Body scan.
For this meditation you can either choose to sit or to lie down.
If you're sitting,
Find a comfortable upright alert sitting position with your feet flat on the floor,
Your back fairly straight and upright but not too rigid,
Your arms resting by your sides or on your lap.
And if you're lying down,
Just lying down flat on the back or if you've got any problems with back pain you may find it useful to bend the legs with your feet flat on the floor,
Supporting your head with a cushion or pillow and gently closing your eyes if that's comfortable for you.
Start by just getting a sense of the whole of the body,
Just noticing the contact with the surfaces supporting you.
Noticing the ground beneath you,
Feeling the weight of the body,
Just opening up to the sense of touch.
You get a sense of how you're feeling right now.
Noticing any physical sensations in the body,
Any emotions,
Mood.
Just getting a sense of what it feels like to be here in this moment,
In this body,
In this space.
Maybe getting a sense of being held and supported unconditionally by the ground beneath you.
Then gently bringing your attention inwards to the breath,
Just noticing what it feels like to breathe,
What it feels like to breathe in,
What it feels like to breathe out.
Just noticing where you can feel the breath in the body.
Now gently bring your attention down through the body,
Down the legs,
Down to the feet,
Into the big toes of each foot.
Just noticing any sensations you can feel in the big toes of each foot right now.
Maybe strong sensations,
Maybe subtle sensations,
Maybe no sensations at all.
That's okay.
We're not trying to change anything or make anything happen.
Just noticing your experience moment by moment.
Just noticing what you can feel in the toes of each foot right now.
Now broadening out to the rest of the toes,
Maybe noticing contact between the toes.
Can you bring your awareness to the spaces between the toes?
Noticing now sensations in the rest of the feet,
The sides of the feet,
Tops of the feet,
The soles.
Just holding both feet and your awareness.
Maybe noticing how sensations change,
How they come and go.
And if you notice that your mind begins to wander,
Drifting into thinking,
Planning,
Fantasy,
That's okay.
It's part of the deal.
It's what our minds do.
There's nothing wrong,
No need to judge.
Just notice and gently bring your attention back to the body,
Back to this part of the body,
Back to the feet.
And now letting go of the feet and bring your attention up to the ankles,
To the ankle bones and tendons.
Maybe noticing contact with footwear,
Temperature.
So we now bring our attention up to the lower legs,
The calves,
Calf muscles,
The skin around the lower legs.
We notice contact with clothing.
Noticing sensations in the shins,
The shin bones.
You may notice a difference in the temperature between the shins and the calves.
The similarities between the sensations in the left or the right leg.
As we now bring our attention up to the knees,
The kneecaps,
The sides of the knees and the softer skin at the back of the knees.
What sensations can you feel here right now?
And then bring your attention up to the thighs.
Maybe noticing sensations of pressure from contact with whatever's supporting you in the back of the thighs.
Noticing sensations in the sides of the thighs and thigh muscles.
Noticing sensations on the tops of the thighs.
Maybe noticing contact with hands or clothing.
Just noticing what's there for you right now.
Letting go of the legs and bring our attention to the lower body,
The pelvic area,
What sensations can you feel here right now?
Round to the hips.
Maybe noticing contact with clothing.
Noticing sensations in the bottom,
The lower back,
The base of the spine,
The arc of the lower back.
Bring your attention inwards to the organs and systems of the lower body.
Maybe noticing sensations in the liver,
The kidneys,
The digestive system.
Maybe noticing a slight tightening of the skin around the stomach as we breathe in and relaxation as we breathe out.
Or maybe noticing sensations of the breath in the lower body,
The rise and fall of the abdomen,
Rising,
Falling,
With each in breath and each out breath.
Now bring your attention up to the ribs,
To the chest,
Noticing contact with clothing,
Rise and fall of the chest as the lungs fill with each inhalation and let go with each exhalation.
Maybe noticing sensations from the heart beat,
Gently beating inside the chest.
As we come round to the sides of the body,
Maybe noticing movement in the sides of the body as the ribs expand and contract,
With each in breath and each out breath.
Maybe noticing a change in contact with clothing,
Movement from the body,
Movement from the breath.
We bring our attention around to the back of the body,
The spine,
Shoulder blades.
What sensations can you feel here right now?
Noticing sensations in the muscles,
The back of the body.
Maybe noticing contact with the surface supporting you.
Sensations of pressure from the weight of the body.
As we bring our attention up to the shoulders,
Maybe noticing whether you're holding any tension there,
Seeing if you can soften and let go.
Maybe imagine breathing into the tension and then letting go as you breathe out from the tension.
Now bring your attention down the arms,
Noticing sensations in the upper arms.
Maybe noticing contact between the arms and the body.
Sensations in the biceps and triceps.
What sensations can you feel in the elbows and the forearms?
Noticing sensations in the wrists,
Maybe noticing contact with jewellery,
Clothing.
As we now bring our attention to the hands,
Noticing sensations in the back of the hands.
The palms of the hands.
Noticing sensations in each of the fingers and thumbs.
Maybe noticing contact between the hands,
Between the hands and the body.
And bring your attention down to the tips of each finger.
What sensations can you feel in the tips of each finger right now?
Letting go of the fingers,
Letting go of the hands.
As we bring our attention up to the neck,
To the back of the neck,
To the sides of the neck,
To the throat.
Maybe noticing sensations of the breath in the throat.
The subtle change in temperature from the in-breath to the out-breath.
As we now bring our attention up to the jaw,
The jaw bones,
The chin.
And bring our attention to the insides of the mouth,
The insides of the cheeks,
The tongue resting inside the mouth.
Noticing dryness or moisture,
Any tastes.
Noticing sensations in the gums and teeth.
Can you notice any sensations from contact between the lips?
As we now bring our attention up to the nostrils,
The nose.
Noticing sensations of the breath.
The sensations are stronger on the in-breath or the out-breath.
The left nostril or the right nostril.
There's no right,
There's no wrong.
Just your experience.
As we bring our attention to the cheeks and the cheekbones,
Spaces around the eyes,
The eyeballs.
Maybe noticing any dryness and tiredness.
Noticing sensations in the eyelids.
And bringing our attention up to the eyebrows,
The forehead.
Noticing sensations in the temples.
Around the sides of the head,
Ears.
Maybe noticing contact with hair or jewellery.
As we now bring our attention around to the back of the head,
To the top of the head and the scalp.
What sensations can you feel in the scalp right now?
Broadening out to the whole of the head,
The face,
And to the rest of the body,
The arms and the legs.
Just getting a sense of the whole of the body right now.
From the top of the head,
To the soles of the feet.
From the back of the body,
To the front of the body.
The left side of the body.
The right side of the body.
Noticing how you're feeling right now.
Thoughts,
Emotions,
Physical sensations.
Then opening up to the space around you.
Noticing the temperature of the air on your skin.
Contact with the surfaces supporting you.
A touch of clothing.
Becoming aware of the sounds inside and outside the room.
Gently opening your eyes as we bring this practice to a close.
Just noticing what's around you.
Gently wiggling the toes and fingers and bringing some movement back into the body.
Then returning to the day.
