Progressive Body Awareness

An opportunity to bring awareness inward through a progressive body awareness practice that invites stillness, acceptance, and relaxation. You will receive gentle, soothing guidance starting at the top of the head and working your way down into the feet.

Transcript

This body scan meditation is really designed to help you discover ease and openness to present moment experience within the body as it's unfolding.

And so you can think about this as a time set aside to really pay attention to how your body feels and what it might be telling you.

It's a time to listen to your body and to be in your body as fully as possible.

And so to do this practice,

It's helpful to find a comfortable place where you can lie down on your back.

And it's also important to be warm and to be free from distractions.

And so whether you're lying down on the floor or laying in your bed,

Just allowing your spine to be in a neutral position.

Maybe the head is propped with a pillow or a folded blanket.

Feeling the two arms resting at the sides of your body,

With the palms turned inward or facing up towards the ceiling.

Letting your two legs be outstretched long,

With the feet and the ankles falling away from one another.

The eyes can be open or they can be closed for this practice.

But just like any meditation,

The idea here is to cultivate meditative awareness.

So if you begin to feel sleepy,

Perhaps you keep the eyes open gently.

And so we'll begin this practice by scanning the body,

Starting at the region of your head.

And so just bringing attention to the top of your head,

Aware of the scalp.

And then allowing yourself to feel into the place where the back of your head meets the surface beneath it.

Aware of the sides of your head,

The temples,

The two ears.

And then bringing awareness into the forehead.

Aware of the eyebrows and the space between the eyebrows.

Letting the eyes sink back into their sockets as you soften the muscles around the eyes.

Letting the jaw unhinge.

Bringing into the cheeks both the inside and the outside of the cheeks.

And having an awareness of the bridge of your nose.

The lips.

The chin.

The entire face.

And as you fill the head with awareness,

Notice if you can perceive any sensations.

And so these sensations can be in many different forms,

Have different qualities.

Whatever sensations you're noticing,

Whether they're pleasant or unpleasant,

Neutral,

Just having an aware presence of what is here in this moment.

Not needing to change it in any way,

Just being curious and interested in what you notice.

And now letting awareness trickle down into your neck region.

Aware of the bones that make up the neck,

The muscles of the neck,

And the skin of the neck.

Aware of the throat within and observing any sensations that are felt within the neck.

And simply be with whatever is present.

Moving awareness now into the shoulders.

Seeing if you can feel the shoulders from the inside out.

What sensations are present within the shoulders?

Whether it's tension or tightness,

Heaviness,

A feeling of lightness or ease.

Just noticing.

And now bringing awareness into your two arms.

Starting with the upper portion of the arms.

And just allowing the arms to be heavy at your sides.

Following the connection of your elbows with the surface beneath.

And moving awareness into the forearms.

Aware of the two wrists and allowing awareness to seep into the hands and all of your fingers.

Noticing the backs of the hands,

The palms of the hands.

Noticing the space in and around your fingers.

And as you bring awareness into the hands,

You might start to notice a variety of sensations.

And just asking the question,

What am I feeling within the hands and fingers in this moment?

Not judging what you feel,

But just being curious.

Maybe you feel coolness or warmth or a feeling of moisture,

Dryness,

Pulsations or vibrations,

Numbness,

Tingling.

There's no right way to be feeling or just looking and noticing.

And it's quite possible that no sensation is being perceived.

And if that's your experience,

Just resting with that.

Just taking a moment to be curious,

Asking the question,

What am I feeling and staying with it momentarily.

And now moving your awareness to the front of your torso,

Starting with the collarbones and then becoming aware of the sternum or the breastbone.

As you tune into this part of your body,

Maybe you can feel how the breastbone rises and falls as you breathe.

The breastbone is part of your ribcage.

Is it possible to feel the subtle expansion of your ribcage as you take a breath in?

And then as you breathe out,

Noticing how the ribcage floats downward as it contracts.

The breastbone also protects the heart.

And so seeing if you can tune in to your heart.

Is it possible to feel its beating quality?

And now moving awareness into your abdomen,

Feeling how the belly rises and falls as you breathe and noticing any other sensations that might be present.

Maybe it's sensations that is related to digestion.

And now allow your awareness to move through the torso to the back of the body.

So noticing how your back connects with the surface beneath it,

Feeling the shoulder blades in the upper back and moving your attention down the spine into the middle back and further down into the lower back.

Feeling the natural curves within the spine.

Feeling into the muscles that surround the spine.

And again,

Aware of whatever sensations you might be feeling in this moment.

Just resting awareness with whatever you notice.

And then as you move awareness further down,

Feeling how the back of the pelvis contacts the floor or the mattress of your bed.

Moving awareness into the tailbone and just letting the tail relax.

Aware of the pelvic bowl as a whole,

All of the organs within the pelvic bowl.

And becoming aware of your hips.

Feeling a sense of space within and around the hips.

And then moving awareness into your thighs,

The upper portion of your legs.

Aware of the large femur bone within the thighs and all of the muscles that surround the bone.

Aware of the skin and then feeling into your two knees,

Noticing sensations within the knees and upper legs.

And then gradually bringing awareness into your lower legs,

The shins,

The calves.

Feeling into your two ankles and all of the bones that make up the ankles.

And letting awareness travel now into your feet.

Just feeling the connection of your heels with the surface beneath.

And becoming aware of the tops of the feet,

The soles of the feet and all of your toes.

Sitting with the big toe and gradually moving outward to the baby toes.

That sensations are present within the feet in this moment.

Inviting the soles of the feet to soften in a way that you might imagine that you could breathe through the soles of your feet.

Breathing in new energy and vitality and breathing out any tiredness or fatigue or tension that you might be feeling.

And now see if you can recognize the presence of awareness within your entire body as a whole.

Feeling the full shape of your body,

Noticing how the shape of your body subtly shifts and changes as you breathe.

Becoming aware of any sensations that are present and just staying present with whatever you notice as you feel into the full shape of the body,

Shifting and changing with each breath.

It's as though you could breathe through all of the pores of your skin.

Feeling the full presence of your physical being.

And the knowing quality of awareness that allows you to apprehend all of the experiences that are moving through the body and through the mind in this very moment.

That's it for today.

Gia shafted drum Thank you.