Breath & Body Scan

Settling into the sensations of the body and the breath, the mind can be stable, spacious, and and open to allow thoughts and emotions to move through.

Transcript

As you settle in,

In your seat,

Arriving in this moment,

In this body,

In this place,

In this now,

First check in with yourself.

How are you feeling?

How is this body?

How is this mind?

Simply noticing.

Tired,

Rested,

Happy.

Sad,

Whatever it is,

Just noticing what is present right now.

In this body,

In this mind,

In this heart.

No good or bad,

Nor right or wrong.

Simply noticing.

Taking a pulse.

Simply being aware.

It's all okay,

Whatever is here and whatever is arising in this moment.

It's all okay.

It's all okay.

Inviting the attention to rest,

To touch.

The sensations of the body starting with your feet.

Getting grounded,

Stable.

Gently touching the sensations of the feet,

Where your feet might be touching the ground.

Feeling of pressure,

Hardness,

Softness,

Warmth,

Or coolness.

Gently inviting your attention to touch and embrace,

Stay on the sensations that you feel in the feet.

There may be sensations of tingling,

Feeling of movement.

Allowing the feet to be soft and relaxed.

While you gently,

In your mind,

Touch them with your attention.

Moving up from the feet to the lower legs.

Gently touching the areas where your legs touch each other or the floor,

The cushion.

Gently bringing the attention there.

Connecting your attention there and resting the attention there,

Embracing.

Allowing your attention to rest on the sensations of lower legs.

Touch and then gently rub,

Gently stay.

With whatever is present,

Sensations,

Raw sensations.

As if you're a Martian who was dropped in this body and felt the sensations in the lower legs for the first time.

Wow,

Huh,

That's interesting.

Moving up the body to the upper legs.

Gently touching and resting the attention.

Feelings in the upper legs,

Perhaps where your hands rest on the legs.

The touch point,

Where does your leg end?

Where does your hand begin?

Gently placing your attention with curiosity.

Not pressing,

Not pushing the attention,

Just gently resting.

The attention in the touch point,

Contact point.

Now allowing your attention to be drawn to whatever else sensations you feel in your upper leg.

Raw sensations,

Pulling,

Tightening,

Soft vibrations.

Heat,

Coolness.

Now inviting your attention to move up to where your bottom touches the cushion or the chair,

The touch point,

The area of your sits bone.

Feeling the pressure,

Gently bringing your attention and resting the attention in that contact point.

And as if that contact point was a bowl you were polishing with your gentle attention.

Let your attention,

Your awareness touch,

Hover,

Polish that area,

Embrace,

Staying there.

Feeling the sensations,

The raw sensations of hardness and softness.

Simply resting in the sensations.

Moving up your attention,

Embracing your belly,

Your abdomen.

Feeling the sensations of breathing in the lower abdomen.

As the breath comes in,

Feeling of extension,

Pressure,

Getting taught.

And as the breath goes out,

Feeling a loosening,

A falling,

A falling of the belly.

Being aware of the movement.

Resting your awareness on whatever sensation is most prominent in your abdomen,

Letting it rest on that sensation.

Allowing the belly to be soft,

Your breath to be soft.

Receiving the breath in the belly,

Receiving the sensations.

As you gently place your attention,

There is not so much doing.

But gently placing and receiving.

Check in to see if you're working too hard.

See if the energy of the placing of the attention is just a gentle touch.

Or is it a laser beam?

Is it heavy or light?

Moving the attention up to your chest.

Feeling the sensations,

The movements of breathing in the chest now.

Placing the attention and resting it there.

Now touching your back,

Your lower and upper back.

With the gentle touch of awareness.

You might even feel your breath extending to the back.

Lower back,

Sides,

Upper back.

Gently inviting the attention to rest there.

Moving,

Gently directing your attention down your arms to your hands.

Embracing,

Touching,

Caressing your whole arm and your hands.

A light touch of your awareness.

Let your attention be drawn to whatever is most prominent.

It could be the touch point between your hands and your lap.

Or there might be a feeling of warmth,

Tingling,

Pressure,

Softness.

Or maybe there's tingling in the hands themselves or feeling cool.

Or your whole entire arm might feel alive with pulsation.

Whatever is most prominent,

Allow the attention to rest there gently.

As if resting comfortably in a hammock.

And listening to the wind.

Listen to the sensations that are prominent in your arms and hands.

Moving the attention gently up your neck,

Shoulders,

Neck,

Face,

Head.

Letting your face be soft,

Letting the forehead,

The brow be soft,

The jaw.

And noticing whatever sensations there are in the face,

Perhaps in the jaw or the tongue,

The tongue touching,

The roof of the mouth,

The lips touching.

If you notice tightness in the forehead,

It's okay to soften.

Perhaps you feel the gentle movement,

The rush of air at the tip of the nostrils.

Rushing in,

Cool air rushing in,

Warm air rushing out.

Now bringing your attention to this body as a whole.

The whole sensation of the body breathing.

The sensation of the whole body sitting.

The entire body bellowing the breath in and out.

Grounding the attention,

Tethering the attention,

Gently placing the attention.

The breath expanding the belly,

The chest,

The shoulders,

The arms,

The hands,

The legs.

And now you can bring,

If you wish,

The attention within this breathing body,

This framework,

This breathing framework of the body.

It's like a scaffold.

You can place your attention on the sensations of the breath,

Either in the belly or the chest or the nostrils,

Wherever it's most prominent for you.

Your anchor.

The sensations of the breath within the body.

The sensations of the breath.

The sensations of the breath.

The sensations of the breath.

Like a graceful redwood tree,

Feeling grounded,

Rooted.

In the body,

Stable.

In the trunk of your body.

Breathing,

Receiving the breath.

The attention gently touching and resting.

With aliveness.

And energy.

Not if,

But when you notice that your attention is resting on a thought or a story.

Simply noticing.

Giving it a label,

Recognizing what it is,

What's going on.

And then gently,

With appreciation,

Ever so gently,

Inviting the breath back,

Inviting the attention back to the breath,

To the body,

In order to build stability of the mind,

Stability of attention.

If you notice any emotions come up.

Noticing the sensations of the emotion,

How it's felt in the body.

Not so entangled in the story,

But letting yourself experience the emotion.

Feeling the energy in motion,

The energy of the emotion in motion.

Be felt,

Experienced and move through.

The body.

Like the redwood tree.

There is groundedness and stability in the body,

In the breath.

The emotions can move through and be sensed and experienced.

The body.

Reviews

Gentle and slow guidance through a body scan, then focussing on the breath. A powerfully embodying practice. This is a live recording so there are occasional background noises. No formal ending or bell. Recommended. 🙏

I enjoyed this body scan very much. It was almost like a "rendez-vous" with my body- especially when I succeeded in being soft and without effort in my attention.

Loved this thank you.

Really enjoyed this 🙏☮️☯️

best bodyscan i found here so far
Thank you

The full tour, from body scan to anapanasati!

I like the fact that this starts right away, no explanation necessary at this point. The final phrase starts with “like the redwood tree.” I also prefer the absence of the ubiquitous ending bell, which can disturb one’s equanimity after a nice meditation. For experienced practitioners, the slow pace is perfect.

Great work!
Thank you very much!

Beautiful gentle guidance. Thank you!

Thanks for this Nikki, loved the pace of your guidance.

My "go to" meditation for a body scan. 🙏

Very soothing voice. Right balance directions and silence. Excellent. Only comment would be to have a bell end the meditation.

I appreciated the clean, calm and simple rigor of this body scan. Thank you. It will be added to my “Essentials” playlist.

Best body scan.

Lovely meditation. Scans the arms and legs together and concentrates on the belly, and chest, the breath and how the body feels

Well paced with sufficient time between speaking to follow the instructions. Excellent resource for learning this facet of Insight practice or just for those days when feeling a little guidance would be preferable to sitting unguided.

Amazing body scan. Beautiful calming voice. Thank you Nikki.

Great scan, wonderfully calming voice... Can't wait to do your LovingKindness meditation.

I thoroughly enjoyed. Calming voice. Thank you! ❤️

Gentle. Languid. Thank you.