The belly,

The low back,

The whole torso breathing in and breathing out,

Including the buttocks,

Pelvis,

The groin,

Including the upper legs,

The knees,

Lower legs,

Ankles and feet.

And then a kind of returning to where we started with the toes.

The toes as just the part of this cycle,

This wholeness,

This interconnectedness that is our body,

The wholeness of it so much more than any collection of parts and yet those parts so diverse and rich.

And just bending a few last seconds,

Breathing in awareness in this whole body.

Perhaps a deep breath or a shrug of the shoulders or a gentle,

Gentle roll of the head as we gradually bring some movement back to the body and inviting also,

If it's available to us,

Maybe some feeling of gratitude and appreciation that we took this time to practice the body scan,

Beneficial to us in so many ways and that we have a body in mind to practice with.

You

Reviews

It's a excellent meditation. His voice is soft and slow, and the rhythm is just enough for you to pay attention and feel your body relax. The longer time on the shoulders is very helpful. I loved it!

Perfect thank you

Absolutely relaxing 😌

Excellent! Will be coming back to this body scan. Very well paced. Thank you!1🙏

I love this guy’s voice and his generally laid back and reassuring way of speaking.

Calm, steady and relaxed

I really enjoy this body scan and use elements of it during the day when I’m stressed. It refocuses me.

Very connecting to the body! Excellent!

Thank you. The calm voice and gentle pacing of this meditation is very helpful. Lasting 30 minutes is ideal as there is no rushing and it allows a better focus to occur. Thank you for the soothing tone of your voice. This is a welcome relief to a hectic life.

Simple,excellent and effective.

A very good, basic body scan with no unnecessary music or mystical undertones.

Just what I needed. Thank you.

Calm voice, good pace.

This is a great body scan, the teacher's voice is pleasant and calming, the pace of instruction works well for me.

Really nice. Relaxing. Good reminder to be aware and not judge the sensations in my body. Thank you. 🙏🏻

Great scan , thanks

Well paced, thorough body scan, synchronously moving through the body from feet to head rather than sensing into right and left parts separately.

So well done. Thank you. 🙏
Better without the train! ☺️