Welcome here.
In this meditation we will be practicing a body scan,
But as usual we can start by relaxing into the space.
So making sure that your posture is upright,
You're feeling comfortable and how you're positioned.
We'll then take three slow deep breaths.
Likewise,
Softening any muscles that might be clenched or contracted.
Places like the forehead,
The jaw,
The shoulders,
The tummy.
Allowing the whole body to just soften into gravity.
Allowing your attention to settle into proprioceptive awareness to the sense of the body in space.
I just first notice whatever seems most obvious in the body.
Maybe there's some particular pain or the sense of touch of your hands on your lap,
Your body on a surface.
Just noticing what's obvious.
And then to begin the body scan,
We can bring our attention to our face.
Noticing the feel of the forehead,
The space around the eyes,
The cheeks,
The jaw,
The tongue.
Just feeling the sensations in the face.
We're not trying to look for anything in particular or create any specific sensations.
We just notice what's there.
Sometimes the sensations are more buzzy,
Pulsating,
Vibrating.
Sometimes more a sense of dullness,
Pressure,
Hardness.
Sometimes we don't even really know.
It's just kind of fuzzy and empty.
But whatever it is,
We observe the sensations with curiosity,
With interest.
What does the face feel like?
Then we can swing our attention to the rest of the head,
Top of the head,
The sides of the head,
The back of the head.
Just noticing,
Feeling the different sensations present.
Then bringing our attention down to the neck.
What's it like to feel the neck from the inside out?
And then swooping our attention to our shoulders,
Our upper arms,
Our elbows and lower arms,
The entire arm.
And then landing the attention down in the hands.
What particular sensations do you notice in the hands?
Are they warm or cool?
Tingling,
Pulsing,
Numb?
Can you notice the sense of contact where your hand meets your lap or a surface?
What's that like?
We can then swing our attention to our back,
Noticing,
Feeling the different sensations in the upper back,
The lower back,
The spinal cord,
The back of the neck.
And if you notice any tightness or tension,
Remember that the practice of mindfulness is to see if we can put aside the sense of,
I like it,
I don't like it,
Good or bad,
And get more curious about what our experience is actually like.
It takes some time to notice the back as it is.
What do you notice?
What do you feel?
And then we can bring our attention to our torso,
Feeling our chest,
Our abdomen,
And then we can bring our attention to our neck.
Feeling our chest,
Our abdomen,
Letting all the muscles in the tummy be very softened and relaxed.
Maybe even noticing how the breath naturally moves the tummy in and out.
And then we bring our attention down to our pelvis,
Perhaps feeling the place where our sit bones make contact with the ground,
Bringing our awareness to our upper legs,
Knees,
Lower legs,
The entire leg.
Likewise,
Feeling the feet.
Perhaps seeing if you can differentiate with your awareness different parts of the foot,
The heel,
The top of the foot,
The bottom of the foot,
The big toe,
The pinky toe.
Just exploring with awareness.
And then we can bring our awareness back to the sense of the whole body,
Softening any tensions that might have built,
Taking a final minute to let ourselves really relax,
Our muscles soften,
Our minds soften,
And be present with our experience in a very relaxed way.
Accepting but interested way.
Mindful of the body.
