Body scan exercise.
So begin by taking a simple moment to allow your body to relax in a comfortable position.
You could be seated,
Lying down,
You could be seated on a chair or even standing.
Now you might close your eyes if you are seated or lie down and keep them or slightly open to relax the face and to relax the whole spine,
Allowing the shoulder to soften,
Allow the body to relax in your comfortable position.
And once you're comfortable,
All settled in,
Today we will practice a body scan.
So taking a full breath in and a long breath out.
Begin bringing your attention to your body slowly.
Notice the feeling of the weight of your body on the chair or on the floor.
Whenever you are,
Just feel that weight.
And as you breathe,
Notice how your chest and abdominal expanding.
To allow the fresh air to enter your lungs.
What sensation are you aware of as you're breathing deep into the lungs?
And as you're exhaling,
What awareness,
What sensation you're experiencing with your exhale?
Now bring your attention to the top of your head,
The crown of your head.
Noticing any sensations in the skull.
Noticing if there's any pleasant,
Unpleasant or neutral sensations.
See if you can fully stay there and bring awareness to whatever you're experiencing at this moment right here and now.
Moving down to the back of the head.
To the sides of the head.
And what sensation we noticing on the sides and back of the head.
Bring your attention to your face.
Notice if your jaw is relaxed,
If your tongue is relaxed.
Let your face be soft,
Your eyelid.
Relax the muscles around your eyes.
Around your mouth.
And relax the whole face.
Breathing in comfortably into the face.
And breathing out softly,
Calmly through the face.
Now we're moving into the neck and the throat.
Taking deep breath in.
And take long exhale to soften the neck and the throat.
Notice your shoulders and arms.
Feel any sensations as you allow your attention to move from your shoulders down to your arms,
To your forearms,
To your wrist,
Hands and fingers.
Noticing if there is any sensation at all in your shoulders,
Arms,
Fingers.
Any tingling sensations,
Any pleasant,
Unpleasant or could be even neutral sensations.
We accept anything,
We stay in the moment with curiosity.
And if the mind take us elsewhere,
Thought comes,
We acknowledge it.
And we let it go,
Go back to our body scan and feel that sensation in that region.
Noticing the temperature in the room touching your arms,
Shoulders.
Or even if the sense of the clothes that touches your skin,
The feel of that.
Is it pleasant?
Is it comfortable?
Just awareness with curiosity,
Staying here in this present moment.
Bringing awareness to the sensations in our arms,
Fingers,
Wrist,
Shoulders.
Continue breathing in.
Feeling moving into the chest,
Into the diaphragm.
As we're breathing in,
We're feeling the expansion.
And as we breathe,
Exhale slowly,
We feel the contraction in our chest.
What sensation the breath bring to the lung,
Chest and diaphragm?
Is it a sense of opening?
A sense of freedom?
A sense of feeling that life force,
The energy coming into the lungs and leaving the lungs.
Feeling the movement in chest.
As we're breathing in and out.
So we're going to bring your attention to your stomach.
Leaving the lungs and chest and feeling the stomach.
Noticing if your stomach is tense or tight.
Noticing if it's happy and relaxed.
Now we're going to notice our upper back,
Middle and lower back.
We're going to notice the whole spine.
Perhaps it's touching if you're sitting on a chair,
Feeling with your breath the sensation in your spine,
The whole spine,
Upper,
Middle,
Lower.
If you're lying down,
You can still feel that touch on the ground.
What sensation arising here through your spine?
Pleasant and pleasant.
A tingling sensation.
Or it could be neutral sensations.
We're staying with whatever it is.
But we are curious about the sensation we're experiencing.
In this region,
In your back,
In your spine.
Now we continue,
We continue traveling down to your legs.
Notice if you're holding any tension in your legs.
See if you can just let them relax to release that tension.
Let them relax to release that tension.
Notice your thighs,
Your knees.
Notice your calf,
Your shin,
Your ankles.
And bringing your attention to your feet,
To the heels,
To the arch in your foot,
To the toes.
What are you noticing in your legs,
Front,
Back,
Knees,
Ankles,
Feet,
Toes.
What sensation arising?
What are you exploring?
Pleasant sensation,
Unpleasant,
Or neutral?
Is there a tingling sensation?
See if with your breath you can just let go of any tension,
But softening the whole legs and toes.
Noticing the sensation of your feet against the floor.
Noticing any weight.
With dropping on the floor,
Maybe relaxing,
A sense of temperature.
Feeling the energy and the sensation in your feet.
And as you continue breathing in and out,
Notice if the whole body,
From the crown of the head to the toes,
Is completely relaxing.
Staying with a sense of the whole body for a few more breaths.
Staying with a sense of the whole body for a few more breaths.
Staying in the moment with curiosity.
And if thought and distraction comes,
Let them go.
It's normal to experience those distractions.
With practicing more,
You will learn to focus more on what the present moment is bringing.
The sensation in that particular body and the awareness to that sensation,
Whether it's pleasant or unpleasant.
Noticing and paying attention with curiosity,
Without any judgment,
To whatever is coming right here and now.
And as we close,
We continue remaining aware of your body as best as you can.
Whether it is pleasant sensation you're experiencing,
Or unpleasant,
Or neutral.
As you finish,
With a full deep breath in,
And a long deep breath out.
And remember,
You can always use this practice body scan anytime during the day.
Even the day that you feel a little tense,
Or a little bit of hard day,
Or there's a part of the body that's experiencing some tension,
Some uncomfortable sensations.
By doing body scan and focusing on each part,
Piece by piece,
We're shifting the attention from that pain,
And perhaps it becomes more neutral,
Or more balanced.
You can also practice this focus,
This focus concentration on someone you really want to pay attention fully to what they're saying.
You listen with your ears and heart,
You listen with your ears and heart,
And just totally be with that person,
Whatever that person is saying.
So I want to thank you so much for listening and practicing body scan exercise with me today.
