MBCT Body Scan

Dr. Julien Lacaille guides you through a gentle body scan as part of an MBCT program. This practice will help you shift into a 'being' mode where you give yourself permission to drop any bodily tension or unwanted thoughts. This is a highly supportive, calming and relaxing practice and can assist with depression or high levels of stress.

Transcript

So settling your body in this lying down posture,

Arriving on the mat or on the cushion,

Giving ourselves the permission to really slow down.

And maybe even the permission to not have to fix anything for the next several minutes.

Shifting into a being mode,

Just being.

And so just noticing the weight of your body,

The contact points.

If there's any holding or bracing,

Holding yourself up,

Just seeing if it's possible to soften,

To release a little bit more,

Delegating the responsibility to the floor to hold us up.

Bringing the attention to the belly,

To the abdomen.

Just noticing the movement there.

And even there,

If there is a sense of kind of tensing up against the breath or bracing,

Controlling,

Just seeing if it's possible,

Just for now as an experiment,

To just let the body do the breathing for us.

As we keep our attention on this movement,

The rising,

The falling,

The expansion,

The contraction.

Well we29 on an out-breath releasing the abdomen from our attention,

On an in-breath establishing attention in the left foot.

Just bringing a sense of curiosity,

Of interest to the sensations that may be there in the left foot,

Around the toes,

The sole,

The heel,

The back,

Sides,

The top.

And noticing what happens when we just place the attention there in the left foot,

And we just stay there with a sense of curiosity,

Of not knowing what will happen next.

Maybe some tingling,

Maybe a contact,

Pressure,

Maybe the absence of a sensation.

Taking that curious attention now and kind of shifting it up through the ankle towards the bottom of the left leg,

The shin,

The calf,

That whole region between the knee and the ankle on the left leg.

Exploring,

Being open,

Receptive,

What's there?

Moving into the left knee,

Moving into the left knee,

And the left thigh.

And just tuning into this cloud of sensations,

Ever-changing sensations in the left thigh.

Without having to make anything else happen than what is happening already,

Even if what's happening is the absence of sensations.

Just allowing what is to be.

And on an out-breath,

We can release the left thigh from our awareness,

And on an in-breath,

Establishing our attention now on the right foot.

And sensing into the right foot,

What it actually feels like to have a right foot right this moment.

Again,

Maybe there's a cloud of sensations there.

Sensations may be just evolving on their own.

As we place our attention there and just watch the show of sensations,

Or the lack thereof.

And continuing this exploration as we move up the right leg through the ankle,

And moving into the right knee,

And continuing this exploration as we move up the right leg through the ankle,

Between that region,

Between the ankle and the right knee.

Just letting that region of the body become clearer as we bring focus there.

Bringing this precise attention to the right knee now.

Not to the idea of a knee,

But to the actual region in that part of the body.

Region in the back,

In the front,

The sides,

On the outside,

On the inside.

And then moving attention up,

Gradually,

Into the right thigh.

And letting that become clear,

That region.

Even if it's undefined,

Vague,

Mostly absent,

Let that vagueness or that absence become clear.

No matter what is showing up.

See it how it is.

And seeing what we discover and notice as we move attention now up into the right thigh,

And explore the left thigh,

We move up into the hip region,

The pelvic region,

The space between the left and the right hip,

The buttocks,

Tailbone,

Lower abdomen.

Just letting that whole region become clear in your awareness.

Moving in into the region of the abdomen in the front,

The waist on the sides,

The lower and middle back,

In the back.

And that whole region in between the front and the back of the body at that level.

Maybe noticing movement,

Maybe noticing the effects of the digestive process,

The contact with the clothing,

Discomfort,

Noticing the absence of sensation.

And continuing to shift the attention upward,

The upper abdominal region,

The bottom of the rib cage,

The middle and beginning to be the upper part of the back,

The diaphragm,

Maybe the movement there.

Continuing upward,

The area surrounding the heart,

The upper blades,

The upper chest.

Noticing the cloud of sensations there.

How are things evolving?

And on an out-breath releasing that region of the body from our awareness.

And on an in-breath establishing our attention in the left hand and in the right hand.

And here we can choose,

Do we want to be aware of both hands at the same time?

Or maybe one first and then the other?

Maybe starting at the palms,

Exploring each finger,

Fingertips.

What's there?

Warmth,

Pressure,

Vibration,

Tingling or some other sensation?

And then on your own time,

Continuing this exploration from the hands all the way up to the shoulders.

Just moving slowly and deliberately up the left arm and the right arm and noticing what's there to be noticed.

Once we get up to the shoulders,

Continuing this kind of journey upward into the neck.

The back of the neck,

The sides,

The front,

The throat.

And whether sensations there are unpleasant,

Neutral or pleasant,

Just seeing if we can allow what's there to be there for now.

Just acknowledging this is how it is right now.

Again,

Acknowledging this kind of cloud of sensations that may be evolving and dynamic.

Moving into the jaw area.

The mouth.

The tongue.

The lips.

The space between the lips.

The nostrils and the air flowing through them.

Cheekbones.

The eyes and the region surrounding the eyes.

If the eyes are closed,

Noticing that there's still some visual perception there inside the eyelids.

Shapes,

Colors,

Movement.

Just allowing these sensations to be there.

As we bring this attention and notice the scalp,

Forehead,

The temples,

The ears,

The back of the head that's maybe resting against something.

And gradually starting to open,

Widen the scope of this attention.

Being aware of the face as a whole,

The head as a whole.

The cloud of sensations there,

In that region.

Just allowing attention to keep opening to the whole body,

The neck,

The shoulders,

The arms,

The hands.

The trunk of the body,

The front,

The back,

Sides.

The pelvic region,

The legs and the feet,

The whole body.

Noticing this dynamic field of sensations.

Keeps evolving,

Appearing,

Disappearing.

And all of that,

All these sensations are just showing up in the same place.

In this awareness.

Whether it's coming from the bottom of the body or the top of the body,

It's showing up in this same place,

Awareness.

Just resting in this awareness for a few moments.

Imagine you are raising one of those feelings into another 넣 All right?

Reviews

Thank you, I really enjoyer your voice, your sweet heart and your guiding points show beautifully your practice and wisdom. Please keep sharing your treasures to the world 💕✨💕

Feeling very relaxed afterwards. Thanks 🙏

This is my favorite meditation right now. Very well paced. Thanks!

I enjoyed the simplicity of this meditation. Thank you!

Loved it. Thank you

Thank you you have helped so Much