Mindfully Scanning Our Body With Wisdom

Practicing a body scan through mindfulness allows us to explore how to work with physical pain. It helps us to find links between emotions and physical responses. The body says what words cannot sometimes. The Body has its own wisdom. It can communicate where physical tension, thoughts and emotions are sometimes trapped within the body.

Transcript

Hi, I'm Nora Speakman. Thank you for joining me today. Thank you for honoring me with the gift of your presence, With the gift of listening. Today we're going to talk about doing a body scan in mindful meditation. There's many benefits to doing a body scan. We get to explore how to work with physical pain. We get to find links between our emotions and physical responses. The body says what words cannot sometimes. So if you will just get comfy, Whether that's sitting, Standing, Or lying down, Just get in a comfortable position. And as you're doing that, Closing your eyes, I'll go ahead and begin. The body has its own wisdom. And often it can communicate where physical tension, Thoughts, And emotions are sometimes trapped within our body. When we practice this, It's going to allow us to open up the communication lines for our mind, Our body, And our spirit. So let's start with our breath. We're going to do a deep inhale and hold it and exhale. Mindful that as we breathe in, We're taking in new. And as we breathe out, We're releasing, We're letting go. And another deep breath in, Hold, And release. And as you try to get in the space of oneness with your mind, Your body, And your spirit, Just be aware of the noises around you. Simply notice them. Then gently bring yourself back without judgment, Without too much analyzing, Too much thinking. So we're going to begin with our feet. I want you to wiggle your toes. Feel if you're barefoot, Feel your bare feet. If you have shoes on, Feel your feet within your shoes. This is an opportunity to learn, To experience our body, Especially sometimes when we can take our body for granted. So we're giving each of the parts of our body an opportunity to speak. So I want you to think about sending breath. Sending the breath from your lungs all the way down to the tips of your toes, And then bringing it back up again. When you're ready, Allow your feet to just dissolve into your mind's eye. And we're going to gently shift our focus up to our legs, To the ankles, To the calves, To our knees and thighs. Gently noticing without judgment. Feeling and experiencing our ankles and our calves, Our knees that act as hinges, And our thighs that support so much of what we do. If you notice any discomfort, Pain, Or stiffness, Don't judge anything, Just simply notice it. Allow the body's responses and sensations to just be in the moment. Send your breath into and out from your legs. And on your next breath out, Just allow your legs to dissolve and move to the experience of your lower back and pelvis. Slowly moving to the middle and upper back as we wonder about the sensations and responses here. What do your muscles have to say? Is there a temperature change in the sensations in your back? With each out breath, Feel yourself releasing tension. And when you're ready, We'll gently shift our focus to the stomach and internal organs. Notice what your body is saying here, Maybe even opinions about this part of your body. Just gently let them go. Gently let anything go. And now when you're ready, We're going to gently shift our focus to our chest and heart, Really feeling and experiencing our heartbeat, Being grateful for our heart, Asking it how it feels, And then releasing without judgment. Just aware, Grateful for our heartbeat, That rhythm that is uniquely ours. Gently send your breath into that chest cavity that houses your heart, That is your seat of life. And when you're ready, We'll shift our focus to our hands and our fingertips, Gently channeling the breathing there, Watching it flow all the way throughout your fingertips, Having gratitude for your hands and your fingers. Realizing anything that your body wants to tell you about your hands, Maybe some tightness in your fingers. When you're ready, We'll gently shift your focus and the experience to your arms. Feel your forearms, Your elbows, Your biceps and triceps. Listen for what your body wants to tell you about those areas. Showing your arms gratitude for the ability to carry things, The ability to move with balance. Sending your breath there with intention. When you're ready to gently move, We're going to go into focusing on your neck, Your shoulders, Your throat. This can be an area many of us see tension. So I want you to spend some time there just being aware of the sensations. It could be tightness, Rigidness, Or feel like you're holding on to something really tightly there. I just want you to let go of any thoughts or stories that you might be telling yourself about this area. Send your breath there with every intention. Send it through to your arms, Right at the shoulder, Your neck, That upper back area that can get so tight. Just give your body permission to let that go. With the next breath out, Visualize like waves on the ocean, It's moving away from you. When you're ready, We're going to gently shift our focus to the scalp, To the head, And to the face. Sometimes we can carry our experiences here and we don't realize it. Maybe we tighten our jaw or create tension in our scalp from overusing and focusing so intently in front of our computer, Our laptop, Or smartphone. We create a tension headache behind our eyes. Just imagine sending your breath right to those areas and with the exhale it's just releasing, Just dissipating. And now that we have gone from our toes to our head, I want you to feel your body as a whole. Feel the gentle rhythm of your breath flowing freely, Without obstruction, Without occlusion anywhere. Taking fuller breaths, Being more relaxed, Feeling the weight of your body in all of its wholeness, In all of its fullness. And as you end this practice, Just take a full deep breath, Celebrating and being grateful for our body. Just resting there for a moment, Just taking it all in. And when you're ready, To just gently open your eyes in a fresh way, Renewed and ready to return to the present moment. I'm so grateful that we spent this time together and as you move throughout your day, I want you to be aware of your body, Be aware of the communication and the wisdom that it's offering you. And remember that you can always stop, Send your breath there and wonder, Communicate with your body, Give it permission to let go. Thank you all for meditating with me and I know we'll get to be together again very soon.