The Body Scan

The Body Scan. This is a body awareness practice. It's primary use is as an aid to 'waking up' to life. If you choose to use it to help you sleep (and many people do find that this practice helps them sleep) then please be aware that this is a secondary and different use for this track. If you also use on different occasions it to help you 'wake up' it can be helpful to ritually distinguish the two types of use - so for example you could listen to it in bed to go to sleep but listen to it lying on a rug to 'wake up'. Or you could play it very quietly to help you sleep and play it at normal volume during the day as an awareness practice.

Transcript

The body scan.

So beginning by setting yourself up in a posture that's going to be comfortable for you for the next 30 minutes either lying down on the floor on a mat with your head supported perhaps with a folded up blanket or a cushion perhaps having something under your knees making sure the room is warm enough or if you prefer sitting on a chair perhaps an upright chair or supported on cushions on the ground.

Then just giving yourself time to arrive and getting a sense of how it feels to be sitting or lying and gradually making the transition from having your attention outward with practical concerns to having your attention on your direct experience a simple sensation of your body in whichever posture and particularly your contact with the ground.

Feeling the places in your body that press down into the ground allowing your attention to just linger on these sensations of pressure,

Coolness,

Warmth,

Tingling,

Hardness,

Softness.

Now you may find that your mind keeps flitting around getting caught up in thoughts,

Fantasies or even worries.

We're just gently and gradually encouraging our attention to come to rest on our direct experience feeling the weight of your body pressing down and then also opening to a sense of your body as a whole and just feeling a general sense of your posture where your arms and legs are and noticing any areas of the body where you find yourself bracing or tensing or tightening and simply allowing your body to soften and perhaps trusting that you're safe to let go of the weight of your body and allow your weight to sink down into the support underneath you.

And you may find it helpful to bring your attention to your breathing.

Feeling the rhythmic rocking motion as the breath comes in and releases.

Feeling the abdomen rising and falling with each breath.

Gentle stretching of the abdomen wall falling back as the out-breath releases.

Almost sensing that the breath is happening all by itself.

So in just a moment we're going to bring attention away from the breathing and I'm going to invite you to take attention to different parts of the body in turn bearing in mind that the aim of this practice is simply to be with your moment to moment experience.

Whenever your mind wanders off and you realize just gently but firmly coming back so that's not a sign that you're doing anything wrong and it's bound to happen repeatedly.

We're not trying to achieve any particular state like relaxation.

We're just gently opening to our moment to moment experience allowing it to be just the way it is as best we can.

So now letting go of an awareness of your breathing and bringing your attention all the way down your left leg and down to the toes of your left foot.

So what sensations do you feel in the toes of your left foot?

Perhaps tingling,

Warmth,

Coolness,

Feeling of sox or tights against your toes,

Pressure or maybe no very clear sensations at all and if that's the case then just simply noticing that there's no right or wrong.

And then bringing your attention round to the underside of your left foot,

The pad of the foot,

The ball,

The instep and the heel.

As best you can noticing the difference between thinking about the foot and actually feeling the direct experience of sensation.

And then round to the top of the left foot all the way from the toes up to the ankle and then the ankle itself,

The bony parts of the ankle and the softer parts around the ankle.

Being as precise as you can in bringing your attention into all the little details that you can sense in the ankle.

And then broadening your attention to taking the whole of your left foot and then bringing an awareness of your breath alongside the sensations.

So you may even be able to almost imagine or sense that you could breathe all the way down into the foot as if the whole foot were hollow.

Breathing in and breathing out and if that doesn't make sense just bringing an awareness of your breath alongside the sensations.

And then on an out-breath letting go,

Moving up into the lower left leg all the way from the ankle up to the knee.

If you're lying down with your legs out straight perhaps feeling your calf pressing down into the mat.

And then up into the left knee,

The kneecap,

The sides of the knee and the back of the knee.

And then the left upper leg,

The thigh and the whole area from the knee up to the groin on the inside and the hip on the outside.

And then opening to take in a sense of the whole of the left leg all the way from the hip down to your toes.

And again in some way that makes sense to you,

Feeling or imagining that you could breathe down into the whole of the left leg filling it with your breath and your awareness.

And as you breathe out bringing your attention across the pelvis,

Away from the left leg and down the right leg and all the way down to the toes of the right foot.

And again noticing the sensations here tingling,

Pressure,

Numbness,

Warmth,

Coolness,

Or again perhaps no very clear sensations at all.

Toes,

The spaces between the toes and then round to the underside of your right foot,

The ball,

The knuckles of the right foot,

The instep and the arch and the heel.

Then round to the top of the right foot,

The whole area from the toes up to the ankle and including the ankle bones and the Achilles tendon.

And then moving on up into the lower right leg,

The shin at the front and calf at the back.

And as always if you find that your mind has wandered then just gently,

No sense of reprimanding yourself,

Just gently but firmly coming back to this moment,

Up into the sensations in your knee,

Kneecap,

Sides of the knee,

The back of the knee.

And then up into the upper leg,

The thigh,

Perhaps feeling your clothing against your skin,

The weight of the thigh if it's in contact with the chair or the floor.

And then opening out to a sense of the whole of the right leg all the way from the hip down to your toes.

And again in some way that makes sense,

Bringing awareness of your breath alongside the sensations as if you could breathe all the way down to your toes.

And on an out-breath letting go,

Moving to the pelvic region.

If you're lying on the ground feeling the sacrum and the buttocks pressing down into the mat or whatever you're lying on.

And if you're sitting in a chair just feeling the sitting bones pressing down.

Now the pelvic region is a place where some people experience unpleasant emotion when they bring their attention to sensations.

So if that does happen for you then just bearing in mind you can always bring your attention back to somewhere more neutral like the sensation of your abdomen rising and falling with the breath or your contact with the ground.

This is a way of steadying yourself.

If you're choosing to keep your attention in the pelvic region just exploring this little world of sensation in the pelvic cup on the surface,

Deep down inside.

And as before bringing awareness of your breath alongside the sensations.

Sensing that you could almost breathe into the pelvic region.

Filling it with your breath and your awareness.

Then on an out-breath letting go,

Moving your attention up into your lower back your lower back is an area that comes under a fair bit of strain in the course of the day.

So it's an area where many people experience discomfort or tension or even pain.

So even if that is the case for you as best you can opening to your back just as it is in this moment.

A sense of curiosity allowing your experience to be as it is as best you can and if there is any intensity of sensation perhaps breathing with it,

Breathing into it and inviting it to flow out on the out-breath.

And then moving up into your upper back.

So if you're lying on the floor feeling the sense of the weight of your body pressing down.

And whatever your posture you may notice sensations changing in your upper back as you breathe.

And then moving around to your belly.

Feeling the abdomen wall rising falling with each breath.

This gentle rocking motion.

And then up on into your chest area and here you may feel your clothes very slightly moving against your skin as the ribcage expands and draws back again.

And then opening to a sense of the whole of the torso,

The back,

Belly,

Chest.

And in this region you may even physically sense the breath just slightly moving,

Rocking,

Stretching the whole of this area.

Almost as if the breath were filling the whole of the torso.

And then on an out-breath letting go and bringing your attention up to your shoulders and all the way down your arms and out to your hands and your fingertips.

Fingertips,

Fingers,

Thumbs,

The palms and the backs of the hands,

The wrists,

The feeling of the sensations in your hands,

Perhaps tingling,

Contact if your hands are touching cloth or a mat,

Texture,

Warmth,

Coolness.

Perhaps even a sense of energy in the hands,

Aliveness.

And then on up into your forearms,

Noticing if they're in contact with anything.

And your elbows,

The bony parts of the elbows and the inner elbow,

The crease of the elbow and your upper arms,

All the way from your elbows up to your armpits and your shoulders.

And then broadening your attention to taking a sense of the whole of both arms and hands.

And feeling or imagining that you could breathe into the whole of both arms.

And then on an out-breath letting go and moving up into your neck,

Throat at the front and the back of the neck,

The vertebrae and then up into the base of the skull,

The point where the neck joins the head and the whole area of your jaw.

And then coming round to the face beginning with your lips and the mouth,

Inside the mouth,

Teeth,

Gums,

Tongue,

Roof of the mouth,

Back of the throat.

And your nose,

Nostrils,

Perhaps feeling the air coming in as you breathe.

And your eyes and the muscles around your eyes,

Your forehead and your temples.

And then your ears,

The outside of the ears,

The inside.

And the whole area of your scalp from forehead and the crown of the head round to the nape of your neck.

Perhaps feeling the weight of your head on a cushion if you're lying down.

And then opening to a sense of the whole of your head and you might like to feel or imagine that you could feel the whole of your head with your breath and your awareness.

And then allowing your awareness to spread through the whole body,

Your head all the way down to your fingertips and your toes.

Feeling the sense of the whole of your body sitting or lying down.

And you might like to imagine that you could breathe in through the top of your head all the way down to your fingertips and your toes.

As if your whole body were spacious and open and you could fill that space with your breath.

Feeling the sense of the completeness of your body just as it is in this moment.

Just like we're sitting,

We're in such a special study of inhaling air,

Breathing air And then bringing to mind the thought that we're going to draw this practice to a close,

Although of course you're free if you have the time to stay lying down or sitting as long as it suits you.

But perhaps if you want to,

Bringing a bit of movement back into your body,

Wiggling fingers and toes.

And you might want to stretch.

If you're lying down,

Perhaps lay on your side for a while,

Just rolling onto your side.

And then when you are ready to come up,

It can be helpful to push your body up from the side,

Bringing your head up last to protect your back.

And then perhaps bringing whatever presence or sense of awareness you may have gained from doing the practice into the next part of your day.

Reviews

Lovely. Thank you 😊

Very soothing voice. Excellent body scan

A very good body scan. Thank you.

Beautiful body scan.

It's works exactly how you wouldn't exact Each time.